Name your favourite flower. It seems since a simple question, but it all depends doesn’t it? What season it is & probably what mood you’re in too! In summer I might say roses, but now… It reminds me someone who told me her favourite flower was a dandelion! She went on to say it was the bright colour that made it her favourite. Her choice & explanation was reminiscent of Joyce Grenfell’s nursery school children. Well it is a flower & yes it is nice & bright, but it remains the bane of most gardeners’ lives!

It is not a flower I welcome in my tiny patch of garden, but today right in my line of vision there is one solitary dandelion, swaying defiantly as if to state its right to remain. Okay it is bright,but I don’t find the flower attractive. As daylight fades the flower closes & the petals come together now the sunshine has gone. Perhaps it hopes to remain hidden so that I will not seek it out with trusty knife in hand! Tomorrow if it rains as forecast the flower will remain closed, but with the first hint of sunshine & it will be basking in the brightness once more.

And when the flower fades it forms the most amazing seed head. Those dandelion clocks adored by children. The gardener in me wants to destroy the seeds, eradicate them. But I can’t help but see the magic in the clock – a perfect sphere. Look closely – each seed held together until ready to be launched in the breeze &  carried away on its own parachute to begin the process of growing more dandelions.