As I was out picking berries last summer, I crossed a field that was absolutely alive with the colours of thousands of wildflowers.
Amid the many shades of green grasses and leaves, and the red and straw colours of the dried plants, there was a dazzling palette of white, yellow, blue, and purple flowers.
And bursting from this bucolic splendour were some taller stalks with bright, fiery-red blossoms.
I love my little nature walks, but I’m not especially knowledgeable about the plants and flowers in our fields. I can say I had never seen these ones before, so I started looking into what kind of wildflower they might be.
As many of you will see from the pictures, they’re not wildflowers at all – they are a domestic garden plant known as “Maltese Cross” (also “Jerusalem Cross”) because of the blossom’s shape. Some seeds had evidently been carried by birds and dropped in the wild field, where they took root.
The plant is perennial, and grows well in full sun. Since these ones don’t belong to anyone, and since they are not indigenous to the local landscape, I decided to come back in the fall and dig up some of the root ball.
I have a sunny spot chosen, and I will plant them soon. I’m a lousy gardener, so I hope they thrive as well under my tender care as they did in the wild with no care at all.
I’ve seen my collected clods of soil and grass in a pail in my garage over the winter, and all winter long I’ve looked forward to planting them. I’ll be delighted if their beautiful colour brightens my summer—they will be a suitable souvenir of my berry-picking rambles last year.
And I hope they are as beautiful in a flower bed as they were when I chanced upon them in a field where they “don’t belong.”
My intention that day was to get a couple of pails of saskatoons. But the picking was slim, and I ended up supplementing the saskatoons with raspberries and a few tiny, delicious wild strawberries to get enough berries for a pie.
Instead of having some saskatoons in my freezer, I ended up with Maltese Cross plants in my garage.
We’re often told to know what we want and to set goals. I prefer to think that a happy life is less about wanting and getting, and more about discovering and appreciating.
Goals have their place. But the idea of setting goals is to sharpen your focus by excluding other possibilities and eliminating distractions.
Those who know me will tell you “sharpened focus” isn’t exactly my middle name. I will always take time for possibilities and distractions.