Flower Appreciation

The fact that these flowers are blooming in my backyard is nothing short of amazing.


They're lovely and colorful and I'm oh-so-glad they're here. It's been a difficult year for them, to say the least.

I planted them on Father's Day last summer, to accompany a few other plants that already lived next to our little backyard patio. It wasn't easy, because the plants that had already been in residence grew thick and had incredibly deep roots. And I had terribly cheap garden tools.

Yet I sweated and dug and persevered, and finally the Asiatic lilies, daylilies, and pretty white daisies had a new home. I enjoyed their color for a few weeks, until Butter decided he'd found a great new place to pee and the perfect path to get to the end of our yard, where he could watch the neighbors and convince them to come pet him.


So the daisies ended up pulled out of the ground. The Asiatic lilies were beheaded by his chain, one at a time. And the daylilies struggled to keep their hold in the earth.

This spring, when the brave plants started to emerge from the ground once more, I placed a little white fence behind the flowers in the hopes it might deter Butter. It did—for a few days. Then he decided he liked peeing on the fence.

Needless to say, one of the three Asiatic lily plants was lopped off by his chain. The daylilies looked so paltry I was sure they weren't going to bloom. But, because Butter doesn't walk right through the flowers anymore, the wounded beauties are surviving.

And when I got back from Vegas, they were even blooming.


So Butter promptly walked over and urinated on them.

You're so lucky I love you more than my plants, Butter. That's all I'm going to say.