Something Else Southern?

   It is a southern thing.  You hear that often with everything from blessing folk's hearts to eating grits and fried mullet.  It is a southern thing.  While some people think we are a bit backward, we really do not care.  We do our own thing, love one another and live life to the fullest.  We are just happy to be alive and if that is confusing to you...well, kiss my grits.  Who cares?  

  One thing that I was told was pretty much a southern thing by a cousin who lives way up north, is the fact that if visitors ever comment on our garden, they have set themselves up to receive whatever caught their eye.  We give.  We almost over-give.  Armloads of vegetables or fruit are pushed on anyone who comes.  The same goes with our flowers.  Compliment a flower garden and you are bound to be the recipient of cuttings, small plants or seeds. We don't care who you are or where you came from, when you leave, you will be loaded down with something!  No one can leave empty-handed. It is a southern thing...we share...a lot.

  Pass-along plants are a thing much like hand-me-down clothes.  One of the favorites down here is the Confederate Rose.  This is not a rose at all but a member of the hibiscus family or mallow family.  It is one of those plants that is easily rooted by a snippet of stem.  Stick it in some water and a few weeks later, you have a sapling.  Then, it is not long before you have a nice sized shrub that will be covered with lovely saucer-sized blooms during the fall.  Just about everyone down here in the Deep South will tell you their story about receiving a cutting from someone's garden.  The tales are about as interesting as the shrub, itself.  We take pride in giving credit where credit is due.  It is a southern thing.

A New Lesson

  It is sort of a southern thing to have crepe myrtles planted in your yard.  Most of the locals have at least one tree but there are those who have dozens.  Pop did.  All across the front lawn was a row of crepe myrtle trees lining the road.  He took remarkable care of all of his plants but his crepe myrtles were a thing of pride with him.  Each summer along about July, the entire row was a solid mass of blooms.  When planting the trees, he alternated the hot pink with a purple.  He would trim the trees each winter and by blooming time they were about 15 feet tall and thick with branches.  Each of those new limbs was loaded with the foot long clusters of crinkly flowers.  It was a sight to behold!  But...all of Pop's yard was.  I try but mine will never compare with his.

  However, the crepe myrtles are blooming!  I have about ten small trees all started from cuttings from Pop's.  While these do not do justice to their parent plants, the beauty is there.  As a tyke, the blooms reminded me of our favorite "bought" summertime treat...the snowball!  For those who are not familiar with a snowball, it is finely shaved ice flavored with sickly sweet syrups that come in a variety of flavors.  In early summer, snowball stands would pop up all over town and always had a long line of folks waiting for their turn to purchase the treats.  It was a family outing to "Go get a snowball!" Not only was eating the snowball tasty, the fun lasted for hours as we all could make fun of the syrup stained teeth and lips of our siblings.  I was smart.  I always got peach...it did not stain as much as say, blueberry. But now I have gotten off track of the crepe myrtle and I have found an interesting note about the tree.

  While sorting some items on the shelf, I came across an old farm manual.  As I flipped through the pages, I was stunned to find that many parts of the crepe myrtle tree were used in home remedies. Everything from fevers to cuts could be treated with parts of the tree.  I had never known this even though I am sure Pop was familiar with the uses.  Back in the day, there was no running to the corner drugs store or grocery store or department store on a daily basis.  Sometimes, it would be as long as a month or even six months before a "trip to town" was made.  (Not with Pop and his brothers as they had to deliver milk, vegetables and eggs to folks in town.  Their almost daily treks in the old farm wagon put them in the midst of town.)  But, using home remedies was far more prevalent then than now.  It was a matter of survival.  Folks knew what worked and how to use it.  They also knew what was toxic.  Not too many folks are aware that a lot of plants in their yards can be healing or can be deadly.  It may be a wise thing to read up on what is growing out there!  I am sure glad that my grandparents and parents taught me....but why omit the crepe myrtle from my training?  Perhaps, they did not.  Perhaps that was one of the days that I was a dawdling kid without a strong attention span. Ha!  But now I know!  And it is time for me to start studying up on the crepe myrtle!