Carla's Own Heaven
by Jon Caswell
Gardens surrounded Carla's house, which was really not much more than a cottage. She had never married and lived alone. The small cottage fit her needs for space and comfort. Carla did not want to fool with the upkeep of a larger house. Her whole focus was on her gardens, and a bigger house would have meant less garden space.
Carla's gardens were not like those formal English gardens like one might see in a garden book. There were no perpendicular lines, neatly trimmed hedges, gravel paths, nor exotic fountains. Instead, Carla mixed flowers and vegetables in odd-shaped plots, where nothing was too orderly or right-angled. There were miscellaneous pots strewn about, some on their sides, some broken, and all overflowing with a dozen different grasses. In a raised bed at the edge of her property, Carla had planted four or five varieties of day lilies. They had proliferated so that there was a riot of color each May through June. At other times, there were columbines, roses, moonflowers, and geraniums. There were just a few weeks in the dead of winter when there wasn't some flower blooming or some vegetable or fruit ready to pick.
The paths that ran among the various plots were irregular but well-trod. The wood mulch was thick under foot and made walking springier than normal. Carla was in her garden practically every day—spring, summer, and fall. Throughout the winter, she canned the yearly harvest and nurtured seedlings for the next season. In the spring, the bees and butterflies stormed the flowers as Carla's old cat watched them from under a shade tree Carla had planted many years ago. From a sturdy branch hung a porch swing where Carla would rest during the heat of the day, often napping with the old cat next to her.
1
Which statement best paraphrases the passage?
A.
Carla lived happily at a cottage with her cat and large garden that she tended carefully all year long.
B.
Carla had a garden with many kinds of flowers, including columbines, roses, moonflowers, and geraniums.
C.
There were flower and vegetable gardens at Carl's cottage that bloomed all year long.
D.
Unlike the manicured English gardens one sees in a book, Carla preferred a wild and overgrown garden.
1 answer
4 answers