Consider the Hollyhocks

Consider the hollyhocks that lurk outside my kitchen window, like lanky juveniles. Inarticulate. In the way. Impossible to ignore.

Consider the hollyhocks. Seeds acquired, not from the sale of a cow, but from a plant we happened upon, as we journeyed.
The good news is that they were free.
The bad news is that we cannot clamber up them to some mythical kingdom in the sky, where hens lay golden eggs and grumpy giants roam. That sort of thing only happens in fairy tales, or so Jack told me...

Consider the hollyhocks - their pairing reminiscent of sentries.  Biological bookends. Buds tightly closed, as they alone know the colour of their blooms, while we watch on with expectancy.
We can not rush them or dictate the day of their flowering, for they will open in the own time. All we can do is watch on, and speculate.

Consider the hollyhocks. These twin towers of vegetation are now tall enough to peer in our window. If I were of fanciful disposition, I might imagine that they are self-appointed observers of our human infrastructure and interaction. Yet they have no understanding of the implications of our deliberations even those concerning man's inhumanity to humanity. However, if they looked carefully around the immediate environment, they would have noted plants within cages, but these are to support and enable, not restrict. Meanwhile, we glimpse through windows into other worlds, and think we have grasped the essence, but can an outsider ever really see more than those within chose to reveal?

Consider the hollyhocks. Their needs are simple.
Light - essential! The sunnier and drier the better - within reason.
A place and space to grow - despite their height they can appear through a crack in the pavement. Poor soil does not faze them, they love a challenge!
Water - some is required, not a lot. Remember they thrive in dry places, but not desert conditions

Consider the hollyhocks. Do they wonder where humans have their roots, for must have noticed that we are not the same? Humans move around, sometimes with purpose and at other times resembling tumbleweed, seemingly at the mercy of external forces.

Consider the hollyhocks. How seriously do they take mission? Are they keen to grow new hollyhocks, or are they only interested in their own growth?

Consider the hollyhocks? Of course I will! I think they are blooming marvellous!