Sunday, April 05, 2020

Search and rescue

When our niece Samantha was about five years old, the coal company that owns the property down behind the barn decided to cut timber.

We had no right to that property, but we'd treated it as if it were ours for years. We walked each day and kept the walking path maintained. Wildflowers, wild honeysuckle (azaleas) plum trees, and dogwood were everywhere.

We knew this would not be the same property once the timber was cut. Jilda and Samantha went on a search and rescue mission one day while I was at work with the phone company.

They dug up as much of the beauty as they could bring back to our farm. One of the things they brought back was what Jilda's mom and MaMaw Mamie called wild thrift. When I Googled the flower, I found that the real name is Creeping Phlox.

It appears each year around the roots of the maple tree in the front yard.

The land behind the barn has recovered, and the trees are taller now than they were when the loggers swept through.

I think it gets more beautiful every year.



9 comments:

  1. I'm glad you could save this! I do love creeping flox and soon we'll have some blooming here as well. Take care!

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  2. Creeping Phlox sounds like something penicillin would cure. But it is pretty.

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  3. What a wonderful thing to have saved. And hooray for Nature's regenerative powers. Powers I hope we have not exhausted.

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  4. I love this flower and glad you saved it. I bought the. Twice and killed them both times. I should buy it again but let my hubby take care of it. I don’t know if the coal business just went in and took everything out but I used to go with my dad when he bought a new bush as he called it. I would wear long sleeves and pants and rubber boots as per my dad’s instructions because of the many mosquitoes and the swampy area. I enjoyed these outings and he would go and mark the trees that would be felled. I would ask him why he would not take other trees and he would tell me they were too young and need room to grow. He would keep some nice looking big trees because he said they are needed and we can’t be too greedy. He told me that by getting rid of some of these trees will give more space for the younger trees to grow. He hated clear cutting and said that nothing will grow there and it destroys nature,

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  5. What a wonderful thing to have been able to rescue those plants. And now you can still enjoy them.

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  6. I liked the story and the title, neat. Good stuff to try to preserve and maintain beauty. Love the color.
    Sherry & jack over in NC.

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  7. I love creeping phlox too. I have some in my gardens and can't wait for them to bloom.
    Hugs, Julia

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  8. I never knew the name of this. How neat that beauty was saved and replaced.
    Lisa

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  9. Great story and pretty plant

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