You can take the girl outta the country and more reasons for future therapy
Dear WTMs,
I was raised in a city in the midwest near the Oklahoma/Kansas Border. There were two kinds of music that were available when I was growing up...country AND western. And there were LOTS and LOTS of what people call "Ditch Lillies". I have attached a picture of the ditch lilly that grew everywhere in my hometown.
These are great flowers----they grow in the 100 degree, burning heat of summer, they don't need a lot of water and they are virtually impossible to kill. A perfect type of plant for my garden. I like to garden but I am not very good at it.
You cannot find "ditch lillies" in a nursery and you really don't see them very much at all where I live now-----but these flowers are my favorites AND they remind me of "home".
Every summer, I become obsessed about the ditch lilly plants whenever we travel to see grandma or if we are in the country (like last week to scout camp).
I can spot a "ditch lilly" a mile away and I always threaten to stop and dig some up. The girls are so used to me ranting about ditch lillies and talking about how I am going to just stop the car on the highway and dig up a few....they ignore me.
However, today, much to my younger daughter's complete horror----I STOPPED THE CAR just off a country road (not the inter-state highway) and DUG UP A FEW "Ditch Lillies" for my yard. FYI: I did not steal them---they were in a DITCH, hence the name, DITCH LILLY.
Miss Minnesota/Margarita Girl was DYING. First she begged me to do it when she was "not in the car". She was doubly horrified because her big sister was NOT in the car with us----therefore SHE WAS THE ONLY ONE that had to suffer.
I joke about being "WT" but I do have to say that stopping on the side of the road to dig up flowers is kinda WT----but I don't care. I've got my pretty orange flowers and I am planting them tommorrow. AND just because she complained....Miss Minnesota is going to help me.
You can take the girl outta the country but you can't take the country outta the girl.
Reason No. 457 why my kids will be in therapy.
posted by queen of wt at 6/20/2006 02:37:00 PM
32 Comments:
Haaaaaah! I used to BEG my parents to stop on the side of the road so I could pick cattails, and those little orange California Poppies. They never would, but of course it was okay to drive up random driveways so my mom could see the houses at the end. I remember hiding like heck in the back seat, and dying of embarrassment...just like Margarita Girl! It's fun when you can torture your kids like your parents tortured you...
Dammit. Thank you. This is the hilarity I needed for the day.
But, I would do the SAME DAMN THING.
I spent hours digging things up beside the road as a kid with my grandmother so she could add it to her gardens. I don't ever remember being embarassed...guess I've always been WT. Now I'm the one doing the digging with my daughter along and she doesn't mind either. In fact the Tiger Lilies (ditch lilies to you) I dug up last year are doing just fine.
If these are what you call "ditch lilies" then I think the more common name is "day lily" in which case you can order them online from any nursery. Especially here in South Louisiana. It's pretty much the only flowering plant you can grow here in the summer.
LOL We have those everywhere around here. Didn't know you couldn't get them in nurseries though. They are rather pretty even if they are orange (I hate all things orange, but that's another story! LOL). Enjoy your flowers!
Daylilies come in a lot of different colors...lilac, peach, yellow, red.
My mother-in-law and my sister-in-law both have massive gardens full of the things.
Check out http://www.myspace.com/loulousdaylilies to see pics of my sister-in-law's favorite selections.
These lilies are available from either Breck's, Spring Hill, or Michigan Bulb. I bought five, and they sent me ten! We always used to debate about digging them up, but my dad was always worried that someone would get mad.
Yes, I know those flowers well. We
have them here, but we do live in
the country!
My embaressment was my stepmother
making me help her dig cactus
from the side of the road on
summer vacations. Yeah, and it
was real funny when she made me
sit on when while trying to dig
one up. WT all the way!
We always called those Tiger Lillies and I believe they are edible.
My mom has done this too recently. And I was so very tempted to dig some up a few summers ago... LOVE them!
Up here in Minnesooooota, we go up "nort" and have been known to dig lupines out of the ditch. If however you dig up the state flower, a wild orchid named lady slipper, THAT can get you arrested -- or at least a citation, but arrested seems much more dramatic for flower poaching. BTW, I have ditch lillies all over my front yard. They were a gift from a previous neighbor, who was digging them up to pitch them. Be careful what you wish for. They spread by runners under the ground. I'm sure they'll be awful darned purty, tho' after they take over.
ROFLOL!!! That is hands-down the best story I have read in ages!!! LOVE IT!!! I can't wait until my kids are old enoughto realize when I am embarassing them!
Love your blog!
I have "ditch lillies" all over my yard, in burgundy, orange and white. Want them? They're yours. C'mon down to GA and dig the suckers up. I'll even lend you my shovel and serve you sweet tea while you do it.
It's so funny thinking about the things that were embarrassing as a kid. Because now as an adult, you know damn well that the entire world is far too busy thinking about their own foibles and embarrassments to be even the slightest bit concerned about yours.
Let the White Trash spew forth, I say!
Hah, my mom used to do that (and still does, for all I know). I think the most embarrasing time was when she was pinching leaves off a hanging plant in Burger King to take home and plant.
Just tell her it builds character!
We have billions of those flowers in the Milwaukee, WI area. I have them all over my yard and there isn't a thing that will kill them.
Good for you! Lil Missy WT will get over herself. LOL ;-) She won't need therapy, her therapy will be to do the same to her children. LOLOLOL
You know it's funny how environment can affect a rural upbringing. I grew up in a town of 700 people, but on the shores of the Great Lakes. Where water meets countryside something new is formed, I find.
And I know all about your ditch lilies. Except here, they're wild lilacs.
Those look like daylillies to me...here in NC (and anywhere from FL to NC) they are everywhere....on the road side in parks, at the nursery, in MY yard, at Lowes and Home Depot. I like the name "ditch lilly" better but it seems to be that they are the same as day lillies...could be wrong.
Keep up the WTM actions.
I have a black thumb..though I'm learning a lot more about botanics than desired from brit hubby
My WT neighbor had a bunch of these planted in her garden, she had also dug them up from the side of the road. One day I noticed some leaves sticking thru the fence, and I pulled, and ended up with my own clump to start in my own yard. Who knew that you could pull them out by the roots so easily? heh heh heh.
I love when we behave in ways that make our children cringe! Power to the bad mamas! Hey, I just ordered a shirt off of your blog. And I bet you know which one! I love me a cocktail!
I had a Step-grandmother from Ponca City, who before she passed, gave me a nice clump of those lilies. And even after 9 years of me doing nothing to them, they come back to show to their beautiful little lily faces!
Great entry!
You are so right, we have been trying to kill ours for years. After every chemical known to man, we have given up. Want mine?
Tiger lilies are different than day lilies in that their blooms last longer and they do indeed grow wild (hence your moniker, ditch lilies). My mother always called them...shit house lilies. :)
I got a bit of info from my mom on the ditch lilies since you posted this and now know why they grow wild along roads. During the Depression when there were those government sponsored work crews out building small bridges, walls, digging ditches, etc....they planted the lilies. Her parents told her about it when she was growing up.
Those are day lilies or Tiger lilies. We have bunches of them in the front yard - and you did them a favor by digging up a few because they probably were getting very crowded and needed to be divided.
You mean that's not okay? My grandmother and I used to do that all the time!
I'm WT to the core. My favorite table bouquet is still the rusty spires of curly dock, the spindly stalks and raggedy blue blooms of railbed chicory, and Queen Anne's Lace. Like you, I *longed* for what we called tigerlilies in Illinois. They aren't tigerlilies; a tigerlily is something much different. What you and I like are daylilies. Their common name is ditch lily, and their Latin name is Hemerocallis Fulva. (stick that in Google, you'll see). Few vendors bother to sell them. If you still want some, drop me a note at verizonDOTnet and I'll mail you a few!
Hi I'm from PA and around here those are called Shithouse Lillies,cause you find then around the shithouse on the old farms,
Dave G.
Sie können sie bei couponorbit.com finden, da es die thomas sabo gute Anlaufstelle für alle Overstock Schmuck Gutscheine thomas sabo shop und Gutscheincodes Overstock Schmuck ist.
Post a Comment
<< Home