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From age 3, I knew where the best was to be found.
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Yards were St. Augustine & a few bushes, palm trees, Spanish moss, an oak here/there, oleander, bottlebrush, hibiscus, rubber plant, gardenia, after a rain crawdaddy's came to the curb from their home just inside the grates, peak interest, only at night, the hoot owl.
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What was the best? Always, the ditches. Mysterious things grew in the ditches, lush, loose, even the birds were different than in the yards.
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Fragrance too. Decades later Pat Conroy described this particular love, I had fallen, early, for the charms of pluff mud, always present in the ditches. I grew up on a tiny sliver of land between marsh, bay, creek, lake.
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This isn't about pluff mud, it's about the verges growing in pluff mud. First love.
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Elsewhere, most-where, verges are redolent of man's lack of stewardship. Great irony when a deer lays dead upon a shorn verge. A narrative thick with layers of abdication. No worries, this isn't about that either. Let's get to the heart of the matter, that great love.
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Beautiful verges, below.
Pic, above, here.
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A spot, above, in England, budget cutbacks, less mowing of the verges.
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Pic, above, I shot in Elk Horn, Kentucky.
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Wish I could head for Elk Horn, KY today. Meander every verge, not reaching, not even close, the speed limit. Staying with my friend Diana, at her farm, open/wooded, meandering stream, with tall verges, of course.
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There are seasonal road trips, train trips, biking trips to enjoy scenic Fall. The best, well advertised.
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Why not seasonal road trips for the best verges? Where is the advertising for that?
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Both verges, above, due to the same spirit. Lack of budget to mow more. (Can-we-get-an, Amen.)
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Lady Bird got it about verges. Long gone, she'll continue doing more for USA than her husband did as president.
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Much happens, for our good, in verges. Of course, the verge is a prophet without honor.
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Enjoy your verges. I'm so greedy I wish I could see/know what is in all of yours.
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From age 11, to present, I've had the American Pie soundtrack sentence, tweeked, in my head, looking at beautiful verges, 'Can understanding this, save your mortal soul?' Verges & gardens are my music.
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Garden & Be Well, XO T
6 comments:
IT is LOVELY...........YOU were ONE SMART GIRL!
XX
Yes for verdant verges!
Sorry, Tara, big fan of yours but your statement about Lady Bird doing more than her husband did as president? LBJ's civil rights legacy might possibly outshine Lady Bird's considerable achievements re: wildflowers. Not that wildflowers are unimportant, but...
This is a great point. Thank you so much for sharing. I am in full agreement with your design advice for minor grade changes which can be tricky!
We are care free landscape company to provide all kinds of landscape design services with an expert designer.
Verges are political. Private backyards are political. Illegal in some states to collect your own rainwater. Illegal in all states to use your own pond/lake/stream as you wish.
Verges are stewardship of pollinators, and food supply. In Europe verges increase crop yields by 80%. Do the math on that. Those are political numbers. It is big business buying politicians and running governments. USA, great example. No longer a 2 party system, a uniparty. All bought from the same trough.
Every country is 9 meals away from anarchy.
Agriculture is big international business. GMO. Name of the game, today, is control. Control is political.
Agriculture is a big game, add water to that and you've got California, Arizona, and other western states.
Bless every facet of interest. China is developing robotics now for the small family farmer, they see population moves and not enough labor left to farm, everyone moving to cities.
Bless the big picture. We need engineers doing robotics, artists inspiring, sadly now, we need politicians that are honest.
Politicians love divisiveness. I won't go there. Bless your civil rights. Especially, because you will need them yourself. Civil rights are not for 'others' solely. Women across Europe are being told not to go out at night, how not to dress, and etc as the new normal. Where are their civil rights? Where are the civil rights for refugee women in USA and their homeland cultural customs including FGM?
Bless those protecting our food supplies, and those protecting civil rights. And bless those creating music. And......bless Lady Bird. Spelling, on purpose !! That's what I thought the 'adults' meant, in the 60's, of course.
I sense you haven't kept up with CORN. Ethanol. Farm subsidies, big industrial farms and politics. The food we eat. I hadn't, until a friend gave me a book. Please, read, The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, and contact me again. I did go to Pollan's big example for family farming, www.PolyFaceFarms.com. Adore brite spots in depressing facts. They are it.
You keep up with civil rights deeply, and I'll keep up with agriculture/ornamental horticulture deeply. Because USA needs both of us. Without division. Pledge of allegiance stuff.
XOT
3 gallons of water to make 1 gallon of ethanol; can't drink ethanol. Grocery stores have 3 days supply of food and who controls the food and water, controls the populace. Ask folks in Venezuela.
Who cares about civil rights if they are thirsty or hungry? It comes down to food, shelter, clothing but the USA has gotten soft to the point of mush.
Re verges...that leafy white flower has the most interesting, intoxicating scent...love it and use flowers in my wildflower vases. God's beauty, mine for the picking.
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