My husband, Jon, and I recently got back from a 10-day visit to his family in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. You may remember Cedar Rapids from the massive flooding that took place there in June.

During the course of a week, Iowa got over 10 inches of rain, and the Cedar River swelled its banks, rushed the levees, and crested at over 30 feet. The previous record was 20 feet set in 1851. The waters flooded over 1300 city blocks causing 25,000 people to be evacuated.

Driving around the downtown area with my mother-in-law was a surreal experience. The waters reached 6 feet high through most of the businesses and homes causing total loss of anything in the basement and first floors.

They lost the public library, Czech cultural museum, science museum, symphony theater, countless small businesses and homes. Most without flood insurance.

Despite the debris and destruction, people were there cleaning up their homes, hauling away trash, planning to rebuild. My brother-in-law, a member of the Chamber of Commerce, estimates rebuilding to cost in the billions of dollars. Just to clean a downtown Catholic church, let alone rebuild, cost $300,000.

You may wonder what this has to do with gardening. Admittidly, not much. However, beside homes with water lines up to the second floor, ferns were sending up new fronds. Green grass was poking up through the mud and muck. The most breath-taking display of astilbes I've ever seen in my life was in the front yard of a home in Cedar Rapids.

Some plants, like people, are amazingly resilient. Faced with tough odds and abuse can come though anything.

Some, like the junipers and yews I saw, brown, wither up and die. Some of the small rural towns in Iowa are expected to not rebuild. Towns of the size of Kirkwood vanished in a week.

This experience made me think about what was important to me, and what kind of person I want to be. Can I teach my son to be a survivor? Like the Ostrich ferns, to reach up to the sun? Or do I shrivel up at each sign of adversity? I think we all need a reality check from time to time.

Photo Credit Seth Wenig AP