Monster Blooms!

   Madonna Lilies are some of those ever-present things that grow wherever they please.  If any piece of soil is left unattended for a few months, wham!  Madonna Lilies are there.  This is understandable since each bloom makes a bajillion seeds and those seeds are so light that the wind carries them for miles.  Once they fall to the ground they are ready to go.  Needless to say, there are a lot of them here on the Bayou.  I do not even know how the first ones got here but once they took hold, they were here to stay.  I do know how they became so widespread, however, and I blame that on my kids when they were young.  The seed pods of the lilies are on long stems and when they burst open the seeds fly out with the slightest touch.  Imagine three kids chasing each other with the long stems while spewing seeds out like fairy dust.  Now there are lilies everywhere.

  Some of the current lilies have mutated to some strange things.  Instead of the 5 to 7 blooms that normally sit atop a 4 ft stalk, the stalks are now 10ft and hold some 20 to 30 blooms.  The stalks themselves have changed as instead of being rounded, they now flatten at the top to be almost fan-shaped.  Why?  Who knows.  They are adapting to whatever climate changes, I suppose.

  One such lily was in full bloom when it became top-heavy and snapped.  The huge stalk just could not support the massive amount of blooms during one of our recent thunderstorms.  Try as it might, it could not stand against the winds.  It saddened me to find the broken stalk this morning so I snipped it and brought the stalk inside.  Ha!  Instant bouquet!  Now the Little Bayou House is decorated with fresh flowers...albeit mutated blooms.

Flowers are Artistic

   The flowers in the Small Gardens had to fend for themselves for the past month.  With a torn muscle in the shoulder, yardwork came to a screeching halt and that included simple things such as watering.  Dragging a hose about the yard would merely make the healing take longer so I quit.  The poor plants suffered a bit due to the drought but, somehow, they managed to still bloom.  I was out admiring those blooms this morning when I found that perhaps plants have a bit of quirkiness about them.  I figured that maybe they are just artistic.

  The Stoke's Asters were in full bloom but looked a mite odd.  These asters should have sort of long, slender leaves not spikey ones and they sure do not grow on a 4ft tall stalk!  Closer inspection revealed that the asters had grown long and lanky.  They were so heavy with blooms that their own stalks could not give the support needed so the blooms fell into the Madonna lilies.  Once leaning on that thick stalk, the blooms became entwined with the spikey leaves.  This made quite the stunning "plant".  I was impressed!

  To be honest, the gardens always impress me even when they are a bit messy and unkempt like mine are currently.  When the plants are allowed to grow "wild and free", they seem intent on providing surprises at each turn of the path.  Thankfully, I only have one more week of "light duty" before I am allowed back to my usual active pace.  I have missed it...maybe the plants have missed me, too, since they are having to find their own props!

Mutant Lilies!

  With all that this year has thrown at us, mutant lilies just add a bit more interest.  At least lilies are of the friendly sort and don't put us in quarantine or make us run out to buy tons of toilet tissue.  Lilies just sit there and look pretty and bring smiles to those of us who are fortunate enough to find them during our daily walks.  As (self-crowned) Queen of the Small Gardens, I have deemed this lily as "Find of the Day" and it shall be exalted as the Crown Jewel of the Small Gardens!  For as long as it blooms, the lily shall be honored with great oohs and ahhs by all who venture forth through the garden gate!  So be it!  The Queen has spoken!

  Yeah, I am still grounded.  And I am still bored.  Honestly, I thought by this time, I would be roaming the full Bayou again but that has been pushed back by at least another week.  Maybe more.  We shall see.  But!  But as long as the garden keeps providing such beauty for me to revel in, who cares?  I could dwell in the Small Gardens forever.  

  This particular lily is the same type as dozens of others that growing wild across the hillside.  They come up and grow where they will as I have no heart to mow them.  All of the others are of normal height (4 feet) and have normal numbers of blooms (5 to 8).  I believe this one is showing a bit of gratitude for my helping hand.  When Tropical Storm Cristobal blew through the area, it knocked the lily stalk to the ground.  It was wind battered and mud covered by the time I found it.  I propped it up against the gatepost and found twine to tie it. That post proved sturdy enough but not nearly tall enough as the lily got a growth spurt.  A long pipe secured to the post gave needed support.  The lily soon soared to over 8 feet tall!  Now it is blooming with much gusto. Thirteen blooms are open and at least fourteen more buds are ready.  The whole thing is about the size of a bushel basket!  A little help can go a long way, obviously.  Either that or the Bayou is being invaded by mutant lilies!

Good Morning!

  There are some plants that just seem to scream "Deep South" when you see them.  Camellias, Grandiflora Magnolias and Madonna Lilies fit the bill perfectly and can be seen dotted everywhere.  Most older gardens and even abandoned home sites from long ago will have ages old plants.  The Madonna Lilies are some of those things that never seem to fully die.  There have been home plots that literally have been plowed, covered in topsoil and sodded but still will have the lilies pop up and surprise the new homeowners.  You never really know just where the plants will suddenly sprout which makes them fully a surprise.  Roadsides, fields and well-tended yards seem to be graced with the white lilies!

  This morning before daylight, I rolled over and looked out the window.  I could see the tall Madonna Lily gracefully bobbing its head full of buds in the Bay breeze.  There was just enough light for the bright white buds to stand out against the darkness that surrounded it.  Seeing the buds made me realize that by this afternoon, there would be some of the sweet-scented blooms opening.  I smiled and made my way out of bed.  What a delightful wake-up image!

  Madonna Lilies actually originated in Asia and have been naturalized in most parts of the world.  Down here in the Deep South, it goes by a number of names including Snow Lily (flowers as white as snow), Morning Star Lily (five petals like a five-pointed star) and even Death Lily (blooms were used a lot at funerals in the past).  The name Death Lily could also be attributed to the fact that, like a good many lilies, it is reportedly toxic to cats.  If ingested the lily can cause kidney failure and death.  Even the pollen collected the fur of a cat (then licked clean) can cause major problems.  I cannot attest to the toxicity of the plant but it might be worth thinking about before planting a Madonna Lily in the garden.

   Here, they grow wild.  They pop up in the yard, woods and even occasionally in the marsh. I have tried moving the bulbs but never seem to be successful.  The lilies grow where they deem perfect so I just let the thrive wherever.  The one outside the window brightened my day from the moment I awoke.  What more could you ask?  The perfect greeting to start the day! 

The Important Job

  As usual, the gardens look most bare during the winter months.  Even though we have had an extremely warm winter so far, the plants had no idea that it was to be like this back in October.  Like plants have a tendency to do, they made seed pods and then set in for the "cold" winter months.  A lot of the less cold hardy plants died back to the ground and will regrow from rootstock or bulbs. The only plants that look to be thriving are the greens planted in the garden boxes.  Collards, cabbages, carrots, broccoli and brussels sprouts do well this time of the year.  Other plants would rather not expend the energy trying to flourish so they bed down for the winter.

  On the hike this morning, an empty seed pod caught my eye.  I admit that the paper-thin pods intrigue me. Inside these seemingly fragile cases, life is held anew for the plants.  The seeds mature and then are released to start the cycle all again.  That thin-walled case is all that holds the future of the plants.  

  The pod, today, was from a downed wild Madonna lily.  I assume that at one point it was hit by my lawn mower and spewed seeds all over the lawn.  Come spring, a bazillion seeds will sprout and, out of those, a few will manage to grow to maturity.  Those lucky few are the ones that landed inside the gardens' edges.  The plants will grow, bulbs mature and flowers bloom.  The lilies that blew into the gardens by pure chance will be allowed to grow and bloom where they may.  Life goes on all because of this amazing pod.  What an important job it has!

Besieged by Bunnies!

Ok..let me clarify right from the start..I do like rabbits.  I have no problem with a few bouncing around the yard and have even allowed Mama Bunny to eat my Boysenberries.  But..enough is enough!  Last year, I counted around twenty rabbits around the hillside.  Again..no problem.  I can live and let live.  I figure that the critters of the Bayou have just as much right to be here as I do.  Still, when these same critters start multiplying like..well, like rabbits, I might have to say there are a few too many.  This evening, I discovered that by being nice to the rabbits, they have rewarded me by eating my pesky Fennel plants!  Yes!  These ravenous rabbits are eating my Fennel!  It never occurred to me that the rabbits would eat herbs so I placed a few in gardens outside the fenced garden.  Things were going well, until I noticed a few branches were snipped.  Now, the poor plant has had a "hare cut"!

Not only are the bunnies eating the herbs, my flowers are being nibbled to the ground. Madonna Lilies must be especially tasty since every leaf is chomped right down to the stalk.  I pondered this fact as I had always heard that lilies are poisonous.  If this is true, why is that hungry hare eating it?  I researched the Madonna Lily and found that contrary to what I was told as a child, the lily is not poisonous!  In fact, it is quite edible.  Hmmm?  Do I trust reference books or do I believe hand-me-down information.  Perhaps, I should just leave the Madonna Lily to the rabbits.

I took to counting the rabbits on the hillside and after thirty-one, I figured it was a losing battle. There were three under Mark's truck!  I gave up trying to do a Rabbit Census.  After all, I could only count the ones that were brave (or stupid) enough to come out in the open yard.  Those staying in the marsh or woods must make up far more than the ones I could see.  Now a question..since I have a "diurnal" Great Horned Owl and its friend the Cooper's Hawk, why do I have so many bunnies?  Are those two spoiled rotten and can only feast upon my feeder-fattened doves?  Not that I wish harm to the bunnies but...I do not need this many!!!

Interesting Things!

Someone once asked me how I found so many interesting things on my hikes around the Bayou.  It is not that the Bayou is that different than any other place, it is just that I find most things in nature fascinating!  I can wander around the hillside and always manage to see something that sparks an idea or at least wobbles the imagination a bit!  When I was just a youngster, my grandpa used to take me for hikes on this very same hillside.  It was then that this interest in nature was instilled in me.  He used to show me so many things that most folks would walk over without ever seeing.  He made sure that I was aware of even the tiniest of creatures or plants.  I remember one particular time how he and I found a pretty pink pebble in the sandy lane.  I thought it was beautiful just as it was but he showed me how brilliant the color would be if the stone was wet!  From that day on, his birdbath in the front yard was always filled with pink pebbles!  I wanted them all to stay wet and brilliant!  But it was his patient guidance that instilled this interest.  Even today, I will pick up every pink pebble I find and toss it in the birdbath!

Today, however, I did not find pink pebbles.  I found interesting dead things!  Michael and I trimmed and sprayed all of the citrus trees and then headed to the peach orchard to do a bit of maintenance there.  A lot of the trees had dead limbs that needed trimming.  He would cut the dead wood and I would haul it to the burn pile.  On one such trip, I noticed the empty seed pods of a Madonna Lily.  Aha!  I was mesmerized!  The texture of the pod was amazing!  That did it!  The wheels of the brain started whirring and I forgot all about hauling limbs to the trash pile!  I was on an expedition to find dead seed pods!  Or at least the remaining few seed fronds from other plants.  In the back of the orchard, I found Goldenrod!  The seeds were star-like in shape and would waft on the breeze if I shook the plume!  Around the corner, I found tall grasses that were skeletonized!  The seeds had already floated away to find a new bit of earth to call home!  Those were interesting..sure..but then came another beauty!  The Japanese Lanterns pods were a thing to behold!  Again, I was spellbound!  Their graceful curves and paper-like texture made them seem like pieces of art rather than castoffs of nature.  I photographed all I could find as soon they would be gone!  Spring would replace all of these with the coming of new plants.

As I was on my hands and knees photographing the seed pods, I heard a step behind me.  Looking up, I saw Michael with the most confused look on his face.  "Find something interesting?"  Haha!  He knows me all too well!  Yep!   I did!

Touch-Me-Nots, Jewelweed or Home Remedy

Jewelweed is an old home remedy for Poison Ivy rash. I can attest to this since lately Poison Ivy vines and I seem to be at war with one another on a weekly basis. Maybe I am just never completely cured of one bout before contracting another but I cannot seem to cut grass, clear underbrush or even walk in the woods without itching. I was hiking to the creek on a weekly basis to gather a stem of Jewelweed to use but since summer is in full force the heat and moccasins have called a halt to this. Now I have to depend on the much weaker cultivated version. (Jewelweed belongs in the Balsam group.) Although the cultivated ones are not as potent, they are much more convenient. These my dad called Ladyslippers. I am not sure that is the proper name but I still call them this. The name Touch-Me-Nots (another Balsam) almost sounds ominous but it is actually referring to a peculiarity of the seed pods. When picking one, you really have to be careful not to lose the seeds because the pods explode on contact. The pod curls into little spring shapes that spew seeds everywhere! This makes for endless entertainment for children as they burst the pods replanting seeds everywhere! In the gardens, on the lawn, on the walkways and some even wind up on them! The name Jewelweed (some say) comes from the dewdrops or raindrops that "bead" on the leaves. But back to the medicinal aspect..to use for Poison Ivy relief simply pull a few leaves or flowers and rub them vigorously onto the rash. Sometimes it takes several applications over a couple of days to rid yourself of the rash but the itch is relieved instantly. I will admit, it took a week or more to clear a bad case of Poison Oak that I had earlier this spring. I was pretty much covered in a red, horribly itchy rash and over-the-counter medicines were not working at all. I resorted to herbal concoctions and almost immediately felt the difference. Balsams of all sorts are great for fighting rashes! (I also learned a valuable lesson..make sure not to burn Poison Oak nor Poison Ivy! The smoke can cause a horrible rash and it covers a much larger area than physical contact with the plant..OUCH!)

It is definitely summer..all signs point to it! Ummm..well..it is HOT! Today, again, it was near 100 degrees..in the shade! Another sure sign of it being summer here on the Bayou is that the Madonna Lilies are in bloom. Their five foot tall stalks are heavy with white trumpets. This is another plant that just haphazardly grows wherever the wind blows the seeds. I try not to cut them down when mowing even if they pop up in the middle of the lawn. I like them..I guess I like most plants if they bloom. I have threatened to leave the yard go without mowing and call it a wildflower field just because I hate to run over any flowering plant. The Madonna Lilies make the wonderful seed pods, also! When little, my boys used these stalks as "swords" while my daughter would say they were "faerie wands". They would run through the yard waving their swords and/or wands scattering the millions of seeds into the wind. What may not have started as an invasive species sure became one rather quickly with the aid of three youngsters! (Oh and just an added thought..Madonna Lilies are great in a Night Garden. Their white blooms almost glow in the moonlight!)