Smoke Gets in the Garden

Too much smoke to toil and till. I race to the black river still. Paddle as silent as shadows now. I escape the smoke somehow.

Scarlet's Flower Double

O.K., I confess, I grew up in Jonesboro, Ga., a town of 305 in which we were the NEW people for nine years. Jonesboro’s claim to fame was its mention in Margaret Mitchell’s book Gone With the Wind, a book that has sold almost as many copies as the Bible. Indeed, for lots of middle aged Southern women, GWTW was the Bible. It provided chapter and verse about things the average belle could and could not do and remain on the barbeque A-list. Anyway, Jonesboro was the location of the main character’s home, the mythic Tara.

Because of my upbringing, I tend to see many of my garden plants embodying the characteristics of GWTW folks. That my crinum lilies for example. They always remind me of Belle Watling, the lady of ill repute with heart of gold according to Rhett Butler. According to Mammy, Belle was a dyed hair woman, a type consigned to the lower level of Dante’s Inferno.

My crinums thrust themselves on the garden scene around May. Their purple red flowers look “dyed” in that they are an uber bright red pink. They are all business, dense and prolific. Their wide strap like leaves, offer excellent contrast against the azaleas and the rosemary. Indeed, they will take over any part of the garden not visited regularly by the weed whacker.

Today, I found three young crinums in the mulch path. I will dig them up and replant them next to the Red Butler daylilies. They might enjoy one another.

Smoke, Too Much Smoke

There are fires in the north, possibly Okefenokee, and in St. Johns county to the south. A Halloween like haze is everywhere. I have an acrid taste in my mouth. The paper said we need a good tropical storm to put out the blazes. It is a little early to ask the deity for a full blown hurricane, but maybe just a class 1 tropical depression would be enough.

When I think of all the evenings I spent watching the city bed down, and now I can't see past my bulkhead. Sadness.