To the midnight pedestrian who took my mums: I am truly touched that you found the display of orange mums hanging from my arbor so moving that you needed to help yourself to a basket. I carefully selected flowers that matched my orange house, which you may not have even noticed as you wandered by in the deep dark hours of the night of Sept. 10.
I’ve planted grapes on the arbor as well, so in two or three years you’ll be able to enjoy them, as well; I picked tasty ones because I figured passersby may wish to help themselves, as you did with that hanging basket of flowers.
Grape vines take several years to reach maturity, so even if you pick the grapes, please don’t dig up the vines. I would like to be able to offer grapes in this way for many years to come.
As for the flowers, well, I did hope to plant them in a few weeks and watch them bloom again next year, but hopefully that’s your intent, and I will smile fondly in twelve months as I think of you enjoying your mums as I enjoy mine.
Could you bring back the basket, though? Those are more expensive than the flowers, and I really did like that one.
Terence P Ward
Fellow flower lover
Village of New Paltz
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