The Lovely Locks

I spent a sunny afternoon at the Ballard Locks, looking at flowers, birds and water. The Ballard Locks is also home to a botanical garden. I love wandering around and learning the names of different flowers. The plant name creators of the world seem to be a creative lot.  He are some pictures I took of daylily name placards.

My favorite of course is 'Little Fat Dazzler.' What awesome name for a flower! Also, I feel like the name Little Fat Dazzler has a story behind it. This is what I think the story is. Long ago in the seventies, a gardener lived with her daughter in a small town. Every year, the town put on a fourth of July festival which included a talent show. The gardener's daughter was a girl with charisma and a thrill for performance. But she was also an overweight little girl, and we all know how cruel the world can be to a person who is overweight, especially girls and women. The daughter felt sorry for her beautiful, overweight daughter. But her daughter did not feel sorry for herself. The daughter was strong, and knew she was beautiful and that her worth went much further than her beauty. The little girl entered the talent show with a baton that she lit on fire and twirled around and around, dazzling anyone who witnessed the spectacular feat of showmanship. She entered the talent show under the stage name 'Little Fat Dazzler'. With her name she wanted to claim her youth, her size and her ability to dazzle. Of course, Little Fat Dazzler won the talent show! The gardener was always so proud of her daughter not just because of her charisma and talent, but because of her wisdom and self resilience. So in later years when her daughter was grown and taking the world by storm, the gardener discovered a new type of daylily. The bold little flower reminded the gardener of her bold daughter, so she named the flower Fat Little Dazzler.

I like the name Wally also. I imagine a widow named her newly discovered species of daylily after her late husband Wally. Wally probably helped her plant daylillies every year and now that he is gone, she thinks of him whenever the daylillies bloom. 

Here are other daylily names that are delightful: Little Zinger, Pardon Me, Madame Ruby, Miss Amelia, Jellyfish Jealousy, Ninja Throwing Star, Moral Fiber, Hot Gossip, Circulatory System and Selma Longlegs. 

Here are some more beautiful plants I admired on my day at the locks.

The world is more beautiful with flowers and it is always so grand to see them collected together in one place. 

There were also lots of birds at the locks! Birds soaring above. Birds stretching their wings to the sun. Birds eating seeds and insects from the wet and grassy ground.

There are always lots of geese at the locks. They love all the grass. When I see them, they remind me of grazing dinosaurs. One day, I brought a book to the locks and found a grassy spot in the sun to read. My spot was right next to a gaggle of geese. It felt like we were hanging out together, even though they kept eyeing me nervously.

You can't go to the locks without seeing water. 

I love water! I love swimming in it, feeling it fall from the sky and watching it whirl around. Water is beautiful, refreshing and full of mystery! Who knows what is lucking underneath all that frothy water! A sea monster may peak his head up at any moment.