No, there is not an Echo in here…an Echo in here.

Echo was, according to Greek mythology, a Nymph who lost her heart to a gorgeous young man named Narcissus. She had already ticked off the goddess Hera with her idle chatter. For that offense, Echo had lost her ability to speak her own words. Echo could only repeat the words of others.

Echo was so smitten with Narcissus that she followed him as he hunted in the woods, hoping to hear words of endearment that she could repeat to him. But, Narcissus wasn’t interested in love. He only cared about himself.

Nemesis, a minor goddess, took pity on poor Echo and decided to get revenge for her. When Narcissus got thirsty and bent to drink water from a quiet pool, he saw his own reflection. He didn’t know he was looking at himself. Narcissus just saw a really handsome face looking at him. Nemesis caused Narcissus to fall in love at last—with himself.

He whispered, “I love you.” Echo, delighted to be able to speak at last, whispered, “I love you.” But Narcissus didn’t notice her, because he was spellbound by the good looking face smiling back at him from the water. He forgot to eat and drink, and after weeks he died. In his place, a beautiful flower, named for him, sprang up. Echo stood beside the flower and pined until she faded away, leaving only her voice to senselessly repeat the words of others.

I had to tell you that story. I’ve always loved it, and only because of a plant I’ve had since the 1980s. Today, I walked out in the yard and noticed that my Narcissus is starting to sprout. That always gives me a thrill, because I inherited that plant from my Grandmommy Duncan.

One day when I was visiting her at her home in Oak Cliff (in Dallas), she pointed to a section of the garden and said, “Go and dig there. You’ll find the Narcissus that I’ve had since I was a young girl. It has beautiful flowers. I planted it at the farm in Styx and have dug it up to take with me every time I moved. It’s yours now.”

What a treasure! She had been carrying this plant with her from place to place for sixty some odd years. In among the dead stalks of the irises I dug. Grandmommy assured me I had the treasured Narcissus bulbs. I planted them at my home in Lindsay, Texas. To my dismay they never bloomed. When we moved to Southlake, I moved the plant with me. Once during the many years I lived there the plant bloomed. It was magnificent. But, it didn’t like where it was planted and didn’t bloom again. Twice more I moved, and twice more I dug up the bulbs to take with me, but was disappointed each time.

When I moved to Denton four years ago, I planted the bulbs. Voila! They had found their home. Each year since then I am treated to the most magnificent flowers with a heavenly smell. When springtime comes, I check on their progress every day excitedly waiting for the blooms and hoping that I’m not on the road for a week when they finally burst open.

Today I decided to post about my narcissus plant and googled “narcissus” for images on-line. NOOOO! My plant is NOT a narcissus! A narcissus resembles a daffodil a little bit. Mine looks more like an enormous chrysanthemum with a heavenly scent.

I’m crushed. Now I have to wait for it to bloom so I can take it to a garden center and find out what the heck it is.

Google is not my friend! But, I still love the flowers because Grandmommy gave them to me and they ARE beautiful. And I still love the story.

Technorati Tags: Echo, Greek mythology, Narcissus, flowers