On the tip of my tongue!

  Have you ever drawn a blank on something you should fully know?  The name of a certain tree has fully slipped my mind and it is aggravating the stew out of me.  I know this tree.  I have seen this tree almost every day of my life.  It grows wild near or in the marshes of the Bayou and since Hurricane Katrina, we have them popping up all over the hillside.  I am not complaining about this as it is a positive side of a very devastating storm but the fact that I cannot remember the name is driving me nuts!

  The trees here stay on the smallish side and are nondescript most of the time.  Their true beauty comes out when they bloom.  Some of the trees have orangish blooms while others are yellow.  The flowers are in small clusters and droop much like wisteria.  In fact, someone mentioned that the orange ones are scarlet wisterias but, somehow, that does not seem correct.  

  The quandary will frustrate me until I have a chance to research the blooms for a true identity.  In the meantime, I will simply enjoy the loveliness that dots the hillside!

Update!  A friend just informed me that this is rattlebox (Sesbania)!  The seed pods do indeed rattle.  It is sort of an invasive plant if allowed to go unchecked but since I mow this area, it should be fine.  Why could I not think of that quite obvious name???

Lantana Lane?

   The "Critter Neighborhood Watch Clan" was causing yet another uproar on the north side of the house.  While I do not mind snakes being around the place, they need to be a bit less conspicuous!  (Not really)  Let one bird spy a snake and every bird in the county joins in a squawk-fest.  I decided to check out what the birds found and see if I needed to do another snake relocation.  Thankfully, it was just a small black racer that was trying its best to escape from the bird noise.  While there, I noticed that the Lantanas were in full bloom.  These are not ones I have planted in the yard but rather some random shrubs that insist on popping up in the oddest places.  I usually let them grow where they wish and just enjoy the blooms.  These were blooming all along the side of the lane making the driveway quite pretty!

  The sight of the Lantanas brought back many memories of my childhood.  Back then, every yard had the bushes growing next to their front porches.  Porches were usually painted white and the bright blooms stood out beautifully.  Very, very few folks ever called them Lantanas, however.  It was almost a rule that the bush was labeled either "Ham and Eggs" or "Butter and Eggs" depending on the color of the blooms.  If a cluster was more yellow, it was "Butter and Eggs" but let those pink buds show up and the bush had the proper name of "Ham and Eggs".  Folks, thought a lot about food back then, I guess.  I never, ever remember anyone calling the shrubs Lantanas.  To this day, if someone asks, I usually blurt out Ham and Eggs.  (I do get a lot of funny looks!)

  Just recently, I found out that the Ham and Egg name is accurate, to some extent.  There is a cultivar of lantana actually named that!  The Butter and Egg name is now attached to a invasive weed in some parts of the country.  Now that the name thing is settled, it is probably good to note that both of these plants have some good points and some bad.  Lantanas repel bugs but are toxic to humans and most animals.  Don't go eating them.  The Butter and Egg plant is used in some folk medicine but can cause major medical problems if used incorrectly.  Best leave that one alone, too.  Perhaps it is better to just enjoy the beauty of the blooms and not dine upon either of the plants.

Pretty Little Bug Repellent!

  While I love plants and love to garden, I have a bad tendency to let things grow to wild abandon.  Keeping bushes and shrubs trimmed in nice shapes and keeping plants within the boundaries of the garden are all fine and dandy for those who live a controlled life.  I do not.  I am sort of wild and free so why should the plants around me be confined?  Yes, I do trim thing when it is most helpful for the growth of a plant but other than that, I let them do what they want to do.  Sometimes, this gets out of hand.  For instance, the grapefruit trees are pushing 30 some odd feet in height and that makes it a bit difficult to pick the fruit. Perhaps those should have been pruned but it is far too late for that now.  I do love to see plants growing to their utmost even if that means they take over the place.

  
  Down behind the citrus grove near the canebrake, there has been a small lantana growing for a number of years.  Since the bush was not in the way and since I adore the tiny, multicolored blooms, I let it do its own thing.  For years, it stayed pretty much self contained.  I would mow around it and that was just about the most care it received.  This year, however, when I was fertilizing the citrus trees, I threw a large handful of fertilizer into the midst of the lantana bush.  Uh, oh!  It must have needed that extra nourishment as now it has decided to reward me.  The bush has tripled in size and is covered with the orange, pink and yellow blooms!  It sprawls across the ground in huge mounds!

  Am I upset with the new found Goliath sized shrub that threatens to overtake a lemon tree in the next few weeks?  Not in the least.  Since that particular lemon tree has yet to bear any fruit in the ten years we have had it, I have threatened to remove it anyway.  The lantana may as well fill up the space with its happy blooms and dozens of visiting butterflies!  As an added bonus, it is a proven fact that these lovely plants repel mosquitoes! (Since I found out that fact, I am seriously thinking of letting the lantana just take over the entire yard!  Flowers...good.  Mosquitoes...bad!)

Probably Not The Best Idea

  I found long ago that bumblebees and other flower bees sleep deep inside of flowers at night.  Here, they are snug little bugs!  In the morning, they have a ready source of pollen for breakfast before they go about their daily business.  Most flowers, such as lilies, squash blossoms and trumpet vine blooms are sturdy and provide shelter against rains and the chill of night. However!  Sometimes, the choice of bloom can be a mistake.

  Last night we had torrential rains.  Everything became soaked.  This morning's hike proved to be rather soggy with the leaves and blooms still dripping water.  One small bumblebee was quite soaked.  It had made the mistake of choosing the bloom of the Althea bush as its nighttime quarters.  Normally, while this would not have been the best choice, it definitely would not have been the worst.  The blooms of this shrub are "one time only" blooms.  They open during the day and then close...for good...at dusk.   If a bee climbed inside the bloom, the soft folds of petals would gently caress it like soft blankets as it closed for the night.  In the morning, the bee could still wiggle its way out of the petals.  With the rains, however, the petals would almost "glue" themselves together making a tightly enclosed "cocoon" around the bee.  Obviously, our little bee had sense enough to climb out of its bed and "ride out the storm" on the outer edge of the shriveled bloom.  Poor, little bee was covered with water droplets but was still clinging to its bloom!

  It seems that this summer has had two things going for it.  It has been hot!  We have had near record temperatures.  It has also been wet.  Rainstorms pop up almost every evening. as of late.  These storms have a lot of wind, lightning and thunder.  The little bee endured quite the ordeal last night so I am in hopes that it finds a safer place for tonight's slumber.  Perhaps it should try the new hotel called "Madonna Lily" down the garden a ways.  I hear tell that its "open all night" and is touted to have strong petals.  Sweet dreams, Little Bee!

Not A Daisy

  A few years back, it dawned on me that one of my shrubs had a quite beautiful name.  It is a common hibiscus but goes by two different familiar names...Rose of Sharon and Althea.  At that time, I decided to combine all of the names and call my pretty plant "Althea Rose Sharon Bush".  I also decided that she would be a true Southern Belle that resided in the garden.  It just made sense to me at the time.  The name stuck and now I introduce the lovely lady to visitors to the gardens that surround the Little Bayou House.

  The conversation usually goes a lot like this.  Visitor...What is that beautiful purple bloom?"  Me.."I would like to introduce you to my friend!  This is Althea Rose Sharon Bush and she lives beneath the old oak tree in the garden.".  To which the visitor inexplicably gets a rather bemused look on the face and mutters something that sounds a lot like..."She is a daisy."  I am aghast!  Althea Rose Sharon is not daisy.  She is lovely and a favorite of mine.  Whereas, the visitor starts to explain that they did not think my bush was a daisy but that I am a bit crazy for naming plants.  Well, could be but Althea is not a daisy.  Thus ends the conversation about Althea Rose Sharon as, by this time, the visitor has usually spied the peach tree that is weighted down with fruit or the huge tomato plants that are just starting to ripen their tomatoes.  I hurry along behind still trying to defend the dignity of the Lady Althea.

  Actually, the Rose of Sharon is an old southern favorite.  The bushes are easy to grow, do not require much care and bloom with wild abandon.  Mine is the most common...purple but they come in a wide range of colors from deep maroon to white and everything in between.  The bushes are easy to start from cuttings and seeds so there is no need to have just one.  This is one of the cases where more is better!  Althea Rose Sharon Bush will always have a home in my gardens.