Kindness of Strangers – Part II<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.blogger.com/static/v1/common/js/327583163-csitaillib.js"></script> <script>if (typeof(window.attachCsiOnload) != 'undefined' && window.attachCsiOnload != null) { window.attachCsiOnload('ext_blogspot'); }</script>

Kindness of Strangers – Part II

Published Tuesday, June 23, 2009 by Bulb Hunter | 1 Comments | E-mail this post

Click here to read Part I.

After a successful hunt for the white cemetery iris and dinner with friends, I went to bed tired knowing the next day I would have to drag my exhausted body home.

The fruits (flowers?) of our labor: regal white cemetery iris (Iris X Albicans).

A good, old friend sent me on my way with cheese grits to last a lifetime, telling me they were a good complement to fish. Just a few miles after leaving though, my eyelids grew rapidly heavier, so I pulled into a gas station off Old San Antonio Road. The cashier graciously told me to feel free to park at the station and take a nap in my truck, and I obliged.

A photo of good ol' OSR, a remnant of the state's El Camino Real de Los Tejas (via ilvisu's Flickr photostream).

With a power nap under my belt, I was able to make it to Davis Feed Store in Buffalo, Texas, where Mr. Davis has taken a run-of-the-mill feedlot and turned it into a full-scale gift shop with flowers and more. I dropped off some cut flowers, Crinum Powellii “Album” and “Roseum” varieties from our Southern Living Plant Collection, along with a display for the locals to enjoy. Buffalo brings to mind fond memories of my first Thanksgiving away from home in California, when as a college student I stayed with a friend’s family and cut down a Christmas tree with them.

I continued northeast to Garden Style in Tyler to pick up my bucket from the flower display. The rain lilies I left for the staff had opened up and looked perky and striking in a blue mason jar next to the register.

Unlike me, this pink rain lily is wide awake, as were those at the Garden Style shop (via girishkatke's comprehensive Flickr photostream).

Garden Style in Tyler, Texas

Then it was back to the farm in Golden, Texas to weed and water plants before returning to Tyler to stay at my brother and sister-in-law’s home for one night while they were out of town. What a welcome respite, to have air conditioning, a soft bed, and a hot shower at the end of such a long day! Not to mention, a mutual friend of ours brought over leftover salmon for dinner and a beautiful bunch of hydrangeas. Kindness abounds!

They may not be bulbs, but this pretty arrangement of hydrangeas in a pewter vase lifted my spirits after a long day!

Sadly, the kindness exhibited by so many on my busy day was not extended by the bugs on the farm. I have nail polish all over my arms to suffocate the chigger bites I suffered while pulling weeds around my crinums, and occasional summer beetles have decided to sneak their way in and roam the floors. I won’t even tell you about the brown recluse I found in the bathroom...

Labels: bulb, bulb-hunting, crinum, cut flowers, iris, rain lily