Webmasters are frequent night owls. What we are
here to do is best done when the Internet is a little less busy. It also gives many of us
time to think - and to dream. Looking at CarolinaNow with its rigid adherence to a common
design and format (but for very good reasons, I'm told) I just had to demand that I be
allowed to make one or two of the pages a little more different.
My wife is a flower nut - and she can grow most
anything. She suggested using the blooms on the North & South Carolina Region Lists
(as you have just seen). Sounded like a great idea. But I'm not an artist. So I had her
make up a list of flowers I should search for and then went looking on the Internet. Lots
of pretty pictures but very few small enough to be inserted into the little spots
allocated to my 'spruce-up project'. Hey, in the military if you haven't got you make do;
so you have seen what I did.
Then another problem. Not enough tiny pictures
of blossoms to fill twenty spots. Why not add some birds? Well, we did find a few. Still
there weren't enough of these micro-pictures so we had to use a few twice. Where's the
Carolina Wren? Couldn't find a tiny picture. Also couldn't find a tiny picture of South
Carolina's state flower: the Yellow Jessamine. Hope you don't mind.
The moral of this story (if there is one) is that Carolina is a beautiful place, - not
just to visit but to live. We do hope you'll come join us - somewhere in Carolina.
Upcountry
Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) is a tall
(3 to 5 foot), bright red beacon to hummingbirds. A giant sized coxcombe (though
unrelated), my kids used to call it the bottle brush (not related to the tree, either).
Seen throughout the Southeast, it grows in the shade, in the sun or anywhere in between.
It is best propagated from cuttings - then takes up to two years to share its beauty with
us. It is a very welcome addition to the rear of a garden and blooms all summer.
Olde English
The American Goldfinch is a blessed visitor to
anyone's garden, especially in the Heartland of Carolina. These black-winged, yellow birds
are sometimes called wild canaries because they resemble and sound so similar. The
American Goldfinch is a seed eater. Folks like to feed them but, unfortunately, the
Goldfinch is a timid chap and easily gets aced out of the feeders by other, more
aggressive birds.
Pee Dee -
Old
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Among our very welcome winter visitors is the
tiny Ruby-crowned Kinglet. A connoisseur of bugs, you will see these little birds wherever
you see Carolina Pines. While this tiny picture can't reveal the true marking of this
Kinglet, just look for any tiny bird similar to our picture - and the one sure sign, the
Ruby-crowned Kinglet is always flicking its wings. Nervous?
Thoroughbred
The skullcap (Scutellaria montana) seems to have
become much harder to find. We used to see them along the upper Savannah River. They are
about 12 to 18 inches tall and bloom for several weeks starting a little before Memorial
Day. A lady I once knew used to pick them for her husband's grave (KIA WW-II) because he
died on Memorial Day 1944 and these blossom the same time. This plant has bugged me ever
since. She said that the skullcap is a happy flower. She said a lot more which I probably
shouldn't repeat. Though a wild flower, the skullcap is not difficult to grow in gardens.
You may see these at the edges of the woods along the secondary roads in South Carolina
from the Thoroughbred through the Upcountry.
Columbia
The White-winged Crossbill is a winter guest.
Normally resident up north, they come to enjoy the mild Carolina winter - like our other
friends from up north.
Grand Strand
This is supposed to be a 'False Foxglove'
(Agalinis purpurea). Yes, I know, on the North Carolina page I told you this was supposed
to be a Coreopsis. So I've got dual use. Anyway, you'll see these almost everywhere all
summer long along our Carolina highways and byways. It's an annual but propagates itself
like crazy. These are most abundant in the meadowlands along the woods - especially where
it is low and tends to be more moist. It is also a great one for your garden.
Note: Just a few days after we published these pages we received an e-mail
from someone who thought this 'picture' looks more like a Fivefingers (Potentilla
canadensis). Sorry, but Fivefingers is a more bland yellow and without the darker center.
But, be on the lookout for Fivefingers (also called Cinquefoil) which is usually seen on
grassy knolls.
Santee-Cooper
The flower is the Purple Thistle (Cirsium
carolinianum) which is almost a weed in the Southern Heartland and Pee Dee regions (but
grows all over, too). The part below the blossom (which botanists call the middle
involucral) is distinct - it looks like a miniature spiney cactus. These thistles
like the sandy soils. The young stems were frequently part of the diet of many folks. Look
for the Purple Thistle from about mid-May to mid-July.
The bird is the American Goldfinch - see my
paragraph at Olde English.
Charleston
This horse mint (Monarda citriodora) is also an
immigrant. Originally (we think) a product of the western, alkali soils, it doesn't need
much water. It usually stands about two feet tall so makes a good backdrop plant. The deep
purple ones (shown here) fluoresce in the sun and can be guilty of hypnotizing the unwary.
Some of the American Native cultures are said to have prized the leaves for some kind of
medicine (heard this when I was a kid) but I haven't been able to get any information
about this. Blooms all summer and is another great attractant of birds and butterflies.
Lowcountry
Always a welcome visitor to one's garden, the
Ruby-throated Hummingbird is a frequent sight around Carolina flowers - especially the red
blossoms. And you'll see a lot of red and other bright colors among the flora of our
lowcountry highways and byways. In fact, this busy feathered friend is so attracted to the
color red that it will try to sip nectar from a bright red hair ribbon.
