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| Houston Home f
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Ronda Rich
Columnist
The neighborly
thing to do
The other day I was in the
painful mode of trying to
write by attempting to coax
out words lodged stubborn
ly in my soul when the
phone rang.
I welcomed the intrusion.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” a
woman wailed sincerely
when she heard my voice. “I
dialed the wrong number.”
I was sorry, too. I was hop
ing for a longer conversa
tion and, therefore, a
reprieve from my self
inflicted agony.
“That’s perfectly all
right,” I replied. From the
noise level, I could tell she
was on a cell phone.
“I was trying to get the
bank,” she went on to
explain. “And, I’ve forgotten
the number.”
“Which one are you call
ing?”
She told me and since it’s
a bank I use and since I
have a good memory, I gave
her the phone number.
“Thank you so much!
This is wonderful!”
It’s also a Southern thing
to do because we like to be
helpful. It’s in our DNA.
We’re also very friendly.
Someone called Mama’s
house one day when I was
there and 45 minutes later,
she hung up the phone after
talking about, among other
things, the weather, traffic,
her cold that kept hanging
around and the sale price of
fatback at Winn-Dixie.
“Who was that?” I asked
curiously.
“I don’t know. It was the
wrong number.” She
shrugged. “But she was real
interesting.”
A few days before the lady
looking for the bank called,
I had dialed a wrong num
ber from my cell phone, too,
and gotten a stranger.
“Wait just a moment and
I’ll look the number up for
you,” the nice woman said.
I love moments like this
when I am reminded of the
innate goodness of people
and how such kindnesses
are the normal course of
business for those people I
proudly call mine. It is peo
ple and moments like these
that lure others to the
sunny, graciousness of the
South.
Who wouldn’t want to live
among people like us?
One evening, I noticed in
Mama’s kitchen, a calendar
that charts the cycles of the
moon and, therefore, is
filled with lots of good infor
mation about when the best
time is for planting, har
vesting, weeding and vari
ous surgeries. I don’t how
she got it but it had been
distributed by a funeral
home about 60 miles away. I
called and the funeral direc
tor answered. I asked about
the calendars.
“Just got some in this
week,” he replied. “Stop by
and get ‘cha one.”
“I would but I live an
hour away.”
“Then, I’ll mail it to you.”
“Really? I’ll send a check
for the postage.” I couldn’t
believe that someone would
go to the trouble and
expense, especially for
someone who won’t be
using their business. After
all, everyone knows you
have to use a funeral home
close by to where you live
because your friends will
travel only so far to see you
See RICH, page 11A
SATURDAY,
JULY 2, 2005
Henderson Village wins Stafford Award
From staff reports
Henderson Village is
the 2005 recipient of the
Houston Arts Alliance’s
top honor, the Sherrill
Stafford Search for
Excellence Award, which
is given each year to an
individual or organiza
tion supporting the arts
in Houston County.
In support of “Arts in
the Village,” an outdoor
celebration of the arts,
Henderson Village has
opened its grounds to the
public each May for the
past four years, and has
supported numerous
other projects as well.
HAA President Vivian
Childs and Treasurer
Cindy Jones presented
the award to Heather
Bradham, general man
ager of Henderson
Village on Thursday.
Bradham said that the
award would have a
place of honor at the
Village.
“I’ll be seeing y0u...”
submitted
The Perry High School Class of 1945 recently held it’s 60th reunion at the home of Lewis Bledsoe. They enjoyed
barbecue prepared by Lewis’ son Bob and homemade peach ice cream provided by Wendell and Betty Bowen
Whipple, both members of the class. There were 32 members in the Class of ‘45, with 15 attending the reunion.
From left, seated: Henry Abrams, Tommy Marshall, Walter Skellie, Audrey Meadows Abrams; standing: Lolita
McCormick (Nipper), Babe Huunicutt, Mary Gray (Sinyard), Virginia Carlisle (Bryant), Beth Scarborough Moody
Faulkner, Martha Ann Gordon, Wendell Whipple, Betty Bowler Etheridge Whipple, Horace Stembridge,
Josephine Bostic (Williams) and Lewis Bledsoe.
Summer-flowering shrubs add color to landscape
BY JAMES T. MIDCAP
University of Georgia
After a burst of spring
flowers, summer can be a
little drab.
Summer -flowering
shrubs, though, can keep a
lot of color in the landscape
and attract butterflies and
hummingbirds, too.
Summer-blooming shrubs
are easy to care for. With
just a little planning and
planting, they’ll help keep
the garden attractive all
summer.
The butterfly bush is one
of the easiest to grow. Every
garden should have at least
one. These plants are
tough. They’ll grow almost
anywhere. And they attract
butterflies anytime flowers
are present.
Most are round or vase
shaped and get 8 to 10 feet
tall with age.
The leaves are dark green
to silver, depending upon
the selection. And many
selections are available.
The fragrant flower pani
cles are 10 to 14 inches
long. They come in white,
pink, lavender, purple,
near-red and yellow.
Blooming starts in June or
July and continues until
frost. Removing the spent
Lifestyle
——— .——_— —B & Bi B ®
HIM Charlotte Perkins
Heather Bradham, general manager of Henderson Village, center, accepts the Sherrill Stafford Award from Vivian
Childs, right, and Cindy Jones.
flowers will keep new
blooms coming.
Butterfly bushes trans
plant easily from containers
into well-drained soils. Cut
these large plants back to 1
foot in late winter. They’ll
regrow completely in the
new season and flower
abundantly.
Abelias are tough plants,
too. They’re pest-free and
drought-tolerant. The small
leaves are glossy green and
semi-evergreen.
Small white or pink flow
ers keep coming from June
until frost. They attract
bees and butterflies, too.
The sepals, or the leaves
behind the flowers, turn a
rosy pink and are quite
attractive long after the
flowers have fallen.
You can grow abelias in
sun or partial shade. Use
them in a border, as a mass
planting or as a hedge. The
plants reach 4 to 6 feet tall
and look best in their natu
ral, informal habit.
Shearing creates unat
tractive, green balls of
foliage.
Favorite selections
include “Edward Goucher,”
a little shorter than most,
with pink flowers. “Rose
Creek” is a dwarf with lots
of attractive sepals, while
“Canyon Creek” has golden
foliage with pink highlights
when it’s grown in full sun.
Summer-flowering
hydrangeas are spectacular
for shady areas. When they
get the moisture and fertil
izer they require to grow
well, they produce ample
rewards.
The smooth hydrangea
forms round mounds of
foliage 3 to 5 feet tall.
They’re often wider than
that. The flowers appear in
June and are showy for
three to four weeks. Cut the
plants back to 6 inches in
late winter. They’ll flower
next year on the new
growth.
“Annabelle” is a great
selection, with rounded
clusters of small flowers 10
to 12 inches wide.
The bigleaf hydrangea
produces bright blue flower
clusters in Georgia’s acidic
soils. The rounded shrubs
can reach 6 to 8 feet tall and
be nearly covered with elec
tric blue flowers that can
last four weeks or more.
The reflowering types
like “Endless Summer” or
“Penny Mac” will keep
flowering until frost. The
plants need moisture and
* t \£'*' w, «*
shade in the heat of the day
to prevent wilting.
Our native oakleaf
hydrangea has magnificent,
white, cone-shaped flower
clusters sticking out from
the foliage. These 10- to 12-
inch-long clusters can
develop a pinkish color as
they age.
The large, oak-like leaves
are dark green and become
red in the fall before drop
ping. The plants can grow
10 feet tall or more, but
dwarf forms are available.
Oakleaf hydrangeas require
good drainage to survive in
the landscape. Plants natu
rally fit at the edge of the
forest or woodland.
These summer-flowering
7A
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X / p
\ I
-V.. 4
y
St. Christopher's
plans night of
games
If you're looking for an
opportunity to get out and
socialize, here’s a date
for your calendar.
St. Christopher’s
Episcopal Church in
Perry will host a commu
nity game night on Friday,
July 15. All are welcome.
The games begin in
Buchanan Hall at 7 p.m.
and will include bingo,
bunco and beginners’
bridge. If you’ve never
played bridge before,
now’s your chance to
start learning.
Participants may also
bring their own favorite
game and a group to
play. Coffee and light
refreshments will be pro
vided and there will be
door prizes. Tables for
four may be reserved for
$lO. Individual tickets are
$2.50. Rose Mae Smith,
987-3277.
shrubs can brighten any
landscape. Select plants
adapted for your yard: sun
or partial shade, moist or
dry.
Container plants can be
transplanted anytime. Fall
planted shrubs, though,
will require less attention
to get established for next
year. So plan now. Plant
this fall. Then enjoy the
color in your landscape next
summer.
Jim Midcap is a
Cooperative Extension hor
ticulturist with the
University of Georgia
College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences.