Why do we go to see fireworks every year on the Fourth of July? Because we love the colors? Because there is something magical about a man-made version of shooting stars? Because we have to have something to do for excitement and on that day fireworks are IT? Each year as I watch fireworks, I wonder what it is that draws people to them. They are, I suppose, a form of exhibition art. They are, like theater, a performance never to be repeated in exactly the same way. They spark excitement. Most important, however, may be the fact that their impermanence makes us seek them while we can.

So it is with cyperus papyrus King Tut. An annual grass I have planted in a pot on my deck, it is a one-season affair. If I want one next year I'll have to buy a new one (or figure out how to winter this one over until spring). Yet I had to have one this year, after seeing them last year at Sargent's Garden Center in Rochester. Why did I have to have it? Because I love the color (the fresh green reminds me of bamboo). Because there is something magical about a plant that shoots out on the end like fireworks. And because I have to have some plants that just add excitement to the pot arrangement on the deck, and this year this one is IT. It is its impermanence, though, that tugs at me. Like a child at the fireworks, I don't want this plant to end. And so I seek it while I can.