October 12, 2021
Reflections, Day 4
“But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.”
― Carl Sagan
For the past few years I have neglected the front yard while I turned the back yard into a garden.
This year, however, I had a few plants left over after planting season and I decided to build a flower bed in the front of the house. It didn’t take much effort, either—dig in some good organic matter, add lime and a good dose of time release fertilizer (Osmocote), grab some plants and stick them suckers in the ground. Water, of course, is essential, but watering can be relaxing and meditative.
The flowers grew big and strong. I have really enjoyed them. The other day, some guests who had never visited us showed up. One of them said, “We didn’t even have to check the number on the mailbox, we just followed the flowers.”
That made me feel pretty good.
The funny thing was that the grass watched the flowers and as they grew and flourished, the grass began to look better and better. I thought this was fun.
And now the time is coming to pull out the summer flowers and plant a pansy bed. Both my mother and grandmother loved pansies. I remember Granny coming home from the nursery with a bunch of bare-root pansy plants wrapped in pieces of moist newspaper. She showed me how and when to plant the pansies. After that, whenever I wanted to make my mother happy, I’d go visit with her and bring a nice tray of pretty pansies.
Mom said of the pansy blooms, “The more flowers you pick, the more you get.” And she was right. She had little shallow dishes in several rooms of the house and each of these dishes floated a collection of pansy blooms.
I spend a lot of time in a state of nostalgic reflection during pansy planting time.
—john schulz
The more things change, the more they stay the same
johntheplantman--Gardening 