On the Ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, nine ladies dancing.   Just as people can dance and move, certain plants possess rhythm and music in their movements.  When a breeze sweeps by they may swing and sway.  Some have a pattern and repetition just like the steps in a dance.  Other plants seem to be decked out in costume, lighting up the stage with their tulle and taffeta.  I watched the Nutcracker Ballet this season and during the Waltz of the Flowers  the costumes were so beautiful, light and shimmering in pastel colors that I was lost in field of flowers during the dance. They transformed the dancers into petals floating on the breeze.  Twirling and whirling on a soft summer day.  I think that plants enjoy this dance as well.  The delicate petals falling on moss surprise me with their random design.  The pattern of bark exposed on a bare winter tree reminds me of a belly dance.  The Japanese Maples with their delicate and artistic structure, yet possessing great strength, could be the ballet dancers.  Why not let the horsetail perform the riverdance?  Growing in moist places, straight and true.  The spirals of the wisteria vine and the topiary are doing the Twist.  Curling their way upward.  The witchhazel plants are reaching out to each other, like two partners in a waltz.  Taking turns leading.  One day yellow leads out with its sparkly flowers, the next red takes over. The blueberries are in the midst of a folkdance.  Moving through the patterns of ripeness, from green to perfect blue.  The beautiful trees, in fresh flower and leaf are definitely doing the swing, as they wave to me in the breeze.  The tree with its roots exposed is a hip-hop dancer, showing off its flexibility and power.    Just look around, you’ll see that plants are not frozen in place.  They cavort, they jump and leap, they twist and twirl, they whirl, spin and prance.  Yes, plants can dance!  Do you have any dancing plants?

Petals on Moss

Roses in Costume

Echinacea

Twinkle Toes

Hoh Rainforest

Lawn Maze

Grass

Weeping Willow

Lavender

The Dove Tree

Flowering Dogwood

Epimedium

Horsetail, unstoppable

Flowering Cherry

Adirondack April Flowers

Winterhazel

Fireweed in Alaska

Japanese Maple Ukigumo

Giant Wisteria Vine at the Arboretum

New Zealand Pampas Grass

Crape Myrtle Hybrid

Spiral Chamaecyparis

Witchhazel in bloom