The children were released into the neighborhood at the crack of dawn. Hearing their screams, I rolled out of bed and thought, “What mother lets their children outside this early?”, and God said, “Your Mother, Barbara…your Mother.”😂

Last weekend I went to a garden center similar to a smaller version of Lowe’s mainly because I knew they would have hanging baskets in bloom and they had plenty. I just wanted one hanging basket, to see something in bloom while gazing outside my kitchen window, so sadly, this wasn’t a Hill Country mission.

The Bougainvillea’s I purchased earlier this year to hang out front had bloomed once and that was it. They’d gone wild with spindly growth, so they were exerting energy, but something was off. I dumped them out of their containers to find them planted in peat moss with very little dirt, so I pulled the peat moss away from the roots, repotted them in really good dirt and trimmed them back to let them rest, but still….no blooms.

The hanging basket purchased over the weekend is a unique variety of Begonia called Angel Wings and yes, I probably bought it because of the name, but after looking at it through my kitchen window for a few days, I realized it wasn’t what I wanted to see.

A plant in bloom should bring a smile to your face, but this plant wasn’t doing that. I knew it would be sitting in peat moss and would eventually need repotting, so I went outside to investigate. Dumping it out of it’s container, not only was it clinging to peat moss, but it was root bound, so I grabbed my gardening knife to cut the plant in half. I wasn’t expecting to get two plants out of one, but life will surprise us.

I returned to the gardening shed to store the knife, grabbed an extra hanging basket and wire hanger to hang it with. Since the Begonia was in bloom, I thought they’d be pretty out front in place of the Bougainvillea, so I swapped them out. One non-blooming Bougainvillea was hung in front of the kitchen window and I found a spot for the other one too, but then realized something new about myself.

I love walking by a window and seeing a plant in bloom, but I need something to stare at outside my kitchen window. Some truly inspiring thoughts pop into my head while standing and the kitchen sink, staring out the window and the Bougainvillea is a good plant to stare at. When it decides to start blooming, the blooms are microscopic and actually resemble a new leaf with a splash of color.

The journey is compiled with details and I’ve learned that’s the part I don’t wanna miss. To bloom is the obvious destination, but to study the process is what’s intriguing right now. Stay the path my lovelies…because even jolted awake by children screaming outside my window was orchestrated to assist in preparing the bloom.