Lily in Full Bloom Read Online Free Page B

bit more. All the panglories in the garden were as gray as the ones in the centerpieces. If anything, her garden panglories seemed worse.
    Lily fretted over the plants. Were they sick? But nothing else about them had changed. That was the funny thing. None of them looked droopy or wilted.
    They were just very, very pale.
    Bumble buzzed over to Lily from a poppy he’d been nestled in. Lily looked at her friend and then back at the flowers. “What’s going on?” she muttered. “What happened to all the bright colors?”
    Lily sighed. For a moment, she let herself slump against the gate. Everything had been going so well! But she didn’t let herself feel down for long. She straightened up and turned to the nearest panglory patch. “Well, we’ll figure it out. You’ll have your color back in no time!” she said cheerfully.
    For the rest of the day, Lily took care of the panglories. She sprinkled them with big pinches of fairy dust. She tickled them under their petals. She even watered them an extra time before heading home for the evening.

    The next morning, Lily entered the garden feeling hopeful. But when she saw the panglories, she stopped short. “Oh, no!” she cried.
    The flowers were no better. In fact, many looked faded right through the petals.
    Lily spent the whole day in her garden. She was so worried about her flowers, she no longer cared about Tink’s challenge. She just wanted to see the colorful blossoms growing strong again. She watered. She tended. She weeded. She even asked a light fairy to shine some extra light on the pansies.
    “Let’s hope this works,” she said to Bumble as the sun was setting.
    Despite all her hard work, the flowers were no better the next day. Now entire patches of panglories were gray. There was no sign of the bright shades of purple, yellow, or pink they’d once had.
    Lily hovered in the middle of her garden. She looked around. She hated to say it. She hated to even think it. She loved all plants—even the bossiest weeds. But her panglories were becoming a problem.
    Even so, Lily never thought about giving up on them. She flew to Rosetta’s garden for advice. She found her friend tending a bed of young snapdragons.
    “Rosetta, I have a question for you. Are your panglories having any problems?” Lily asked.
    “Oh,” replied Rosetta. “You mean the color loss?”
    Lily was taken aback by Rosetta’s candid remark. Rosetta took her arm. “Here, I’ll show you,” she said.
    She led Lily to her pond. All the panglories floating on it were different shades of gray. Some looked almost white.
    Lily gasped. “Yours too?”
    Rosetta nodded. Lily could see pity in her eyes. “And Aster’s and Bluebell’s and Fern’s and Iris’s,” Rosetta added.
    “What?” Lily cried. “Since when? Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “It’s been happening slowly. I guess it started a couple of days ago,” said Rosetta. “No one had the heart to tell you. We thought maybe yours were still doing well. We didn’t want to worry you.”
    Lily buried her head in her hands. Disappointment washed over her like a wave.
    Rosetta touched Lily’s arm. “Don’t worry, Lily,” she said. “We’ll figure out what went wrong. Maybe we can fix it.”
    Lily looked up and forced a smile. “I don’t care about the invention challenge. But I’ve spent a lot of time with those flowers now,” she said.
    “You care about them,” Rosetta said.
    Lily nodded. “I want them to be happy and healthy. And they seemed to be working so well. But without their color…” Lily sighed. “Maybe I need a break from the panglories. I’ve barely taken care of my other plants. I guess they could use more attention.”
    Rosetta promised to drop in on Lily later. Then she went back to her garden.
    Lily was halfway to the front gate when she heard Rosetta gasp. Lily turned.
    Rosetta was staring at a snapdragon in disbelief. “Lily, look!” she cried.
    Lily flew over. “Is it just me,” Rosetta said,