Hey, you know that cotton candy flower plant? It’s a right pretty thing. I seen one down at Coleman’s flower place, that Coleman Brothers in Richmond. It said “Cotton Candy – T037-1A” on the little tag. I reckon they got lots of flowers, but this one, it just caught my eye. You can get them to bring it right to ya, if you want. They call that delivery.
This here plant, they call it a “perennial.” That just means it comes back every year. Don’t gotta plant it new every spring, no sir. They call this one kind “Phlox”. And this here “Cotton Candy” Phlox, it got these big pink flowers. Smell real good too, just like that sweet stuff you get at the fair. It’s from that big ol’ group they call “Phlox paniculata”. That’s a mouthful, ain’t it?
They say this cotton candy flower plant, it’s a special kind, a “cultivar” they call it. Means it’s been played with a bit, I reckon. To make it extra pretty. This one’s called ‘Cotton Candy’, they done crossed it with some other plant. They call it a “hybrid”, some fella named Thurman Maness. Now, I don’t know nothin’ about no Thurman Maness, but he made a right pretty flower.
This plant, it grows in a big clump, all bunched up together. And it gets these tall pointy things, they call them “spikes” or “racemes”. Fancy words, I know. But them spikes, they full of them pretty pink flowers. And the leaves go up the stem, one this side, one that side. They say that’s “alternate”. This plant, it can get right tall, two or three feet, I reckon. That’s taller than my old hound dog, Buster!
- It’s called cotton candy flower plant.
- It got pretty pink flowers.
- It smells real sweet.
- It comes back every year.
- It grows in a clump.
- It gets tall spikes of flowers.
- Some guy named Thurman made it.
Now, there’s this other thing I heard about, a tree. They call it a “Katsura”. Now that’s a funny name. Sounds like somethin’ you’d hear in one of them foreign places. This tree, it ain’t from around here. It’s from “Japan”, they say, and it is “Cercidiphyllum Japonicum” in the Fall. Don’t got no pretty flowers, not like that cotton candy one. They say the flowers is on different trees, some boy trees, some girl trees. But you can’t hardly see ’em anyway. But you know what? That tree, when the leaves turn in the fall, it smells like cotton candy! Can you believe that?
Then there’s another one, a “smoketree”. This one here is called an “American smoketree”, and it is a “C. obovatus”. They say it’s a “cultivar” too, like that cotton candy flower. Grows kinda middlin’ fast, not too quick, not too slow. And it gets round, kinda like a big ball. The leaves is kinda egg-shaped, they say, “obovate”. Or maybe “elliptical”, who knows what that means! They is a dull green on top, and a little lighter underneath. Not real shiny or nothin’.
That smoketree, it can be a little tree or a big bush, depends on how it feels, I reckon. But that Katsura tree, that’s a real tree. They say it’s a good shade tree. But that cotton candy flower plant, that’s the one for pretty. And it smells so good. If I had a garden, I’d plant me a whole bunch of them cotton candy flowers. I would put some in the front yard for sure!
You ever think about plantin’ one of them cotton candy flower plants? It’s real easy, I hear. Just dig a little hole, put it in, cover it up with dirt. Water it good, and that’s it. Then you just wait for them pretty flowers to pop up. It’s like magic, kinda. Nature’s magic.
I reckon that is all I know about that cotton candy flower plant. These plants is so pretty, you should look it up yourself. Might get yourself some for your own yard. Just think of them pretty pink flowers, smellin’ all sweet. You won’t be sorry, I tell ya! Just don’t forget to water them, especially in that hot summer, they will be thirsty and need a lot of water. I hope you can plant many beautiful flowers and have a good harvest.
