When I started my wildflower garden, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing.

I knew I had to clear the soil and plant some seeds. That’s a good start, right?

But then I had to decide which sprouts were going to give me flowers and which needed to be uprooted as weeds.

I let a few of them Grow until halfway through that first summer before I yanked them out. No flowers? Fine! No growing in my plot of dirt, then!

But then I learned about biennials and late bloomers. Some just needed that first year to get established before they could show me their finery, but I never gave them a chance. Others would have bloomed beautifully that same autumn, but I’d already deemed them unworthy of my garden space and gotten rid of them.

I really missed out!

This year I simply let the space do its thing. I barely weeded, and even let a bit of grass grow for more of a meadowy look. I’ve been rewarded with large patches of white autumn asters and cudweed, and a few goldenrod plants starting to show their stuff.

The local bumblebees have been happily feasting, and that brings me joy!

Another Fall flower that surprised me this year is our patch of Montauk daisies. We’ve had no blooms for several years, and had pretty much just given up on the poor things. But this year we’ll have five flowers! Here’s the first one that opened just this morning:

Today I got to thinking about how hasty we can be in our judgment of others, just as I was with my flowers.

We can often give up on someone way too early, long before they’re ready to be who or what we think they should be, and we deem them unworthy of our time and attention.

In our speedy judgment, how many masterpieces have we missed because we didn’t have patience with the growth process in others?

Maybe it’s time to take a peek into our own past to remember how long it took us to grow to what we are now.

In any case, none of us has reached perfection anyway. Perhaps we could spare a bit of grace for one another as we cheer each other on toward maturity!

Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.

2 Corinthians 13:11 NLT