Oklahombres

his summer has been anything but dry. Usually after the spring rains, summer showers in Oklahoma—even here in northeastern Oklahoma— are few and far between. This year has been different, with soaking rains about every ten days or so. Now I know that summer isn’t even half over, but the extended forecast looks good. Even if it turns off dry from this point, we’ve been blessed this summer. So, let’s talk about drought-tolerant plants.

The desertwillow,  Chilopsis linearis, is a much overlooked small flowering tree. The reason may be that it is only hardy through zone 6b, roughly the Kansas-Oklahoma border; while the various species of dogwood are hardy to zone 4 or 5. Unlike dogwoods, the desert willow can take poor soil and moisture conditions and never blink an eye.  Desertwillow blooms at a time when hardly any other small tree is blooming, unless you consider crapemyrtle a tree, which you certainly may. Beginning in June, desertwillow blooms in successive flushes till fall. This pic was taken the 11th of June, and the tree is still covered with blossoms. The texture and form is unique, and fits well in a small backyard patio setting, providing a light shade with a wispy effect on a breezy day. Desertwillow rarely reaches more than fifteen feet at maturity, and requires some selective pruning to achieve the desired effect of a strong yet interesting specimen. The only problem is that they are difficult to find in the retail nursery trade, so you will probably have to resort to mail-order.

It looks like it is going to be a beautiful weekend. Enjoy it, and I hope to see you in church this Sunday.

(Second Part: Of Man’s Redemption—Questions 12-85)

80. What difference is there between the Lord’s Supper and the Popish Mass?

• The Lord’s Supper testifies to us, that we have full forgiveness of all our sins by the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which He Himself has once accomplished on the cross; and that by the Holy Ghost we are ingrafted into Christ, who with His true body is now in heaven at the right hand of the Father, and is to be there worshiped. But the Mass teaches, that the living and the dead have not forgiveness of sins through the sufferings of Christ, unless Christ is still daily offered for them by the priests; and that Christ is bodily under the form of bread and wine, and is therefore to be worshiped in them. And thus the Mass at bottom is nothing else than a denial of the one sacrifice and passion of Jesus Christ, and an accursed idolatry.

81. Who are to come unto the table of the Lord?

• Those who are displeased with themselves for their sins, yet trust that these are forgiven them, and that their remaining infirmity is covered by the passion and death of Christ; who also desire more and more to strengthen their faith and amend their life. But the impenitent and hypocrites eat and drink judgment to themselves.

82. Are they then also to be admitted to this Supper, who show themselves to be, by their confession and life, unbelieving and ungodly?

• No: for by this the covenant of God is profaned, and His wrath provoked against the whole congregation; wherefore the Christian Church is bound, according to the order of Christ and His Apostles, by the office of the keys to exclude such persons, until they amend their life.

he surprise lily is just that; a surprise. The other day I was scratching around the front gate, trying to get a handle on some low-growing weeds near the Don Juan climbing roses. It was mostly spurge, Oxalis, and that low-growing—we hates it, Precious; nasty little…—well, whatever it’s called. Forgive me. I lost it for a bit there. I wouldn’t dignify the spurge with its Latin name except for the fact that it shares a genus with the Christmas poinsettia: Euphorbia. Where was I?

While scratching in the bit of bare ground—except for the afore-mentioned weeds—around the front gate, near the Don Juan climbing roses, it dawned on me just where I was scratching, and what time of year it was, and why that little spot was “bare.” Well, surprise, surprise, but what should I see the next day but a number of pale green bud-tipped shafts emerging from the very spot I was weeding the day before. You see, surprise lilies get their common name from the fact that the one-inch wide strap-like foliage appears in the spring, providing energy to the underground bulb, in order to enable it to produce some flowers. But no flower stalks emerge. After three or four weeks the foliage browns out and dies, and you say “Well, what a cheat.” A couple of months after you forget about it, Gomer Pyle comes around and says “Surprise, surprise.” The shafts emerge quickly and the buds open in just a couple of days to to gorgeous pale-pink trumpets that smell delightful. The scene is a bit surreal because the absence of foliage make the blooms look fake, like someone stabbed plastic flowers in the flower bed.

Surprise lily is officially known as Lycoris squamigera. How dull can that be? The Latin is necessary in order to accurately identify and categorize, but the common names add color and reflect on culture and human nature. Surprise lily is also known as magic lily, resurrection lily, and—I’ve saved the best/worst for last—nekkid ladies or naked lily, to tone it down a bit. In our front yard we have another representation of the genus Lycoris in the spider lily; L. radiata, which follows a totally different calendar for bloom and foliage periods, not to mention size shape and color. I’ll leave you hanging there in suspense, saving the details until spider lilies come into bloom and make their debut on Friday Floral later this year. I’ll bet you’re biting your nails all ready.

Surprise lily is easy to grow, with no cold hardiness issues here in Oklahoma. The bulbs are rather large, about the size of a baseball, and rarely need to be dug up and divided. Because they leave the ground bare a good bit of the year you might consider planting them near some other bulbs that bloom at a different time so they can have overlapping spaces. Most commonly, you will find these “pink flamingos” stabbed out in the suburban lawn, a practice I perfectly detest, but it is one solution. The bloom period is when you won’t be mowing much anyway, and when the show is over you can just mow it all down. No mess, no fuss. The only problem is in the spring when the mass of foliage emerges. You have to mow around it for weeks while it becomes a nest for all kinds of vermin. You choose; it’s your yard.

That’s it for this week. Go out and plant something, or scratch up some weeds—the nasties, we hates ‘em. If you have a surplus in your garden, then share with neighbors. It makes a great ice breaker for sharing the gospel of Christ. That is, if you’re not trying to pawn off those overgrown baseball-bat zucchinis. See you in church on Sunday.