15 October

Here Comes Johnny Flowerseed For 2022: Sunday A Cold Front Comes. Seeds On The Way. Bye, Garden

by Jon Katz

A severe cold front arrives here on Sunday; there will likely be a hard frost Sunday and Monday nights. If so, we’ll say goodbye to our gardens and the flowers we have enjoyed so much.

I think we’ll have our first wood stove fire Sunday.

Life goes on, though, and tomorrow morning, I’m beginning to fill up my new eight-foot garden bed with a mix of twigs (on the bottom), donkey manure, and topsoil.

I’ll go to the hardware store, get some soil, and load up the wheelbarrow with donkey manure. First, we’re going to collect some beat-up plastic flower pots and twigs for the bottom, then gradually add the waste and soil, and cover the bed with cardboard for the winter.

I’ll miss the color and light; I got more than 30 bouquets out of my zinnia garden this summer, my first garden.

It won’t be my last.

Next summer, I’ll be able to hand out bouquets wherever I go – the Mansion, Bishop Maginn,  the Millers, our friends in town, the tellers at the bank, the staff at Walgreen’s, the clerks at the post office, Maria and her studio.

I’ll be like a Johnny Flower seed, spreading flowers wherever I go. The two garden beds will make it possible. I’ve started ordering seeds.

(I took the flower photo above with my Leica. It’s a farewell to summer.) The flower seems lonely.

6 Comments

  1. Can you grow pansies? I’m in North Carolina and these amazing colorful flowers help keep me sane during the cold dreary months. Love your photos and journal.

  2. I see the flower less as lonely than as waving a “Thank you” and maybe a “Congratulations – see you next season”,

  3. beautiful photo! I love the black and white Leica pics! LOVE it! the end of this years flowers is OK………. so much to anticipate for next years bouquets! And hope your visit with Dr Daly went well and that all good with your foot. Thought about you today in that regard. Also must say that I like the photo (not sure who took it) of you and Moise’s dog Tina…….the soft look of love on your face….and her loving reaction to you…….it was epic!
    always from my heart
    Susan M

  4. Where does the time go? I remember picking up one of your books when I lived in Mexico, maybe….13 years ago.? Too he fair, it was an English book, and they were a hard find. I hooked onto your blog on a whim, had no idea who we were. We were both crazy then. I was so glad to have company. Here we are. Cheers Jon.

  5. I see you have Japanese Anemones! Pretty! I just finally identified the mystery plants growing in our garden (my husband had bought them years ago and had completely forgotten what they were), and now I seem to see them everywhere. They are also called “windflowers” because they are tall and blow in the wind. IDing them was much easier once they bloomed, of course 🙂

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