My three year old daughter loves to pick flowers. I love my three year old daughter. I also love my flowers. Do we have a dilemma?
Little girls love beauty. As I watch my little one wander through my flower garden, my heart trembles. For one, my garden suffers! My daughter’s feet don’t always step wisely and a few branches lie flattened. Little hands don’t readily curb the desire to have all. She would pick every flower if left to her own counsel.
The few, magnificent blooms on my snapdragons slowly disappear. Collected by a flower-enthusiast. The sharp thorns on my rose bushes fail to discourage little hands reaching for the glorious blooms. I want to race outside and redirect my little girl’s interest to some over-grown flowering weed. Somewhere.
But, I have to stop myself and examine my own heart. I love the flowers, why not let her love them, too? What a glorious site to see my little girl so happily absorbed in beauty! I can only imagine what a sweet paradise the flower garden must seem to her.
Learn From the Generosity of God
My mind turns to the story of the Garden of Eden. We all too often think of God’s prohibition not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We forget His first words, a proclamation of abundant generosity: You may eat of all the trees in this garden, all except one.
I want to offer my daughter a similarly magnanimous gift. Maybe I will set the roses off -limits, but why not fill the garden with flowers her heart and hands can enjoy? I have come to have a few new, child-friendly favorites which I can recommend to you.
Some Favorite Flowers
Flowers that can make both mama and daughter happy are beautiful and easy to grow. I can list a few that grow well in Georgia. They bloom prolifically and rebound quickly from eager flower-reaping. I am not an expert gardener but they grow easily in my garden with minimal care.
First, some of the most little-girl-friendly flowers are short-stemmed. However often I tell my daughter to give the flowers long necks, she tends to snap off simply the bloom. As a result, my plants can be an unsightly lot of long, empty stems. To avoid that, I like to have some short-stemmed, or even just short, flowers readily accessible to her. Some favorites are petunias, morning glories and profusion zinnias.
Another type of flower which is super little girl friendly is the prolific bloomer. Marigolds, zinnias and Johnny-Jump-Ups are all plants that produce heavily throughout a long season.
For my Valentine’s Day Present, I had my husband buy me a butterfly rose. This rose does not bear your typical, many-petaled fragrant rose blossom. It’s flowers are small and simple. I am so excited, though, because the bush makes so many of them! And, the flowers are pink and brightly colored. My little girl will finally have a rose she can pick to her heart’s delight!
I invite you to me in this quest for a shared flower garden. As Spring approaches and the plant nurseries begin to fill with lovely plants, let’s keep our eyes open for plants both we and our daughters can enjoy. Hopefully, we’ll come up with a Top Ten List soon!
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