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Yes, they are.
They are not grown in ideal conditions. This patch only gets about an hour of sun each day.
The flower bed is an area which is part of the front porch. Basically it's a cinderblock extension off the porch that has been filled in with dirt. Who knows what is actually IN there. There's an excelllent chance that it was added to hide a body back in the 1930s.
The dirt, over the years, has been spit in, puked, in and I wouldn't be surprised to learn, pissed in. It also serves as a supplementary ashtray for the uncouth (there are perfectly good wall mounted ashtrays on either side of the door as well as one of those goofy "Smoker's Outpost" devices, however, the flower bed must be that much more inviting. I have actually very rarely seen patients throw cigarettes in the garden. Mostly it's staff).
It's a favorite hiding spot for drugs and paraphenalia, so when new flowers get planted, we usually have a boutiful harvest of crack stems.
The flowers are carefully chosen by the "whatever's on sale" method. They get planted randomly, and not attended to during the growing season. it's very low maintenance. Once or twice a year someone who is working a slow midnight actually "tends" the garden, trimming stuff back, and adding new seeds, bulbs, and sometimes things like impatiens and pansies. A lot depends on what's available at the State Hospital Flower Sale.
We also have a couple of Hostas, and a butterfly bush. I'm interested in seeing what happens to the remains of last year's mums ... will they come back or won't they?
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