I had a nice reminder the other day of why I should let my daughter introduce me to plants (before I rush in to share my knowledge). She brought me to see a plant that her and a friend had found and told me she called it a Tooth Fairy Plant. How apt! The flowers really do look like teeth. It is refreshing to see a plant from a new perspective, especially from a child’s.
The plant’s common name, Dutchman’s breeches, is also suiting. Dicentra cucullaria in latin. But I will forever think of it as the Tooth Fairy Plant.
We sat and made up a little story together of how the Tooth Fairy Plant came to be:
She also pointed to a Trout Lily leaf and told me, “the leaf has brown spots all over it because the fairies played in the mud and then walked all over the leaves.” I adore her imagination and seeing nature through her eyes.
Let our children lead and teach us too, Kate