What to Do With Those Ugly Snapdragons Now That They’re (Almost) Dead?

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

It’s done. Those blood-red snapdragons are gone from our front yard. I pulled them out, and my rock garden is the better for it. But what do I do with the blossoms?

I’d take them to my 92-year-old mother —  except she doesn’t like maroon any more than I do. I can’t just toss them in the compost bin. They are trying so hard to live, to be the velvety, deeply colored snapdragons they were born to be.

I take pity and invite them into the house for their final days.

I look around for a vase. I try one, then another.

I try a third. Nothing works. On the fourth try, the blossoms and stems arrange themselves artfully in a glass vase.

Jackie O used to say that a woman can’t be too rich or too thin. I say a woman can’t be too rich, too thin, or have too many vases.

Photos by BF Newhall

 

 

Note: The snapdragons are gone, and so is my mother.