Scout Takes the Prize

There comes a time in every gardeners life when disappointment has to be sucked up so as not to hurt family feelings.

This night blooming cerus plant has taken 7 years to make a bud. I raised this plant from a cutting. I have faithfully carted it in and out of the garage for 6 of those 7 years.

Every night I have checked for the incredible aroma to be followed by a gorgeous bloom that is worth the seven years of waiting (so I’ve been told).
Somebody should have explained all this to Scout, our black lab grandpuppy who came to visit with his family. Scout had been playing on the porch doing what puppies do, knocking over plants, dispersing rose cuttings, chewing up plastic water bottles. But, when I went out to check the night blooming cerus bud (did I mention there was only one?)I couldn’t find it

Surely the evening light was playing tricks on me. No, I couldn’t find it anywhere – and then I found it…well, I found the little brown stub that use to hold the hope of a bloom. I don’t know where the bud went. I looked at Scout, he was guilty I could tell. (Note the puppy teeth marks on the leaf)

I walked back into the house and mumbled something like seven years…SEVEN YEARS… I now understand how Mr. Wilson felt when Dennis the Menace spoiled his party with all his gardening friends waiting for the night booming mock orchid to open in the pale moonlight.

Mr. Wilson waited 40 years for his plant to bud and the bloom opened and withered in a matter of seconds! I only waited seven years and hopefully there will be more buds next year.

Yes Scout took the prize, literally. But he did give me a great story and something to always remember him by!