Amazing what a little beauty can do for a neighborhood

09-17-03

I spent the morning saving some marigold seeds. I have saved seeds from these particular ones for the last 3 years. I just pluck the withered blooms and lay them out on a paper plate and set them under the end table in the family room and forget about them. Once the plate is full of dried blooms, I sit in the kitchen and pull the petals off, roll the seed bud between my fingers, and pull out the seeds. I can tell the viable seed by it's dark color and "plumper" appearance. But they all go into a plastic sandwich bag and then into my "seedbox", which is nothing more than a shoe box. They spend the winter in that box under my bookcase and come spring, the good seed and bad seed will be planted in my window boxes where the "parent" plants were. I love marigolds for their simplicity and bright autumn colors.

As I sat pulling seeds from their dried blossoms, I remembered the first time I spent the time doing this very same thing. It was w hen I first moved out on my own. I had an apartment with a stoop, just like the rest of the apartments in the complex. To personalize my stoop, I bought a large plastic flower pot and some marigold seeds and set this outside my door. It welcomed me home from work every day, with the bright orange, yellow and red blooms. Pretty soon I noticed other stoops with their "signature" flowers or wreathes on the door. The uniform rows of doors and porches became individual "personalities". Then I noticed the people who put these things out: the woman next door who worked like I did, 8am - 4pm, 5 days a week; the woman in the building at a right angle to mine who became a friend trustworthy enough to leave my cat with when I went on a business trip; the man across the yard who made great chili with the chili powder he borrowed from me.

Amazing what a little beauty can do for a neighborhood.

I hope your autumn is filled with bounty and beauty.

Patty