Bright flowers, whose home is everywhere
Bold in maternal nature’s care
And all the long year through the heir of joy and sorrow,
Methinks that there abides in thee some concord with humanity…
~William Wordsworth

Not all the flowers in the photo are daisies but all are bold, bright, and beautiful members of the same family.  And Wordsworth’s assumption that there seems to abide in them “some concord with humanity” is astute since all have coexisted for eons right alongside mankind.  Every flower in the photo, as well as a host of others, belong to the Asteraceae family, a family of plants over 40 million years old.  Asteraceae are found everywhere on the planet except Antarctica and the extreme Arctic; none of them need much tending; and all can be grown with very little effort in a wide variety of soils.  In additon, members of the Asteraceae family are pollinated by beneficial insects which make them invaluable assets for farmers and gardeners alike.  Methinks, then, that’s why “bright flowers, whose home is everywhere” are as hallowed an echo of Eden as is humanity.

May God bless the soil and may it forever be wholesome and fruitful. . .
May there always be sufficient water, warmth, and light for earth’s crops. . .
May God bless all seed-bearing plants for their bounty of food and flower. . .
May seeds never fail to burst into the fullness of their kind. . .
May God bless the farmer’s labors and the gardener’s work. . .
May all the world’s crops be plentiful and good. . .
May God bless us all, great and small. . .
May earth’s peoples be good stewards of God’s Creation. . .
And may summer perpetually reveal God’s wondrous ways.

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.   ~John 1:3 (NIV)   ✝