Once upon a time, a gardener planted a tiny flower into the ground.

Around the flower were lots of rocks and weeds. Beneath the soil were scary ants and bugs that no one could see. The flower had been planted in a very bad place.

Almost everyday the Gardener would come out and say to the seedling, “Why won’t you grow?! I have given you the ground! I am unhappy.”

When the gardener would say this, the flower felt sad. The flower would try to stretch, move the rocks, and escape the animals below but did not have the strength not make it to the top of the soil.

“It must be my fault, said the flower, and if only I could move these rocks and weeds. Then I could be a beautiful plant and the Gardener would be happy.”

Not even the gardener could see the trouble surrounding the flower. The ground had not been tended and the flower had been planted before the ground was ready.

“I have planted other flowers in this soil and they have grown. It must be the fault of the nursery who gave me the flower in the first place!” The gardener went to the nursery and complained about the tiny flower in the ground.

“You gave me a flower that will not grow, said the gardener, you must refund me the money I paid for this plant!”

The plant man said, “I have given you the rarest most beautiful flower in the world. I believe that it will grow and become the most beautiful piece in your garden! I will give you some materials to help it grow.

The gardener came back to the land but decided that it was still the fault of the man and the plant so the gardener used the materials to tend to the other plants. The gardener was so unhappy and blamed it on the flower and the plant man. 

One day a lady bug living in the nursery came to the plant man. “Why do you seem so upset?”

“I have given the gardener the most beautiful flower I’ve ever had. I worry that its beauty may be lost and I will never get to see it flourish. Would you please go to the garden and see if the flower has what it needs to grow?”

“Of course, said the lady bug, we have built this beautiful nursery together and I’m sure we can make that plant flourish!”

The lady bug began her long journey to the ground where the flower was. She immediately saw the rocks and weeds and new the flower could not grow.  She went into the ground.

“Gasp! Stay away! Yelled the flower, you must be one of those animals who are stopping me from growing!” Just then the gardener came over and said, “Shoo! Shoo! Lady bug! You are why my plant won’t grow!” The lady bug quickly ran away.

The gardener said, “It’s those lady bugs! Don’t ever speak to them again. They have poisonous venom and will eat your blossoms!”

When the lady bug returned to the nursery it said to the plant man, “That flower is surrounded by trouble and we must go and rescue it! We must remove those rocks and weeds and bring it back to the nursery!”

The plant man and lady bug had arrived at the garden just in time. The flower had become weak from trying so hard to make the gardener happy. It had lost all hope. “Come to the nursery said the lady bug we will help you grow into a beautiful plant!” “NO! Cried the flower the gardener said that you are poisonous and I will never grow! I will never grow around you and I can do fine on my own!”

The plant man and lady bug were sad wishing that the tiny flower had never started out in the scary ground. “I’m so sorry for all your trouble said the plant man but if you come back to the nursery we will give you lots of love and sunshine.”  They began digging through the rocky soil and pulled the tiny weak flower from the ground.

When they returned to the nursery the flower refused to move an inch. “All I wanted was to make the gardener happy and now I can never do that! I know lady bugs are poisonous and will eat my blossoms.” 

The lady bug tried to convince the flower that this was not true and no matter what the plant man and lady bug tried it looked like the flower would not grow. 

In the nursery were other very healthy beautiful plants but the flower, still in the ground could not see them. With sunshine beaming on the barren ground the plant began to feel the warmth of the rays of sun. The lady bug went into the ground and began picking the tiny mites off the roots of the young plant. The flower screamed, “I knew you were trouble! What are you doing?”

The lady bug said, “There is no need to be so angry. You have tiny mites on your roots and I am simply taking them away so you can grow. The plant man is outside gathering all the materials you need. When you grow the gardener will be happy and so will you.”
The flower just would not trust the lady bug remembering everything that the gardener had said. The flower would cry and do everything it could to avoid the lady bug and plant man from taking care of it.

After many, many days a butterfly appeared. “Hi! The butterfly said cheerfully, you must be the beautiful plant that everyone is talking about!”
“I’m no beautiful plant; the flower said sadly, there is no hope of becoming so beautiful.”

“You need the lady bug and plant man to take care of you, said the butterfly, If you trust me I can prove that you will flourish!” “No you can’t! I already know that this is how I will be.”

“Well said the beautiful butterfly, that’s a shame! You see, I was once an ugly caterpillar and it took many years for me to become a butterfly. I didn’t trust that I would ever come out of my cocoon but when I finally believed I came out and could fly! I had beautiful wings and colors! I would have never believed it but when I finally I tried it was true. If you would just try you will see like I did!”

The flower said, “You were an ugly caterpillar?!”
“Yes, said the butterfly but I knew deep down inside that there was something beautiful!”

The flower began to trust the butterfly and slowly, the plant man, and even more slowly the lady bug. Together they worked everyday without giving up hope and finally…

The flower had come up from the ground and into the sunshine!  The warmth of the sun felt so good on the little leaves of the flower that is began to blossom. “The sunshine feels so good on my leaves! You were right butterfly! I am growing!”

Over time the flower continued to blossom and became the most beautiful plant in the entire nursery. In fact because it grew so big and beautiful the other plants grew more too! It had become the biggest most magnificent garden in the world and all the plants and animals lived in harmony. It was so big that anyone on the outside could not see it unless they climbed a huge latter and looked down upon it.

One day the flower when had grown so big and magnificent it thought, “I wish the gardener could see that I have become the most beautiful plant in the entire garden.” Just then from the sky on top of the latter the gardener looked in wonder.

“You are beautiful! The most beautiful plant I have ever seen! I am so sorry for planting you in the rocky ground. I could not see all the trouble around you beneath the soil. I was unhappy because I could not help you grow. But now I see how beautiful you have become. You can trust the plant man, the lady bug, and the butterfly. They will give you what you need. I will be the ray of sunshine and will always be around you.”

The flower then felt at peace in its new healthy ground with the lady bugs the plant man and the butterfly. They all lived happily ever after in harmony and in sunshine.