In our garden, the day before the first freeze has become a ritual. We try to save what we can. Pick all the tomatoes, whatever else is left, move bonsai trees into the greenhouse. And my favorite – cutting all my dahlia blooms. The freeze came early that year, and I had only one flower blooming, Mango Madness, a dinnerplate dahlia that emits light. Despite the work, everything in the garden feels like a gift. 

Laura Stott is the author of two collections of poetry Blue Nude Migration (Lynx House Press, 2020) and In the Museum of Coming and Going (New Issues Poetry and Prose, 2014). She lives in northern Utah with her husband and two daughters and teaches at Weber State University.

F: Laura Stott Rogers