Love volunteers. If Mother Nature wants something to grow in my garden, then she will get it to grow there. Of course, myself and some previous owners of my Tidewater Victorian have acted as Mother Nature's agents, but that is beside the point.

(Stock picture from Google, Not mine but the same)

Case in point. Two years ago, we went to the local townwide yard sale. It is fun, they have antique and fancy cars, good food, music, lots of junk to look at and resist buying. Happened to be there about two that afternoon and it started to rain. One of the booths was the Master Gardeners of Virginia and they had a big box of iris rhizomes. Sold me the whoooole box for five bucks. Meant to be. The moles and voles did not eat them up like they did my tulips. Turns out there were about thirty iris plants in the box. Planted them in groups of five and more than a foot between each plant. Beautiful blue flags. My Mother, God rest her soul, called them flags. This year, noticed that they are pretty jumbled so did what the book says and dug them up to separate them. Each group that started out as five had thirty rhizomes in it! Love those iris and they seem to love me. They are now all around my yard. Also going to my two sons' yards and the neighbor's yard and to the local handicapped nursery. Plan on getting some more of different colors just to help Mother Nature some more.

One of my dogwoods a couple of springs ago.

When we bought the house, there was one nice big purple crape myrtle in the front. And some pink ones beside the driveway, actually in a neighbor's property. Guess what? They reproduce! Likewise a dogwood at the the corner of the porch. And some pines that somehow got across the street from Jack's yard. And some magnolias from the neighbor's yard. Now have a yard with a bunch of pines, magnolias, dogwoods for spring show, crape myrtles for summer show. Love those pines, crape myrtles, dogwoods, magnolias.

A flower on my crape myrtle.

A phone camera picture of a funny looking guy holding a watermelon

But the best of all was when doing some weeding out by the kitchen window, between my house and my neighbors, noticed something that looked familiar and not like a weed. So let it grow. Turns out it is a watermelon vine. It is taking over the whole yard and about to move in with us. Harvested the first melon from it yesterday and you have never in your life tasted a better watermelon. Heavy and sweet as candy. And full of seeds. And there are at least five more of them growing on it. Plenty to share with the neighbor. Thank you, Mother Nature (plus whoever spit a seed there). Just have to clean up all the unmowed grass and unweeded patches after it goes. Next years vines will not be volunteers, saved a bunch of seeds.

A beautiful creature eating one of my delicious watermelons.

Volunteerism is great.