[dropcap]M[/dropcap]ountain City became a winter wonderland during the recent hard freeze, with icicles putting on spectacular shows. And, quietly, where the “frost weed” (Verbesina virginica) grows, magical and mystical ice flowers appeared.
A Wildflower Center educational email appeared as a freeze warning occurred the first week in January. It starts with, “Like nature’s popsicles, frostweed ice shows up during extreme weather and never fails to delight the senses. Learn more about this fascinating floral phenomenon and prepare to see it yourself.”
RonTom and I look early on freezing mornings, before the sun rises high in the sky, to take in the spectacular beauty that occurs at the base of “frostweed” plants. The ultra-delicate ice formations take on lovely and differing shapes of flowers and ribbons.
The Wildflower Center explains, “After frostweed’s flowers fade, this perennial plant goes dormant and stands there gradually drying and looking rather bedraggled. Only then is the stage set for frostweed to perform its magic trick.
When the first good freeze sets in, the plant draws underground moisture up through its roots and extrudes that water sideways through the lower portions of the stalk as ribbons of ice. Those striated ribbons may curl tightly inward, suggesting scrolls of paper or parchment, or they may undulate irregularly as new ice crystals form and push the older parts of each ribbon further away from the stalk.”
If you missed the spectacle in this year’s freezes, you missed the best displays for this year. With subsequent freezes, the size of the flowers and the distance above ground diminishes because the outer portion of the stem ruptures.
Nevertheless, it’ll be worth taking a look-see each time we freeze. Quite a few of these tall plants, which had butterfly-attracting white flowers in a large head during summer and fall months, occur on the vacant lot on Maple at Juniper. That’s along the around-the-block daily walk we make with KissMe.
KissMe had a great time on Christmas unwrapping his presents and gnawing on a beef bone. Weeks before Christmas, after we started bringing in Christmas items, KissMe found a plastic-wrapped little package and tore it to bits. I found him quite disappointed with a little lingerie item intended for our 45th anniversary.
KissMe alerted us to Black Vultures flying about in our front yard, drinking from bird baths and roosting on our “Wildlife Tree” – the skeleton of a live oak that lost its original life to oak wilt. Now, it’s full of all sorts of life.
Mountain City intends to hire a new part-time city administrator. Mayor Phillip Taylor sent word, through the city’s email distribution system, “This position will be paid by the hour for projects, meetings, events, and etc. Letters of intent and resumes will be due by February 1 and can be emailed to myself, [email protected]. After the items are received, myself and Mayor Pro-Tem Ralph McClendon will meet with the candidates and then present our results at the February council meeting for a possible decision.” If interested, ask for the full job description.
If interested in submitting a tidbit, just do it. Email [email protected] or leave a message at 512-268-5678. Thanks! Love, Pauline
