Yellow Saucers

Wildflowers are the loveliest of all because they grow in uncultivated soil, in those hard, rugged places where no one expects them to flourish.
They are resilient in ways a garden bloom could never be.^*

One of my favourite wildflowers, purely for its magnificent resilience, is the Evening Primrose, which flourishes — nearly everywhere — here in southwestern Ontario.  Evening Primrose is an herbaceous, native, biennial, much-prized for its oil, which is made from the flower’s seeds. For centuries, EPO has been used as an herbal remedy, both topically and as a dietary supplement.  Today it is widely available, marketed by all major vitamin and health food companies.  It blooms July through September.

Yellow Saucers

The sun rubs its eyes and wakes up with a blink,
While dew-drops are pouring a fresh morning drink.
And there in the meadow, a yellow surprise—
Great big sunny saucers under bright blue skies!

The blossoms are yawning, all dressed up in gold,
With secrets and syrup waiting to unfold.
The bumblebees wake with a skip and a hop,
And zoom straight ahead to the Primrose Sweet-shop!

They dive in headfirst for a pollen-dust bath,
Giggling and buzzing along each petal path.
With bright yellow sacs on their fuzzy wee knees,
They tickle the flowers and hum with the breeze.

So early each morning, before the clock rings,
The garden is full of these yellow-dressed things.
A party of petals, a breakfast for bees,
As happy and bright as I ever could please!

The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all.^†

’Til next time, y’all…

^*Micheline Ryckman, The Maiden Ship.
^†’Though often erroneously attributed on-line to Mr. Disney, this line was spoken by the Emperor to Shang at the end of the movie “Mulan” which was jointly written by Rita Hsiao, Philip LaZebnik, Chris Sanders, Eugenia Bostwick-Singer, and Raymond Singer — long after Mr. Disney’s death.  If you’d like to see it in the movie, here’s a link:  The flower that blooms in adversity