Here's something I need a word for. I'm calling it “piggyback”, but the more I say it the more it seems wrong. It’s when a plant growing beneath another sends up a bloom that appears to be from the wrong plant. It’s a common phenomenon. I’m finding it more and more as I pay attention. The most common culprit in this area is a variety of oxalis. A neighbor with this beautiful weed growing lusciously in his garden gave me the name. He hoes around it, until it gets out of hand, allowing it to bloom. It forms a beautiful yellow blanket that rivals the California poppy. Sometimes the yellow takes your breath away. But it has a tendency to piggyback.

Here are a few examples.

This seems to be a succulent in bloom, except the succulents are already blooming. There is no trace of the double shamrock leaves. Just a single bloom with more on the way.

This looks innocent enough. Lots of green leaves and a handful of yellow flowers. Except that not one leaf has anything to do with yellow flowers. They have merely poked their heads up to bask in the sun.

Here they are not quite piggybacking. They are growing from under one plant and starting to overgrow an overturned brightly colored umbrella. Without the yellow, this would just be a jumble.

And here, one weed inside another.

And here a white geranium blooming from a common succulent.

And finally, a clear example of piggybacking that I just discovered. It’s beneath my mail box. I was on my way to dialysis and was stunned by this purple bloom. I had never seen such a bloom on a succulent. Two days later, when I felt better, I took a serious look at the stem supporting it. It went down to a small plant, completely hidden, with long pointy leaves. The only visible portion was this collection of beautiful flowers resting on succulent leaves. They have nothing to do with succulents. They are simply piggybacking.