The "Life Goes On" Story

It was an ordinary day. Carol had just finished digging out the elephant-ear plants. She loves gardening and our back deck is the proof of that. Every year she adds color and imagination to the deck with flowers and plants. Two of her favorites that she plants yearly are elephant-ears and moon flowers. Heard of both? They both require that at the end of the summer you secure a planting for the next year. A few years ago she obtained a few elephant-ear "bulbs" or roots from a friend from where she works. We stopped by her house as she was digging them out of the ground at the end of the summer. Planted them the following spring and .... Wow! The elephant-ear plant gets its name from the leaves, which are shaped like a large ear or shield. Medium shade of green, but really add color to the garden. We were away on vacation this year and had planned to dig them out upon our return, but when we returned we had snow the next day. The leaves all wilted, but did get the "bulbs" out shortly after the snow disappeared. Not sure what will happen next spring when we plant them again. These are not your usual bulbs, but huge root type bulbs. took quite the effort for her to dig all of them out of the ground. Another favorite is the moon flower, so called because they bloom in moonlight. They are beautiful white flowers that quickly open at night and last the entire night. They close when the sunlight hits them in the morning, so you must place them in an area that will have shade early in the morning, or you will miss the blooms entirely. Plant grows as tall as I am. You are supposed to plant the seed, which comes from a pod that is produced by the plant, when the moon is new or increasing. Not sure that she does that, but it grows every year. The blooms are trumpet shaped and extremely large in size. These two plants are among the many that she plants, but two of my favorites. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - photos from the top shows the elephant-ear plant with the "bulb" or root that has been dug from the ground and the moon flower with the seed pods that grow on the flower.