Dear Claudia Alta,
as I drove across the Triangle-through the Piedmont and to the Mountains of North Carolina last week-I thought about Birds-Flowers-and you. It was hard not to-you were popping up in my thoughts as often as- mile after mile of glorious wild flowers amassed the highway.
At moments-I was even a bit distracted.
The rows of Lady Bird Sun Flowers are dazzling- "Helianthus annuus" -heady. Seed heads lolling, heavy-but not at sleep, rather soldiering their way along a ribbon of highyway.
As your yellow flock whirs by, your
optimism-vision, and resilience is unmistakeable.
For the seeds you
planted-it is a brilliant legacy-
With gratitude,
Yours, A fellow traveler
.
I did not know Lady Bird espoused the planting of wildflowers anywhere but Texas. The bluebonnets are truly spectacular.
ReplyDeleteHelianthus...sacred name for a flower with so much power, seeds to eat, beauty for the eyes, oil to cook with...I hope The Sun shines for you & yours these days..
ReplyDeleteI still remember her voice from the radio commercials made back in the 60's for Keep America Beautiful when she said, "Plant a bush, a tree or a shrub." Still very good advice...
ReplyDeleteLady Bird was an amazing person-smart and with vision.
ReplyDelete"Ladybird" was the most underestimated "First Lady" in the twentieth century! (just my opinion !!!)
ReplyDeleteNo media coverage; no ego, just graciously beautifying the country! Let's have a book about her!
(By the way; our hostess on this blog....has written (rumored to be THE decorating book of the twentieth century!!!!)
Mario Buatta....50 years.....
I just listened to an interview.....and Mario (who suffers no fools; and admires few!!)
I just this minute heard him say......"This is the one and only book......and I wrote it with "Emily Evans Eerdmann" (a very good writer!")
Sheesh......I check my mailbox...every morning..........and then cry!!
Lovely post and thank you for giving credit to "Lady Bird" Johnson.......she must have had quite a "constitution"!
Lyndon was not a "day at the beach"!!
Lordy!
What a courageous and lovely "Southern Woman"! I GIVE HER A "YOWZERS!!!"
yes she left such an incredible legacy to this country and I feel it's not always properly appreciated! When new highways are undertaken aesthetics are never even a consideration which is so disappointing. We need another Lady Bird!
ReplyDeleteWe need a few more! I think our present "First Lady" is doing a major effort doing important things!!!! School lunches!!! Nutrition! and an example of great fitness in a lady of her age! (those arms and shoulders!) What a great example of fitness! Her loveliness and graciousness are teaching charm and manners by watching her example! I wish we could "clone " her!
ReplyDeleteThe most lovely and gracious first lady in my lifetime! I was born in 1947!!!
Penelope!
Good post. The Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center at UT Austin is a wonderful research center for native plants and part of her great legacy. I wonder how many younger people know that the reason we see wildflowers blooming along U.S. highways and fewer billboards is because of her support of the 1965 Beautification Act called for limiting outdoor advertising along the Interstate highway system, and for junkyards along highways to be screened or removed, and laid the groundwork for planting wildflowers as part of the system landscaping budget. It seems that some of that resolve has been lost, because one almost feels assaulted by advertising on highways nowadays. It would be so much more fun to drive along and look at beautiful scenery.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy to see someone recognize Mrs. Johnson. I always felt like she was the perfect complement to the delicate hothouse beauty of the era that preceded hers in the White House. Here's to beauty and to women who are hardy and wild!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I think the publication of her recipe for Pecan Pie put that dish on every Thanksgiving table.