When she says that life can be "as barren as the dusty yards of our town" and that she too has "planted marigolds," she is using figurative language to express that

It shows the life of hope and goodness in an hopeless and ugly situation. It also express the true nature of life and that wealth only does not bring happiness to oneself.

Explanation:

The story of "Maryland" in the excerpt takes place during the 'Great Depression' of 1930. The story takes place in the rural Maryland. Maryland was a very poor town during the period of great depression.

The theme of the story states that poverty helps people to become self reliant and strong and ways to find out solutions to overcome the difficult circumstances. Here the author uses "marigold" through the character, Miss Lottie that symbolizes hope in an ugly, poor, shady and rundown town of Maryland.

She uses the figurative language to express that people will not have a good life just because they are wealthy. The life of the people is determined by the true nature and character of the people. It does not depends on what one wear or what one buys or how much money people have.

the type of supporting detail is fact!

the underline word is basically like a prepositional phrase.