I like almost all flowers and can usually find something good to say about any plant. I’m not deterred even by the fact that we have in our gardens just about every plant mentioned today in a newspaper article, Mean and Green, about invasive plants. But I am most entranced by plants that produce good cut flowers for arrangements. One of my first tasks each morning is to walk out to the back garden, scissors and a basket packed with containers of water in hand, to pick whatever has blossomed during the night. After a three day vacation in Canada, I came home to a bounty of gorgeous blooms. The challenge becomes to get them arranged in vases for my house, for my mother, and for friends, before they lose their fresh beauty. This is a picture of all the flowers I picked today, an array of colors and shapes in vases with their own histories: one a gift from Christy, another from Elaine, one of a pair that my Aunt Patsy recalls were on the mantel the day of her wedding, a spoon holder and a celery glass from Ralph’s grandparents’ era, several bought over the years at garage sales or the Salvation Army store. This is the kind of day I dream about all through the spring and early summer.