Friday, August 03, 2007

Passalongs And Twisters

The above spider lily (Hymenocallis caribea) was given to me at our last family reunion by my cousin Ed, who is also quite a flower nut. I've planted it out in the garden for the summer, and it's just starting to bloom, on a quiet back pathway. Ed has always liked to grow tropical plants, and always dreamed of quitting his factory job and buying a commercial greenhouse. After years of saving his money, he was finally able to pull it off... unfortunately he bought it on May 14, 1968 in Oelwein, Iowa. May 15th of that year saw stiffening, warm winds blowing out of the south, with clouds racing overhead in long trains. Two powerful F5 tornadoes swirled out of the clouds. The first tore a 65 mile long pathway through northeast Iowa, pretty much destroying Charles City, Iowa. The second F5 tornado was slightly to the east, and rumbled right through Oelwein, destroying much of the downtown... including, unfortunately, Ed's newly purchased commercial greenhouse, which he was going to go to the insurance agent's office that afternoon to get insured. Thus, he owned a flower business for one day. Ed went back to his factory job and stayed there until he retired.
The spider lily he gave me has a lovely, delicate flower, and I know it will bloom every year for me for many years to come... but I'll never look at it without thinking about tornadoes.
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// posted by IBOY @ 3:39 PM
Comments:
That is so sad. It must have taken Ed a long time to get over the loss of his dream.
# posted by Blogger Kathy : August 03, 2007
 
that is sad ... :(
# posted by Blogger olivia : August 03, 2007
 
Oh my! I can't even imagine what it must be like to live in tornado country.

That is a really beautiful flower!
# posted by Blogger Gardenista : August 03, 2007
 
The amazing thing is that my cousin has never complained about what must have been a devastating loss... with tornadoes, lives can be changed forever in a few seconds.
Don
# posted by Blogger IBOY : August 04, 2007
 
Wow that is a pretty horrible story and fortunately the only loss he had was monetary but I'm glad it didn't damper his plant loving spirit. I grow this one too and bring the bulbs in over the winter.

The packaging that mine came in said to discard them after the first year because they'd be spent...well this year I had more blooms and much larger spikes.

Thanks for sharing your story.
# posted by Blogger MrBrownThumb : August 10, 2007
 
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