Seeds

By Mirakel Kolbeck

Featured art: Design for Wallpaper or Textile of Daisy-Type Flower with Repeat by unknown

There are three common types of daisy: the Oxeye Daisy, Leucanthemum vulgare, the Shasta Daisy, Leucanthemum superbum, and the English Daisy, Bellis perennis. This whimsical flower begins in the seed stage, an embryo encased in a protective shell, carried on the wind until she finds a place to lay down roots. From those roots, up, up, the flower sprouts, nourished on water and sunlight. The bud waits all the while for the time she is mature enough to spread itself out and sunbathe, revealing the soft white petals and a bright yellow center. At the end of its life, the daisy wilts and its seeds blow away.

Mama has always loved the daisy. White daisies, to be more specific. No matter what we were doing, no matter where we were, if there was a daisy present, she would bend over, pinch its stem between her thumb and forefinger and pluck that soft white flower from the ground, slipping it behind her ear. I would later find them dried out and pressed between the pages of various books, hidden from dad’s dismissive eyes. If there were more than one, she would lace them together into a crown, and dance around barefoot. Sometimes I would join her.

Tulips, Tulipa gesneriana, are the finicky plants. When you are planting a tulip bulb, it is important to plant them twice as deep as the bulb is high. These flowers need lots of room to grow and lay down roots. Plant them when the soil is roughly 60 degrees Fahrenheit, in the fall, and make sure that they will be able to get sunlight, but not too much sunlight, as the tulip does best when kept away from direct sunlight and heat. Then wait, for they will not show you any signs that they took root until spring. These bright flowers never open up, instead choosing to remain standing upright surrounded by others just like them.

Do not misunderstand, while she may be a bit tight lipped, this plant, the tulip is endlessly helpful. She has potential medical benefits such as skin care and treating insect bites. And while her bulbs are poisonous, the tulip petals are edible.

Grandma Janet always knows when to plant the bulbs. She always digs her hands in deep enough so that her flowers will have enough space to grow.

And every fall, we listen to her complain about how cold it has become, as she walks around, pinch-lipped and frustrated with the weather that is stubbornly drifting through winter rather than turning into spring in a timely manner. For once the sunshine does return, Janet can spread her limbs in joy and walk around taller than before and drag the family along to traverse in nature because it is “good for our health.”

A water lily, nymphaea, is a social flower. A perennial plant that blooms from June to September, opening in the morning sunlight and closing in the late afternoon or evening. Water lilies grow their seeds underwater in a berry-like fruit. When the fruit is ripe, it releases up to 2,000 seeds, which the water carries to various places in the lake or pond. The water lily tends to grow in clusters, never wanting to be alone. She will float around until loved, then will lay down roots as her stem sinks into the water and a berry-like fruit will develop.

Elizabeth got a tattoo of a water lily on her shoulder last spring. It’s roughly the size of a softball with bright pink petals opened wide at the base and puckered up like a kiss at the top. She even had the artist add a butterfly fluttering toward it, forever unable to land. When I asked her why this particular flower, she told me that it “just felt right.” A social flower for a social person.

“But don't tell dad,” she whispered at the end, her eyes flicking around, looking for our parents. “It's our little secret.”

A little secret for a big tattoo sounds about right to me.

The Hydrangea, Hydrangea macrophylla: the expressive one. Also called springs pom-pom, they cheer on spring and represent endless summer. These poisonous plants can change their color, and each of these colors expresses a different emotion. Pink represents love and sincerity as the fluffy pink flowers look like giant hearts. The color blue represents forgiveness and purple represents abundance and understanding, while white represents boasting or bragging.

Sydney sits watching a bee, smiling. When asked why, she says that she is just happy with how happy it looks doing its job. I may resent her just a little bit for that comment. Of course, it won’t last, as when the next bee she sees decides to sting her, I will no doubt find her screaming out a battle cry and wielding a shoe with murderous intent.

Dandelions, Taraxacum officinale, are the most common type of weed. The survivor, named for the shape of her foliage that resembles the teeth of a lion. Bright and yellow in youth, she will retreat into her shell as she ages, only to rebloom as a white and fluffy bulb, destined to be torn apart and used to make more dandelions. They are doomed to the same fate. Dandelions are a perennial plant, who are able to travel far from home to lay down roots. Some seeds are even carried as far as 5 miles from their original start. Thanks to their biology, dandelions have successfully adapted to grow and thrive across many continents and climate zones. Cutting the top off of a dandelion does not kill her, for a new plant will re-grow from the root that remains underground.

My father and I spent most summers in our garden, tending to the more “serious” and “useful” plants like carrots, Daucus carota, and tomatoes, Solanum lycopersicum.

“You can’t make food out of lilies and daisies,” he would tell me.

I remember one day, when I was too small to hold garden shears but big enough to hold a trowel, he stopped what he was doing and glared down at the bright yellow flower sprouting at my feet.

“Pull that weed out,” he demanded. “We don’t want its seeds to spread.”

I bent down, and broke off the flower's top, and tucked it behind my ear.

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Mirakel Kolbeck (she/her) is an undergrad at Ohio University, double majoring in English and Psychology. She has been the Marketing Assistant at Ohio University Press for four years and is set to graduate May 2021. In her limited free time, she enjoys reading, writing, and binging Disney movies.