What flowers does Mayella Ewell grow outside her shack?

Mayella Ewell grows red geraniums outside her shack. The flowers are a striking detail in Harper Lee’s portrait of the Ewell family, whose home is described as filthy, neglected, and isolated from the more respectable parts of Maycomb.

The geraniums suggest that Mayella is trying to create beauty and order despite poverty, loneliness, and abuse. Their presence complicates the town’s easy dismissal of her family as “white trash”: Mayella is both part of the cruel social system and a vulnerable young woman trapped within it.

Readers sometimes confuse Mayella’s flowers with Miss Maudie Atkinson’s garden. Miss Maudie is the Finch children’s admired neighbor and an enthusiastic gardener, while Mayella’s red geraniums are associated specifically with the Ewell shack. The contrast between the flowers and their surroundings makes the detail memorable.