PHOTO-A-DAY-CHALLENGE
The Budding Promise of Life
My week in photos
How fast life passes! Another week has passed, and I have another opportunity to participate in the PHOTO-A-DAY Challenge. This week I thought it would be interesting to take photos revealing the progression of garden flowers from bud to full bloom.
Do you know that even after over thirty years of planting and maintaining roses, I never noticed how quickly they grow from bud to bloom? I had photographed a collection of buds at the onset of my week. When I walked outside two days later, I noticed the buds were blooming vibrantly!
Life changes moment by moment and progresses very quickly. By next week’s challenge, the blooms will be spent, and they will die. How quickly time unfolds, and it stops for no one. Now I have a deeper understanding of taking the time to stop and smell the roses.
The cover photo is an extra photo. I’m sure you’ve all noticed it’s not a rose. It’s a water lily. It’s remarkable that I often struggle to even take one photo daily. This week, I had an extra shot! Since my Sunday photo doesn’t have a commentary, I’ll comment on the cover photo instead.
The spider in the photo is a Raft Spider. It’s on the list of the 34 most common house spiders in Louisiana.
Raft spiders are found in bogs and ponds. They have a life span of two and a half years. They’re nonvenomous to humans and animals, and they greatly benefit my pond. They eat mosquitos and other pests. They can grow quite large and actually eat tadpoles and minnows when fully grown. Thankfully they’re no threat to my koi.
They detect their prey through vibrations. They sit near the water with their legs touching the surface. They have short velvet-like hairs that don’t get wet, allowing them to stand or run on the water. When they feel the vibration of potential prey, they run across the water to catch it using their unique ability to float on the water.
MONDAY — Every Thistle has its Thorn
Needless to say, I haven’t been able to spend much time in the garden and properly weed it. So many surprises were awaiting me among the roses. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a Bull Thistle in my yard. I always cut the weeds when they’re young, so I never knew this existed in my garden.
It’s a unique addition to the garden, and it doesn’t seem to affect the roses at all. The leaves have sharp, thick thorns, so it’s considered an ecologically harmful plant. More importantly, it’s highly toxic to humans and animals. Considering the potential for injury, I had to weed it from my garden. But not without first snapping some photos!
“Thistle comes from the Middle English ‘thistel’ meaning “to prick.” — PictureThis App
Most of the thistles I’ve seen in this area are brightly colored. This thistle was a very pale pink when it bloomed, and the flower died very quickly. The PictureThis App on my phone reveals that the Bull Thistle is related to the sunflower. It makes sense with such a tall, thick stem.
The PictureThis App also sometimes references a few lines of poetry about each plant. I’m glad the app designer considered poetry a valuable asset worth sharing. In honor of International Poetry Month, I thought I’d share this lovely poem about thistles.
“1
I love the thistle with its ruddy flowers It cheers me on the waste in lonely hours It cheers me in lone sunshine out of doors When seeking solitude on rushy moores It cheers me resting on the way-side stones Where tears of morning glitter on the thorns I love the thistle ’tis an ill used flower And bees are singing round for many an hour.
2
I love the thistle and its prickles too Cobwebs are round it with a veil of dew I love the thistle where it bravely stands For rights of Liberty in many lands Simply defying every rogueish eye With “ wha dare meddle wi me” that passes bye My right is simple, blooming ‘mong the flowers That God’s hand scatters on this land of ours.
3
So I love the thistles spread round Scottish bowers Better than any other of the wildling flowers I love the warrior thistle where it stands Though often wounded in the legs and hands On Bannockburn its bloom undaunted stood Dy’d deeper in the streams of human blood.”
— John Clare
TUESDAY — Folded Flower
This rosebud is curled as a newborn babe. It’s the perfect representation of the beginning of a week that has yet to unfold. I found the perfect poem to blend the photo with the passage of time and life.
“Gather ye rose-buds while ye may Old Time is still a flying And this same flower that smiles to day Tomorrow will be dying.”
— Robert Herrick
WEDNESDAY — Buds of Promise
This photo reminds me of the encouragement we feel when we see the first fruits of our labor. Each bud holds a promise of hope. It enfolds the beauty of a future that has yet to bloom.
The following poem expresses the theme of hope amidst time and life. As a bonus, this poem mentions multiple seasons. Considering how drastically the weather has changed here lately, it’s a perfect fit for this week. Cool temperatures greeted me again this week, from 50F — 70F. This was a much-needed respite from the 90F temperatures of the previous week.
“Spring still makes spring in the mind When sixty years are told: Love wakes anew this throbbing heart, And we are never old Over the winter glaciers I see the summer glow And through the wind-piled snowdrift The warm rosebuds below.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
THURSDAY — Floating Fairies
In a few days’ time, from Monday to Thursday, the Bull Thistle flowers melted as the snowflakes of Spring. They transitioned peacefully to their next phase of life, from delicate feathered petals to floating fairies in the wind.
This is the closest I’ve come to seeing anything resembling snow this year. The thistle seeds will be dispersed, but with active weeding, they likely won’t reach adulthood. With my little Panchito weighing in at only three pounds now, I can’t risk toxic plants within his reach. Though the thistledown is quite beautiful, as they say, everything that glitters isn’t gold.
I’m including an excerpt from a poem I came across about Thistledown. It reminds me of the variety of life. Everyone grows and moves in their own time and follows their own path.
“…Some cling together while they wait, And droop and gaze and hesitate, But others leap along the sky, Or circle round and calmly choose The gust they know they ought to use…”
— Harold Monro
FRIDAY — Celebration of Spring
Two days after the promise of the new rosebud, these flowers have unfolded and bloomed in sweet delight! They are clearly celebrating the spring weather of the past week.
SATURDAY — From Bud to Bloom
From Monday to Friday, a lot can happen. A rose can blossom from a newborn bud into a full-grown bloom. The bright colors of roses fade from bud to bloom. Looking at the Monday photo, it seemed it couldn’t be the same rose. I second-guessed myself and went outside to double-check. That’s when I noticed the deep red of the buds and the faded pastel color of the full blooms.
SUNDAY — The Perfect Ending
This perfect bloom is the perfect ending to my week. It’s the same miniature rose pictured on Wednesday and Friday. This rose has transitioned from baby bud to fully flowering in one week’s time. The promise of budding life has manifested the promise of its beauty.
Life passes so quickly. The spring of our lives is a single breath in the lungs of life. Let us breathe it in, cherish it and grow with grace as we fondly recall our days in the sun.
This concludes my week in photos. Thank you for reading. May the buds of promise in your life bloom throughout the upcoming week and reveal newfound beauty in your life.
Mia Verita, 2023
Thank you to the hardworking editors of Weeds & Wildflowers, Dennett and Louise Peacock, for hosting these photos.
Thank you, Dennett, for this PHOTO-A-DAY-CHALLENGE.
“So, what is this Picture-A-Day thing all about? It’s a photo challenge, not a contest. Take photos each day, choose one to represent your day, and post them here. Post each week or as less often — whatever works for you. It’s not about the best photos; it’s about photos that introduce us to your corner of the world and to your life. I like to add a word that I associate with each picture and some narrative from time to time.” — Dennett
I’m tagging some others who have participated in the PHOTO-A-DAY-CHALLENGE. Please let me know if you want to be added or removed from this list. Thank you, and have a great week!
Dennett, Louise Peacock, Anne Bonfert, Erika Burkhalter, Jillian Amatt - Artistic Voyages, Barb Dalton, Kim Zurich, Penny Grubb, Tracy Aston, Sasha Meyer, Eileen Vorbach Collins, Susan Alison, Shruthi Sundaram, Barbara Radisavljevic, LensAfield, Shell Parsons, Olive Wilson, Ivy Shepherd, Jane Frost (Jane Grows Garden Rooms), Lisa Bolin, Lynne Nardizzi, and Sandra B.
Mia Verita enjoys photography, sketching, writing poetry, and sharing inspirational stories.
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