My friend

It started two years ago.  I was weeding the garden one Saturday and found (amongst the weeds) what I thought was a shamrock.  It was so pretty.  I am not usually this way with plants - one look at me and they fade or dry up and die. So I found a little pot and kept it watered all summer.  It lived on the window cill outside my office.  And then, towards the end of the summer, it fell off and that was the end, or so I thought.

The next year I found the plant growing in the gravel below the window.  I managed to keep persons and dogs from mutilating it (to others it was only a weed).  I took as many photos of it as of any of my friends, maybe more.  Here is a selection:

I have since found that the plant is actually "Oxalis corniculata", a type of wood sorrel and is indeed considered by most a weed.  It does not appear to be clear what "real" Irish Shamrock is, but most sites give it a white flower.

So I was duly touched when I saw my friend (or perhaps a descendant) starting to grow in the same spot again this year: