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Random Acts of Beautification

© Carol Wallace

The other day I was hauling my tools and a few plants to a new area of the property that needed civilizing. My husband had mentioned planting there a couple of years back, and even put a huge clump of Iris pseudacorus there, to which I added a couple clumps of Veronica 'Goodness Grows'. And then we somehow got distracted and forgot all about that spot. I remembered it when the veronica burst into beautiful blooms that waved bravely over a mass of weeds.

But what stopped me in my tracks wasn't the veronica - after all I had deliberately put that there, with a definite intention of gardening. What stopped me was a poppy - beautiful, healthy - and growing undaunted in a crack in the decrepit asphalt driveway leading up to that spot.

In my neighbor's driveway (with much better asphalt) I noticed a portulaca doing the same. Even more amazing is the clump of Hemerocallis fulva that are growing at the side of her house - with less than an inch of soil between the asphalt and the house's foundation.

Now bear with me for a second - because I promise you there is a connection here.

At Wal*Mart last week I saw a row of apple trees for sale that allegedly came from one of those trees allegedly planted by Johnny Appleseed. I also stumbled across the story of how famed gardener Ellen Wilmott used to scatter the seeds of Eryngium giganteum, now known as 'Miss Wilmott's Ghost', all over. Wherever these two individuals walked, they left a sort of legacy.

Another image entered my mind, as I planted the plants I had set out to put in and pondered random poppies and apple trees, and that was a delightful section of an Interstate Highway where someone had scattered thousands of cosmos seeds - and it was absolutely glorious. I wondered if they came from a present day Johnny Appleseed or Ellen Wilmott.

For some reason, the thought of these two people scattering their living gifts met head-on in my mind with those brave plants scattered by wind or birds or a heavenly presence and gave me an idea. Why not be a Johnny Appleseed of my own type?

After all, if I harvest all the seeds that are part of a garden's seasonal bounty, even leaving some as winter fare for the birds, I will have more than I and all of my gardening friends can possibly need.

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