The mutant cone

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I have long prided myself as a gardener, an art passed down from my mother. Several summers ago I got a surprise amidst my coneflowers. Instead of the usual pink flowers, I had one plant where the flowers were all green with what looked like miniature green flowers shooting off the main cone like fireworks. I was delighted with my “mutant cone.” All my friends and neighbors loved it. Year after year we awaited its return.

However, disappointment struck when I was reading my hometown paper this past summer online, The Courier Journal out of Louisville, Ky. What I thought was one of nature’s pure works of art turned out to be a serious plant disease. In no uncertain terms, the article instructed readers to dig up and burn any such infected plant before it infected the rest of your garden, where some plants could not battle the disease.

With a heavy heart, I went to the garden and dug up my precious mutant. Sure enough, I could see on other plants telltale afflictions that were described in the article. It was a sad day indeed.

Kathy Buckmaster
Wake Forest, Wake EMC

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