Saturday, July 19, 2008

Stalked by Strelitzias

Many of my early afternoons were spent playing in the gardens of my biological mom's friends.

Mrs Stanford had a quarter acre of roses and other large plants with paths winding in and out and all around. Now this was the day and age where roses weren't pretty bushes on top of a topiary stand. Roses were 6 foot tall bushes. And everything else was equally as lush and rampant. A perfect place for all manner of children's games.

The only problem with this specific garden was that there were strelitzias in one corner. They terrified me. Imagine being a three foot high kid (or somewhere around that) that tears around a corner and comes face to face with the bird from the name "Bird of Paradise" on top of a five foot stalk. I kept saying to myself "it is only a plant, it is only a plant" in the same way that we say "it is only a movie" but it made no difference. They genuinely scared me.

Yes I have grown out of this somewhat, and up close (shiver) they are architectural masterieces but I can't say I have any actual affinity for the beastie.

3 comments:

Indigo-Daisy said...

What a funny story. I can't say I ever seen one growing in a garden, only in a vase which is why I think they are lovely. There was an old "Happy Days" show where one of the boys picked one out as a corsage for his date and pinned it on her before the dance. It was pretty funny as it is to big for a corsage and covered her whole chest.

MissyBoo said...

So you wouldn't have them as a wedding bouquet? A friend of mine did... you wouldn't have been one for wanting to catch the bouquet either I guess???

pita-woman said...

Love birds of paradise (the plant that is).