Cock’s Comb

Living among the Amish does have it’s benefits.

The teenagers who like to drag race down the gravel road are in horse and buggies and they don’t have loud rock music blaring out of the open windows.

They’re quick to lend a helping hand and don’t mind my laundry flapping in the breeze as some of my city neighbors did.

And they grow amazing gardens!

Even this year when most of their “English” neighbors (including myself) had sorry-looking excuses for a vegetable patch, they harvested beautiful vegetables.

Even when a vegetable is done producing, they don’t leave the garden idle. They go in and plant annual flowers so that in the late season, right up until the first frost, their gardens are beautiful.

One of my favorite Amish flowers is the Cocks Comb. It’s deep vibrant colors create an eye-catching display that flaunts itself in front of the browning countryside.

It’s so perfectly and tightly formed that as a cut flower people are amazed that it is real.

The seeds of the cockscomb are formed under the brilliant flower in little seed pockets. As the flower dries, the seeds will fall. The Amish will dry the flowers upside down and harvest those seeds to plant again the next year.

I have tried for several years to grow cocks comb but have so far produced only anemic looking specimens that pale in comparison to their Amish cousins.

So, for now, I enjoy the beauty of their gardens.

Every year I get one or two cut flowers from the neighbors and enjoy them fresh before drying them and saving the seeds.

Then next year, I’ll plant those seeds again because hope springs eternal in the heart of a gardener!