In 2008 they bloomed in March, in 2011 they bloomed in late February, in 2012 they bloomed in late January and early February, in 2013, they bloomed in the middle of January. Does this seem right to you?:
Not the dogs; the flowers. Yellow jessamine in January?
Gelsemium sempervirens in January?
John S. Quarterman, Gretchen Quarterman,
Brown Dog, Yellow Dog,
Pictures by John S. Quarterman for Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia, 2013-01-30.
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A couple of French botanists came by to catalog our yellow jessamine. They want some for medicinal purposes. Up in North Carolina they heard it grew hereabouts and drove down. Contacting the Chamber, they were told Gretchen had some. She was in Valdosta and sent them out. I gave them a tour, including use of digging implements.
Pictures by John S. Quarterman for Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 August 2012.
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Gelsemium sempervirens has been blooming around here since January
a high-climbing, woody vine that is known by several names, including Carolina jessamine, poor man's rope, or yellow jasmin.It smells good. It's native to the U.S. southeast.
Pictures by John S. Quarterman, Lowndes County, Georgia, 28 February 2011.
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Matt Flumerfelt's writeup actually conflates two different county commission meetings, but gets the gist right:
The fate of the tree canopies lining the rural road were thought to hang in the balance. Several residents spoke in favor of the paving, citing dangerous conditions along the road during periods of stormy weather.Oh, the beaver will be mad. I forgot to mention the beaver.John and Gretchen Quarterman, whose ancestors lent their name to the country lane, led the fight to preserve the road in its original pristine dirt-road condition.
The forest along Quarterman Road is “a scrap of the longleaf fire forest that used to grow from southern Virginia to eastern Texas,” said John Quarterman following the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “This forest has been here since the last ice age.”
Quarterman Road, pre-paving, was the kind of dirt road down which Huckleberry Finn might be envisioned skipping barefoot with a fishing rod projecting over one shoulder.
It was the kind of road near which Thoreau might have planted a cabin.
“Many people don’t know that a longleaf pine forest has more species diversity than anything outside a tropical rain forest,” Quarterman said. “In our woods, we have five species of blueberries, ...
The rest of the story is on the VDT web pages.
More pictures of the event in the previous blog entry.
For pictures of what lives in the forest, see longleaf burning gopher tortoises, snakes, frogs, bees and butterflies, spiders and scorpion, and raccoon, and beautyberry, pokeberry, passion flower, pond lily, ginger lily, Treat's rain lily (native only to south Georgia, north Florida, and a bit of Alabama), thistle, sycamore, palmetto, mushrooms, lantana, magnolia, grapes, yellow jessamine, dogwood, and native wild azaleas.
The VDT has a good picture of Gretchen cutting the ribbon.
But it's not over just because one road project is completed:
“More people around the county seem to be paying attention these days. Commissioners tell us that already another road in the county has had its canopy saved during paving, and the commission has promised residents of Coppage Road that if their road is paved, their canopy will be saved. Commissioners even seem to like the idea of recognizing canopy roads as a feature of quality of life for residents of the county and for visitors.”
We have a forest. The county just has roads.
Now let's go see what they're doing to the rest of our roads. And schools, and waste management, and biofuels, and industry.... If you'd like to help, please contact the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
What are those yellow vine flowers that smell like jasmine? Yellow jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens), native to the U.S. southeast (and the South Carolina state flower, although these examples grow in Lowndes County, Georgia).
But don't eat them; they contain a compound similar to strychnine and said to be as effective as hemlock. Nonetheless, sometimes used as a sedative.
Pictures by Gretchen.
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