Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Mad about Marigolds

I look at the pictures
posted on my blog
and realize
--other than the bathroom sink
they all feature marigolds from my yard.

Last week I jumped the rail
at a nursing home parking lot
to pick the seeds
from a really pretty variety
not currently found at home.

The blooms are so bright
the seeds so available
the plants so lacy
and the smell of the musty bloom
lingers on my hands.

(The smell is not pretty.
It is not a delicate perfume.
But I like it.)

Perhaps part of the joy
comes from the distant memory
of one of my earliest gardening successes
as a young child
with a plastic cup
and a tiny marigold plant
rising from the soil.

Or memories of last summer
when the lace of marigold
and the lace of abundant carrot tops
danced together on the breeze.

More on the miracle of carrots later.

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