I Do Believe in Fairies!
We have a few different varieties of lantana growing in our front yard. Lantana has tiny blossoms clustered together to make up what appears to be a big blossom; I think the botanical term used to describe this type of flower is umbelliferous. The cool thing about them is that you can have a single cluster that features several different colors (yellow, orange, fuchsia). I love them because they bloom all summer long and the butterflies visit them.
Lucas recently picked some lantana flowers off the bush and dismantled the clusters into their tiny flowers parts. Then he left them in a dish of water outside so that the water fairies could enjoy them.
Lucas told me all about fairies during this process. I learned a ton of stuff I didn’t know before. I’ll sum it up for you here:
* water faires like gifts of flowers
* water fairies are in charge of keeping all the water fresh and clean; they also make the morning dew
* there are many varieties of fairies, including dust fairies, crystal fairies, grass fairies, flower fairies, light fairies, air fairies, fire fairies, rainbow fairies
* “There are many, many dust fairies at Burning Man, Mom.”
* the fairies work to keep the world healthy, safe, and happy
* the fairies work in conjunction with gnomes who help the roots of plants grow into the earth, mine for minerals and crystals, and generally keep our earthy foundations strong
December 6, 2006 at 8:13 am
“umbelliferous” is my new favorite word.
December 6, 2006 at 8:34 am
Those are some of my favorite flowers. Glad to know what they’re called.
December 6, 2006 at 7:50 pm
I think we’re going to plant some lantana in our yard next year. It’s one of the last flowers around here to be blooming late into the fall. Apparently they may also attract fairies 🙂