Finally, we can forget about a possible late frost and get on to the business of planting annual flowers. Perennials already are up and some budding. Some have been in the little garden 15 years, but the work on upgrading the condo units has ruined most things. They couldn’t survive the painting, the corn blasting, power wash, and eventual trim painting. Workmen had absolutely no concern about them getting trampled and smashed into the ground. Starting over was the only solution, and I was lucky to find a member of the staff who did a great job cleaning up the mess, adding some topsoil and peat moss and leaving it all ready for some new plantings.

My neighbor Ginni and I went to several garden shops on Saturday and I bought some impatiens. A new variety in a large pot has blossoms that look like roses. Susan is going to give me some things that have spread in her garden and I think Wendy will, too. I am going hunting for some blue flowers to go with the bright red ones I bought Saturday, with the hummingbirds in mind. I’ll need help in planting the new things, but will do a little at a time.

Certain flowers like certain foods remind us of the past. When I attended the Morris Street School in Danbury, elementary classes were asked to contribute branches of shrubs the day before the annual Memorial Day Parade. Our yard on Westville Avenue provided snowball blooms, a very fragrant honeysuckle, and a couple of others. Students brought arms full of flowers for graduations and the last day of school festivities. Big bouquets of peonies were available and always remind me of the school auditorium all decorated for the special programs. I also developed a partial dislike of peonies because they usually are full of ants.

In my first garden in Newtown, I could not afford many new plants, so one year I dug up a nice clump of wild tiger lilies. I gave them a good dose of plant food and took good care of them. In about three years they were so beautiful, people used to ask where I got them.

My grandmother and grandfather had beautiful dahlias in their garden. It required digging them up each fall and storing them until spring. I remember labeling them so they could be arranged in May.

In the main tent at the old Danbury Fair there were beautiful flowers. The dahlias were special –– large and very colorful. The day the fair ended people came to get their flowers. One year a woman who had a large collection gave me a really beautiful deep magenta bloom. I felt like I had a treasure.

I’m partial to all kinds of chrysanthemums in autumn. I never had enough and usually buy several to keep color going until the really cold weather. They come the end of summer and yet they make a very good effort to keep the garden colorful as long as possible. The very large pompoms remind me of high school football games –– girls who had one of the choice blooms were certain to have been given it by the boyfriend of the time.

In Monroe I had three very ordinary rose bushes that bloomed right up to frost time. They were all that remained except the chrysanthemums, and I usually picked one to keep on the kitchen table until they were gone.

Last week the quote was by Shakespeare, from Henry VI.

Who said “Wherever public spirit prevails, liberty is secure”?