While it's not a flower, a night shuttle launch is still a beautiful sight in the garden!

This is the shuttle Atlantis as seen from my garden. Having grown up on the Space Coast, I have always been able to stand outside to watch launches. I saw the first manned flights, when we would watch for - and be able to see - the stage separations of the rockets.

My family went to Iowa one time to visit relatives. There was a shuttle launch while they were there, and everyone sat around the television watching the launch. The countdown went fine, the engines ignited and - liftoff!

As the shuttle lifted off the pad, our Iowa relatives looked on in surprise as my youngest brother jumped up and ran outside as quick as he could to watch the rest of the launch from the yard.

He felt very foolish when he realized he couldn't quite see the launch from Iowa.

We still tease him about that day, but I've actually caught myself about to do the same thing!