{"id":5003,"date":"2011-10-24T10:23:28","date_gmt":"2011-10-24T14:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/heidiannie.com\/2011\/10\/a-memory-in-marigolds\/"},"modified":"2011-10-24T10:23:28","modified_gmt":"2011-10-24T14:23:28","slug":"a-memory-in-marigolds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/?p=5003","title":{"rendered":"A memory in marigolds\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"006\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My family owned a greenhouse from before the time I was born, so I always think<\/p>\n

that I grew up in a greenhouse.  Actually, I grew up in the white house behind the<\/p>\n

greenhouse- a ramshackle old house with seven bedrooms, one bath and very few<\/p>\n

amenities- but filled with people large and small, loving and working together.<\/p>\n

I was one of the \u201clittle girls\u201d.  There were three of us- and we were considerably younger<\/p>\n

than our older sibs.  In fact, as I was growing up, my older sister and brothers were the<\/p>\n

\u201cgrown ups\u201d in my life- and I learned at a young age to deal with many bosses.<\/p>\n

But the marigolds in the picture above brought to mind one of those moments of<\/p>\n

passage that come in our lives, taking us further from childhood and affording a view<\/p>\n

of the possibilities that open as we can take life into our own hands and become independent.<\/p>\n

I was still a child- not more than 10 years old- but my mother gave me a small packet of seeds<\/p>\n

and a flat full of sterilized dirt.  She said it was mine.  I could plant it and take care of it and if<\/p>\n

I wanted, could sell it and keep the money.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t remember if she gave my sisters the same opportunity-or if she did, if they took her<\/p>\n

up on it-BUT that flat of marigolds was so important to me that Spring.  I carefully gridded<\/p>\n

the dirt and planted the seeds so that they would grow into a full flat.  Sparse or patchy flats<\/p>\n

never sold well- so I placed the seeds 3\/4 of an inch apart- using an old wooden ruler to measure<\/p>\n

the distance.  I misted it to keep the seeds from shifting and placed it in the hot bed on the side of<\/p>\n

the greenhouse to keep them warm while they germinated.  I planted them in mid-February to <\/p>\n

give them plenty of time to flower before early Summer.  And I watched over them- keeping<\/p>\n

them moist but well drained.  <\/p>\n

They were dwarf French marigolds- the packet said they were named \u201cBrownie\u201d and I loved<\/p>\n

the sturdy stems and leaves that grew and the brown and yellow flowers that emerged by <\/p>\n

early May.  I dead headed them to keep them trim and healthy and didn\u2019t allow any of the<\/p>\n

blooms to go to seed.  I was so attuned to MY flat of flowers that I started to pay more <\/p>\n

attention to the plants growing alongside them.  What had been a job before, became a joy!<\/p>\n

I watered, weeded, dead headed, moved, filled packs with dirt, and just did my chores<\/p>\n

with more patience and interest than I ever had before- because my marigolds were growing<\/p>\n

out there, too!<\/p>\n

And customers were looking at my marigolds.  Inquiring, \u201cHow much?\u201d  <\/p>\n

My mother turned to me and asked if I was ready to sell them yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, not yet.\u201d I replied each time.<\/p>\n

These were my marigolds.  My little \u201cBrownies\u201d and I wanted to keep them.<\/p>\n

So- the flats all around them sold, and mine kept flourishing.  They became thick and<\/p>\n

sturdy, covered with blossoms- making the other flats look poor in comparison- and still<\/p>\n

I wanted to keep them. <\/p>\n

Finally, we moved them to the back of the greenhouse.<\/p>\n

I think my mom thought I was never going to sell them.<\/p>\n

But she was pretty tricky, my mother.<\/p>\n

And she took me and my sisters to Robert Hall\u2019s \u2013 the clothing store up the street-<\/p>\n

to look for bathing suits.  It was late May by this time, and the weather was getting hot.<\/p>\n

My sisters picked suits within the budgeted amount, and the clerk rang them up and put<\/p>\n

them in a bag.  But the suit I had my eye on was black and had four rows of black corded fringe<\/p>\n

at the hips.  To my ten year old eyes, it was tres chic<\/em>, and I wanted it.<\/p>\n

It was also tres expensive` <\/em>and about seven dollars over my mother\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n

I went over the other suits again, but after trying on that black number and shimmying those<\/p>\n

rows of fringe by shaking my hips, they were all boring and ugly.<\/p>\n

My mom said she would pay part of it, but I\u2019d have to come up with the rest of the money.<\/p>\n

I had no money.  Money was to be spent as soon as it touched my hand.<\/p>\n

I was not a saving little girl- I was more of a free spirit.<\/p>\n

My sister, Robin, was a saver- and she offered me the money- but ,\u201dNo\u201d, said my mother,<\/p>\n

\u201cif Heidi wants it bad enough, she will find a way to pay for it herself.\u201d<\/p>\n

So \u2013 we went home.<\/p>\n

My sisters had their swim suits.  I had nothing but a black fringed vision in my head.<\/p>\n

Sometime during the following week, that flat of marigolds made it back to the <\/p>\n

front of the greenhouse.  And the plants were gorgeous!  They were flowering and<\/p>\n

full- and the flats around them, although perfectly nice, just didn\u2019t come close in appeal.<\/p>\n

I sold my flat of marigolds that week.  <\/p>\n

A lady paid me a small fortune- $8 for the flat!<\/p>\n

I paid the difference, got the suit- treated Robin and my mom to a mug of root beer at A+W,<\/p>\n

and felt like an entrepreneur.<\/p>\n

I wore that suit for the next two seasons of Summer.<\/p>\n

Every time I wore it- I felt beautiful and smart.<\/p>\n

And I have always appreciated the beauty and economy of flowering marigolds.<\/p>\n

 \"008\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I came across these volunteer marigolds in my flower bed the <\/p>\n

other day, and suddenly, I was a little girl again.<\/p>\n

OH- the power of marigolds- and black fringed bathing suits!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My family owned a greenhouse from before the time I was born, so I always think that I grew up in a greenhouse.  Actually, I grew up in the white house behind the greenhouse- a ramshackle old house with seven … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,13,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family","category-stepsonthejourney","category-whimsey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5003\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}