Katie Lawson – Toronto

Marigold (summer 2025)

My relationship to garden tending in the city has been spotty, and Christina’s seeds find me this time in a new rental apartment. Planting them would be my first attempt at finding the right spot in our limited outdoor space that might suit them best. After planting them close to our main entrance, seeing them day in and day out allowed me to stay present on a day-to-day level during the season that is hardest on my body–summer. My marigolds struggled a bit, given how dry and intense the heat was. I’d try next time around the back where the sun isn’t quite so intense. Seeing their wilty heads felt like a mirror, my body feeling much the same. Hot weather and I aren’t great friends, it greatly exacerbates a few chronic illnesses I manage. All that being said, they persisted, they endured, and I was able to harvest seeds at the end of the season. They shared space with tomato seedlings from my neighbour and lovingly tending foodcrops cared for by my elderly landlords — beans, herbs, garlic, zucchini…
Ritual candle burning and reading helped mark the blur of days and offered new connections within the world of my mind.
With gratitude.