Plant Flowers in Abandoned Lots

    May Day was a sacred celebration of Spring in ancient times and remains a special day for common folk. I have attended several marvelous festivities complete with garlanded Maypoles; one held by Z Budapest is a treasured memory. I have my own tradition for this merry month, which is a really simple and easy way to celebrate spring: I plant flower seeds in neglected plots of land all around the Bay Area, particularly nasturtiums, which thrive on neglect and can bloom anywhere and under any circumstances. I could give a driving tour of San Francisco and the East Bay and show you the brightly colored patches that are the result of my Johnny Appleseed-style scattershot approach. You can even eat them! I always have a lot of nasturtiums growing in my garden and I collect the seeds once they have flowered in plastic baggies. I joke to my friends that I would like my legacy to be that I was "Fiesta Brenda," the name of a mix that yields a riot of color that can turn any former parking lot or weed patch into a pocket of red, yellow, and orange sunshine. I will add that some of my tenth-generation crop mutated into a lovely variegated leaf, which only adds to the glory. This bit of freeganomics feeds my should like almost nothing else. I would say it is a sensible act of beauty.