Turns out, I am the Hen…

Not that I am feeling depressed or full of emotion, but life in my garden this year seem to be mirroring my real life. Let me explain a bit and you will come to see what I mean by this.

I have a long standing affinity to chicks and hens. Not the birds, although they can be cute. I am speaking of the succulent-like plants. We had a neighbor when I was growing up (5-8 years of age) who had plenty of chicks and hens on the side of her house right next to her driveway. She was a very sweet lady named Mrs. Thomas. She had curly gray hair, glasses, wore a housecoat and had a turkey neck. I guess most of what I remember about Mrs. Thomas was kindness and fowl related…chicks, hens and turkey neck! In hindsight, I realize that Mrs. Thomas more than likely had some sort of health condition that helped her gain a turkey neck. I also realize that I know nothing about her except that she was nice and had the cool chicks and hens plants that made me decide about 45 years later that I wanted to have my own chicks and hens.

I bought some a few years ago. I placed them right next to my driveway, I suppose in honor of Mrs. Thomas. They have thrived! I love them. They have been one of the easiest to care for plants EVER.

This year, I noticed that parts of my chickens and hens were growing tall and sprouting flowers. I researched what was happening. It turns out that is how new chicks come to be! The flowering plant seeds and then dies, there is no way to preserve the life of the flowering plant. They are considered monocarpic plants, so you will only see blooms on each plant once.

I am a hen who had two chicks at once. They were my only chicks! My twins have reached adulthood and graduated this summer. Soon they will be flying out of the coop! While this does not mean I am necessarily monocarpic in the full sense of the word, I did flower and seed once. While I am not planning on dying off like the mama hen plant, I am moving on to a new phase of my life and my babies have sprouted and will soon be moving into their new phases of their lives.

I am the hen! I am okay with this. I am ready to see how the next parts of our lives unfold. It is all part of the circle of life, right?