One of the great things about living in Florida is the ability to garden all year long. Of course, this is only my first year as a gardener, but I have already had some great successes.

It occurred to me that, at this point, I have yet to actually buy a plant. All of my current plants are propagated from plants that other people didn’t want or couldn’t take care of.

Some of my plants were here when I got here. There were two straggly hibiscus bushes in front of our house. At one time they might have been lovely. When I inherited them they looked hopeless. In fact, my neighbors told me they were hopeless.

It was more that I didn’t want the hassle of removing them that made me nurture them. I didn’t have any real love for them. I like unusual plants, and red hibiscus is pretty common here in Florida. They are also messy plants; they drop a lot of leaves.

Even though I was motivated by laziness and unenthusiastic about the flowers, I nurtured the hibiscus for almost a year. I pruned and fed, and waited.

As little as a month ago I was telling my neighbor I was getting ready to get rid of them. They just weren’t worth the trouble. But I didn’t give up. I continued to nurture them.

This morning they greeted me with huge, healthy blooms. They’ve boomed before, but the blossoms were sparse and small. Today’s blossoms are magnificent.

I learn so much from gardening. Today I learned that, regardless of the initial motivation, diligence and patience pays off.  I learned, too, that even common things can be uniquely beautiful. I learned that health and beauty go hand in hand. I also learned not to give up easily on living things.  We can often respond to nurturance. Sometimes it just takes a while!