“Happiness held is the seed; happiness shared is the flower.”
John Harrigan
I marvel as I hold tiny seeds because they are filled with wonder. Oh, the promise and possibility they hold. This spring, finding myself more home based I was searching for a hopeful project. So, looking forward to my summer garden, I turned my basement office into a mini greenhouse. I tired more varies of plants and I grew more seeds that ever. However, our mini greenhouse winner is the zinnias.
In the past I have tried smaller varieties I found from the nursery, but the blooms from these larger varieties are spectacular. I can see them out my living room windows. Their tall wavy stems and bright, pink, purple and red blooms give my garden a the happiest pop of color.
Their blooms start small and then explode with color like little fireworks.
I planted two seed mixes from Park Seeds. Parks Picks which had these gorgeous purple and red flowers and a pink mix called Siesta. Both of these varieties are double bloom zinnias so over time the blooms become these beautiful full petaled flowers.
The bold blossoms are fun to watch because they invite the happiest garden visitors: humming birds, bees and butterflies. They all come to delight and share in their dazzling beauty.
I planted three large grouping. However, heavy spring rain washed away a group of seeds that I sewed directly in the ground. So I started most of my seeds in egg cartons filled with potting soil. This made it easier to plant them at a shallow depth and the cartons sides could be cut to allow me to get all the roots when I transferred them to the flower beds. They didn’t look like much at first. The wavy seedlings looked so small, I wondered what would become of them. Then slowly with lots of watering and sun, their steams grew stronger and taller. Buds began to appear and those tiny seeds blossomed into beautiful flowers.
Sometimes the best kind of happiness is homegrown. Often the moments and things that bring me the most joy are like small seeds that have been thoughtfully tended. All this quarantine gardening is good for the soul, because it’s in the tough times that we need to believe in the wonder and possibility of new seeds.
