Today as I walked on our patio, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a flash of red on our pathetic bougainvillea plants.

Closer examination confirmed it: There are three flowers on the plant my husband gave me for my birthday three years ago. Amazing!Three flowers might not sound like much to get excited about - unless you experienced three years of frustration and failure with those plants.When David gave me the two bougainvillea plants, they were gorgeous with a riot of red flowers. We planted them against an ugly old fence, thinking the flowers would brighten our view.Well, within a few weeks the flowers were gone, never to appear again. At first we thought the flowers would come back again next season. They never did.I went online and read everything I could about bougainvillea that won't flower. According to a major nursery, it's a common problem. The suggestion was to cut down the plant to just a foot or two and let it start growing all over again.I did that, along with every other suggestion I found.The plants grew vigorously. But no flowers.So I learned to ignore the useless plants along my fence, knowing nothing I could do would make them flower again.Today I found they did that on their own.There's a lesson from nature in that. Several lessons, actually.One, of course, is that patience brings dividends.The other is that no matter how hard we try, many things are out of our control but will get better on their own.Coincidentally, the Scripture reading in church the day before my bougainvillea flowered was about a fig tree that wouldn't produce fruit. I think the Scripture was about second chances.Nature teaches us to believe in second chances, both for people and for plants.I have two trees in my front yard that I have named. One is Love the other is Hope.Every time I water, prune or weed around the huge pineapple date palm tree, I have happy memories and am filled with love for the two friends who planted the tree in memory of Andy, my late husband.When it was planted, we had a wonderful ceremony of remembrance with my friends Pricilla, Frank and RaeAnn joining in. Ever since, it's been my tree of love.On the other hand, the tree I named Hope started with a betrayal. I paid a so-called landscaper $400 to put in a triple-trunk pygmy date palm tree and cut some hedges in the front yard. He never did any landscaping and never planted a tree.But he did come to my front door demanding $200 more before he did any work. Let's just say the confrontation got nasty and I had to call the police.Because I produced a bill of sale from the landscaper, he was told he had to plant the promised tree - or face arrest. Instead of the nice-sized tree I was promised, he planted an 18-inch twig that never grew.But I left it there and kept hoping. Finally, after five years of dormancy, the tree of hope sprang to life in a glorious way.What did nature teach me? Hope keeps us going and eventually triumphs.I learn my best lessons from nature at the seashore. Sitting quietly in front of the ocean turns into a prayer of worship and gratitude.One lesson the beach teaches is the importance of taking time out from a busy life and just reveling in the beauty of nature.I love collecting seashells and find I can never do it without getting some lessons from nature.Just look at the variety of shells. There are thousands, yet each one is different, just like us. We come in many sizes, shapes and colors. But basically, we share the same nature.In collecting seashells, you'll find most have flaws, some big, some small.Isn't that just like us? None of us are perfect. But we are each beautiful and are worth keeping.Life is like collecting seashells: We seldom have enough and we always want more.The best lesson nature taught me is that it doesn't take much to soothe my soul. Any little bit of nature can do it - watching water dance in sunlight like so many jewels sparkling on the water, listening to the sweet serenade of a bird, laughing at the funny song the crows sing, seeing an American Eagle feed fish to its babies.Enjoying a dark night with a bright full moon, sitting in front of the ocean and listening to the mesmerizing sound of the waves, watching the magical dolphins jump in their dance of joy, catching a glimpse of a manatee while kayaking, watching the constant entertainment at a bird feeder, seeing the close-up face of a gopher turtle, seeing the morning sun slowly light up the sky or seeing another spectacular sunset - the list goes on and on.The contentment nature brings doesn't depend on how much money is in our wallet or how much ability we have. It depends only on our sense of appreciation. And the more time we spend up close with nature, the more we gain that appreciation.Nature taught me that the more we look closely at our natural world, the more we know the meaning of awe.Contact Pattie Mihalik at

newsgirl@comcast.net.