Residual storm talk and wildflowers or weeds

 

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             Several years ago now, my Garland County district-highway-department-maintenance supervisor-son Eric, told me those tall yellow-blossomed weeds in my north yard that I took a hoe to were NOT dandelions, but lanced-leaf coreopsis!

            Dandelions, he said, were short-stemmed and had different-shaped leaves. So I composed a table bouquet containing ligustrum (cultivated privet) and lanced-leaved coreopsis. I love the roadside tickseed coreopsis and have one blooming in the porch flowerbox. I moved it from the north bed because I didn’t tend that one very often.

           On the current subject of flooding, the Great Flood of 1937 was greater than the one in 1927, records-wise. 2011’s floods equaled 1937’s. It remains to be seen how this year’s numbers will compare.

           I was amazed at the chutzpah of several government folks the last time we had such an exorbitant amount of rain—I think in 2011. Three examples are: “So far, we’re holding the [Mississippi] river at bay.” –Desha County judge. I don’t think so.

          “I’ve done nothing at all to prepare to leave here. We are going to be safe.” –a resident of Lake Village. I hope he was correct.

            “...We’re in a flood fight . . . [that] at this point we are winning.” – a Vicksburg District Corps of Engineers person. But I wouldn’t count on it always happening that way.

           A more sensible observation was this one: “Flood control—spillways, reservoirs and lakes are man’s puny little efforts against something as mighty as the Mississippi River.”– C. Sullivan.

          This year’s quotes seem to be more poetic and cautious: “The rhythm to the changes in the river level may be helping the levee system hold up”––R.Stires, Conway County flood plain manager. “We get rain, the river goes up, and then we get a few days to get the river out.” (article by K. Heard, AD-G, 5/28/15)
         
          Another comment the following day by J. Lesko, meteorologist, NLR, follows the same line of thinking: “We are in a pattern where the rivers crest and then begin falling below flood stage when the next system comes and turns the river around.” (also a K. Heard article.)

         Figures from 2011 showed that Arkansas had received eleven disaster declarations for tornadoes, floods, snowstorms, ice storms and remnants of three hurricanes, according to Chad Stover, spokesperson for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.

         Early on—before this Memorial Day weekend—I texted grandson Billy please NOT to be on any of the rivers close to Arkadelphia. “Why?” he asked.” “Water’s running high and fast,” I told him. “Ah, okay.” Whew!

         Blooming plants at Couchwood this week included a lone surviving pansy, lamb’s ear—that my brother says are mullein pinks––celosia, oxalis, freesia, abelia, hydrangeas, coreopsis and chrysanthemums. By next week, perhaps the gardenias and Easter lilies will be out with their luscious, intense scents. And also the day lilies.

         While lance-leaved coreopsis may be wildflowers on the roadsides and in hayfields, when they invade yards and cemeteries, I consider them weeds. Sorry, Eric.

 

 

Nature at its best and worst

by Pat Laster

This week, I was struck by these beauties in my yard in central Arkansas: japonica (firebush), forsythia (yellowbell), spirea, pansies, deep-red miniature nandinas, buttercups, heirloom double jonquils, blue-blossomed vinca, berried hollies, hyacinths, dianthus and the understated pink blooms of loropetalum.
Yellow coins of dandelions are blooming underfoot, a portent of future infestation. Hen-bit greens up the yard until the grass begins growing. A yellow sheep shire bloom and stars-of-Bethlehem are also visible in the grass and a lone grape hyacinth peeks from down low in the flower bed.
The oxalis foliage is lush and there are several pink blooms in the hanging basket outside the south window. And thrift. How could I overlook the cascading thrift? Also, the redbud (Judas Tree) is turning fuchsia. And if that weren’t enough, the pear tree is blooming!
Inside, an old begonia (close to the south window) shows one lonely bloom, but four African violets—three blue, one pink—are splendid in their florescence.
As warm as it’s been, it’s awfully tempting to begin putting the plants back outdoors. But I know it’s too soon. The wind would whip them to pieces. Except for the mother-in-law’s tongue. It’s tall, heavy leaves would stand stoically as usual through any weather. We know folks like that, don’t we?
Nature can show both its sublimity in the instances of plants and birds, and its destructive violence as experienced in tornadoes and floods.
This time, central Arkansas received only gusty winds. Places in mid-country weren’t so lucky. At one point, according to newspaper wire reports, storms arrived so fast between last Friday and early Saturday that as many as four million folks were within 25 miles of a tornado.
OTHER SUBJECTS: A recent news picture’s caption mentioned a turpentine farm. A new term for me, so I Googled it, discovering that in earlier years, yellow pine trees were cut into, the resin/sap dripped into boxes, which, when full, were taken to larger containers, then even larger ones and shipped to a distillery, thence to buyers. The online source prompted a poem: “on a dark night/ the turpentine farm becomes/ a cemetery” Cuts in the trees leave whitened resinous coatings that reflect eerily at night.
A term found in an obit ended up in my journal: “Quartermaster Striker (Korean War).” Striker was the enigmatic word. In the list of US Navy Enlisted Rates/Ratings, I found the meaning. I think.
“Sailors who go directly to a base, station or ship without specialized school training following recruit training are encouraged to select a career field. Through correspondence courses provided for self-study and on-the-job training (OJT), they may qualify for entry into a rating. This path is called "striking for rate." A seaman working in the deck department of a ship will by work assignment find herself most often in training for the deck rating of Boatswain Mate. Many "strikers" will venture into other departments to become a Yeoman, Damage Controlman or Gunnersmate as openings occur. Many technical rating fields are restricted to formal school graduates and thereby closed to "strikers." Having experienced the width and depth of Navy life, most "strikers" become excellent petty officers.” #