Wildflowers Out Back

Last week when I cut the grass I forgot to cut the little patch of grass between our back fence and the paved alley. It’s a small rectangle, something like twenty feet by thirty feet. We keep the garbage cans there. I only get out there when I take out the garbage but I like to keep it neat.

After not being cut for two weeks, the grass in that little patch grew pretty tall and went to seed. A bunch of weeds grew, too. And, amazingly, a small bunch of wildflowers established themselves and bloomed.

I don’t know what kind of flowers they are, but they are pretty. They look like little daisies. They’re about a foot tall. Each flower is about two inches across. They have yellow centers and about a dozen white petals.

Saturday afternoon when I trimmed the weeds and cut the grass out there I very carefully worked around the little bunch of wildflowers.

Now I worry about them.

Today is garbage day, recycling day and yard waste pickup day. Lots of big trucks will be rumbling through our alley. The little bunch of wildflowers—I think there are only about four or five blooms right now—are only a few inches away from the alley paving. I made sure to put our garbage can and our yard waste container over to the side, behind our garage, so that the trucks would stay as far away as possible from the wildflowers when they do their pickups.

If the wildflowers can survive the squirrels and raccoons and rabbits and all manner of vehicles rumbling through our alley, they’re welcome to grow in our backyard all summer.

But, you know, darn it, now I’m going to be worrying about them all summer . . .