Volunteers pop unexpectedly

MEEKER — When have you ever heard anyone claim there are just too many volunteers to use them all? Never before, but this year around town with the long winter holding off spring, a different kind of volunteer is brightening up people’s lives. Flowers of every variety — such as poppies, roses and daisies are suddenly popping up all over town — in alleys, on the curb lawn, in between houses. Usually people just let them go to seed, as for a few days in late spring, early summer, these bright spots of color are only appreciated by an occasional passerby or two.
All those under used volunteers throughout the town are brightening up places that normally wouldn’t have much appeal. These are the hardy, stalwart, persistent ones that pop up in the most unexpected places. A week or so ago, a huge purple puffball on a slender stem appeared between our fence and our neighbor’s fence. A few days later, I noticed quite a few more that had wedged themselves in between the wires of the fence. It brought back memories of a neighbor, who took pleasure in planting a wide variety of perennials to see which ones would survive the long winter.
Clipping off the early blooms and taking them up to a friend in the hospital, I realized that all over town, unappreciated volunteers, such as these, were going to seed before anyone got a ounce of pleasure out of them. Walking around town I noticed dozens more that bloomed in places that no one visits much anymore — they are thriving behind ramshackle sheds, in between clumps of neglected, overgrown bushes and next to garbage cans in alleys all over the community.
Many of Meeker’s annual celebrations depend on volunteers, but these unused plant variety of volunteers could be put to good use with a little planning. People who visit hospital or nursing home residents regularly could go out in late spring and cull the best blooms. The recent trend to do random acts of kindness could extend to taking a bunch or two to someone who needs a bright spot in their life at that moment.
Can’t you just picture it? Soon there might even be the formation of two not-for-profit organizations called FLOWERS — Find Lots Of Wildflowers Everywhere Soon — or FLUFF — Find Lovely Underappreci-ated Flowers Far and wide.