Clearance Yard(Ann S) Clearance Yard


“Agnes! Are you ready?” the middle aged bleeding-heart plant shouted to her aging neighbor.

“I just saw Shirley and she’s gonna pick you! You’ve been marked down to $1.00.”

Martha was excited for her friend Agnes, the dignified yellow daylily. Withering on a shelf at the local grocery store was no way to exit this world. Shirley was her only hope, and had rescued many of her clearance priced friends during the spring and summer months. They all knew, the cheaper they were priced, the more likely they would get Shirley’s attention.

As hoped, Agnes was saved! At least that is what her friends were thinking. They had no idea what awaited in Shirley’s yard; they just assumed that because she frequently purchased copious amounts of clearance plants that she had a green thumb. They never considered the black thumb alternative.

Agnes arrived in Shirley’s yard with great anticipation, but what she saw was so shocking she nearly wilted. She saw many of her old friends still in their pots, others planted haphazardly anywhere in the yard, and some had clearly expired. The front yard lacked order, proper borders, mulch, and a color theme. Agnes cringed at the thought of spending her days in an undignified yard. Agnes suddenly had Shirley figured out.

What Agnes could not understand was the teenage daughter who lived there, who looked at the discount yard with despair and embarrassment. Only during the winter months when the New England snow blanketed the cheap plants would the girl invite her friends over, but never during the months when the ugliness was exposed.

When the daughter grew older she would often return to visit her mother. Shirley loved sharing her plant knowledge. The girl, now able to see her mother through an adult lens, began to understand something simple Agnes had immediately recognized; her mother had weaknesses. Shirley struggled to plan and execute tasks, and had some insight into her own pathology, leading to the purchase of discounted plants in order to not waste money. How could the daughter have faulted her mother for something she could not help? Plants made her mother happy even if she could not care and display them in a traditional way.

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