I never thought about how the phrase “late bloomer” applied to flowers until I started a garden. The original meaning of this expression dawned on me one day in late fall as I drove up to my house. As I pulled into the driveway, there it was. A full six weeks after the rest of my hibiscus plant had bloomed was a huge, beautiful flower. I was delighted. “Oh!” I thought. “A late bloomer!” It was at that moment that the original meaning of the phrase dawned on me, and I felt a little sheepish that I had never thought it through before.
But I was also surprised because I felt so happy with this unexpected bloom, and when we refer to people as “late bloomers,” it tends to have a negative connotation. If someone is a late bloomer, it carries the sense that they should have already grown or developed in a certain area. And there’s been some anxiety along the way because they have exceeded the time it should have taken to reach some milestone. Parents are especially familiar with this anxiety.
“Why is this area of growth taking longer for my child? “Will this development level
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