This time of year yards are filled with the sounds of an awakening spring season. Birds are chirping, insects are buzzing and critters start making their presence known.  Varying shades of green and brightly colored vegetation are arriving on the scene. It’s a festival for the senses, but make no mistake, all this activity isn’t just for entertainment value. There is some serious stuff taking place amidst all the “buzz.”

Millions of species inhabit Earth, and because all these different species often live in the same spaces, they must share or compete for the same resources. In the world of flowers, a vital resource is the insect pollinator. With an estimated 250,000 to 400,000 flowering species, the competition to attract an insect pollinator is fierce. Similar to how some humans will go to great lengths to get the attention of the opposite sex, so do flowers when it comes to courting the insects necessary to keep the flower family going. Generally speaking, flowers employ the characteristics of showy petals and sepals, offers of food in the form of nectar or pollen, nectar guides, appealing scents and the gamut of colors to attract insect pollinators. Evolution, however, has changed the game for some flower species, creating floral outliers that do things just a bit differently. When it comes to “luring” the popular pollinators, these floral outliers do so by means of deception. Seeing as flowers can’t don a wig, put on stylish clothes or get plastic surgery, how then do these sneaky species deceive?

Before heading down that road, let’s back up for a moment and have a refresher course in flower biology and anatomy.(No eye-rolls, please.) In plant taxonomy, flowering plants are known as angiosperms or magnoliophyta. They are vascular seed plants in which the ovule (egg) is fertilized and develops into a seed in a hollow ovary usually enclosed in a flower whose function is to ensure fertilization of the ovule.  A flower may contain both male and female reproductive orgas, or it may have only one or the other. The male reproductive organs are called stamens, which are a stalk or filament that supports the pollen-producing anther. The female reproductive organs, which are collectively called the pistil, consist of the ovary, where ovules are produced, and the style with its sticky surface on top called the stigma.

In angiosperms, pollination is defined as the placement or transfer of pollen from the anther to the stigma of the same flower or another flower. Pollination takes two forms: self-pollination and cross-pollination. If a flower has both male and female reproductive organs, it is referred to as bi-sexual, and it self-pollinates by a mechanism in which the anther opens up and the pollen lands on the stigma of the same flower or another flower on the same plant. This method of pollination does not require an investment from the plant to provide nectar and/or pollen as food to attract pollinators. For flowers containing only one set of reproductive organs, a pollinator (wind, water, animals, birds, or insects) is required to transfer pollen from the anther of one flower to the stigma of another flower on a different plant of the same species, a method known as cross-pollination.

Living species are designed to ensure the survival of their progeny, and those that fail become extinct. Genetic diversity is essential to a species in a changing environment or under stressful conditions. Progeny as a result of self-pollination have less genetic diversity since the same genetic material is being used time and time again. Cross-pollination has the opposite effect. It leads to greater genetic diversity because the offspring are created from genetic material of different plants within the same species. Clearly, cross-pollinators stand a better chance of being around for the long haul. A savvy cross-pollinating flower knows it has to have “the right stuff” in order to get the pollinators to come hang out with it long enough to get all covered in its pollen before flying off to hopefully another flower of its kind for a pollen transfer.

As mentioned earlier, flowers have some standard characteristics used for attracting insect pollinators, but what if those fail? Maybe a flower’s petals aren’t showy enough to get an insect’s attention or perhaps an insect doesn’t have a palate for pollen or nectar? Oh, no, what’s a flower to do?

With the help of evolution, some flower species upped the ante with shenanigans when it comes to attracting those discriminating insect pollinators.  Some flowers, unabashed in their deviousness, mimic the smell of the food, such as coconut, or even rotting meat, that certain picky eater insects want. And, if tricking by way of food to get attention doesn’t work, the promise of sex probably will. Some flower species have evolved to resemble female versions of certain insects, a strategy known as insect mimicry. Perhaps the cleverest and most effective deception technique of all for these sneaky Pete flowers is to look the part of a desired insect mate. Orchids are the most notorious species for this type of pseudo-sex promise, a strategy that allows the species to spread its genes widely and works nearly perfectly for them. Case in point, the Australian hammer orchid has taken advantage of  the thynnid wasp’s mating ritual which consists of a female wasp waiting on top of a branch or plant for a male to spot her.  The hammer orchid’s flower mimics a female thynnid wasp, complete with a fake shiny head and furry body, as though sitting on a branch, looking upward waiting to be spotted by a male. But wait, the deception continues. It’s not enough to just look like a female wasp, the orchid even releases an enticing scent similar to the female wasp pheromone. Poor fellow, he doesn’t stand a chance. When the male wasp tries to mate with the dummy female, he fails, but the orchid succeeds in a big way by getting its pollen on the wasp. He flies away only to be duped again by another hammer orchid pulling the same trick. In this process, the wasp transfers pollen from flower to flower.

But, to  give the male wasp  some credit, when a real thynnid female wasp is next to the orchid mimic, the male wasp spots the real deal immediately. Because the impostor can’t ultimately win against the true female wasp, it is here where natural selection has favored the flowers that bloom during the period when male thynnid wasps are flying, but the females have yet to emerge.

Although not as consistent across all flowers in the species, the South African daisy also employs pseudo-sex trickery, but the insect it chooses to mimic is the fly. Petal colors in this species range from pale yellow to bright red-orange, and some petals have spots that form a circle around the flower’s center. There is great variety in the appearance of these flowers. In some, the spots on the petals have transformed into green-black bumps that to a fly look exactly like its female mate awaiting seductively upon the petals. Male flies don’t stay long on flowers with simple spots, but the insect Don Juans are most definitely convinced by these fake flies, ultimately spending more time trying to mate, and in the process getting more and more covered in pollen to either transfer to another flower or rubbing off more and more pollen onto the flower, helping to pollinate it.

Talk about masters of disguise, these floral outliers of fake foodies and fake mates have indeed gone to the top spot when it comes to getting what they want! Hopefully this article offered a different kind of perspective when it comes to flowers and their relationship with insect pollinators. With that next walk in nature, take not only a moment to smell the roses, but also notice the “attraction” characteristics across the varieties of flowers and see if any flowers are “buzzing” with insect pollinator activity.

by JD Harper
JD Harper is a local author. GLINT, her debut novel, is set in Chattanooga amid its rich Civil War history and rock climbing culture. You can email her at jdharper@epbfi.com. ​

We moved to Signal Mountain in wintertime, leaving a garden I’d lovingly cultivated for 14 years back in Mississippi. It was a bleak time to arrive, botanically speaking, and moving to a newly built home meant there would be no perennials to brighten the landscape in the spring. By the time we had settled in, however, I was greeted by a soul-soothing surprise: Tennessee had different wildflowers! Not just different, but seemingly more and a greater variety too.
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Cheerful ox-eye daisies lined both sides of Taft Highway starting in late spring. The unfortunately-named daisy fleabane popped up on roadsides and in our backyard soon after. This is the tiny “daisy-like” flower with fringed petals, in shades of white and the palest lavender. It is often called a weed, but it serves as a valuable resource for pollinators when most plants are still waking up from winter.

As summer rolled around, I was awed by the profusion of butterfly weed on the side of the road. One of many milkweeds native to Tennessee, this variety is brilliant orange with large clusters of tiny flowers. The same habitat supports the golden-yellow coreopsis and the first state wildflower, the passionflower. (The Tennessee echinacea, a type of coneflower, is the second state wildflower.)

Passionflowers are otherworldly in their complexity, yet easy to miss because their vines often sprawl across the ground. Another summer wildflower that is easy to miss is the fire pink, which is actually red. This magical little flower is often found on the border of woodlands.

The forests around Chattanooga boast unique flowers as well, many in bush form. Mountain laurels, rhododendrons, and sweet shrubs bloom into early summer. A little later, you can’t miss the smooth hydrangeas on the blue loop at Shackleford Ridge Park. The cream-colored blooms have a more delicate appearance than the “mophead” hydrangeas many of us have in our yards.

A very unusual shrub that I first saw at Big Soddy Gulf is the strawberry bush. Unfortunately, it doesn’t produce anything a human would want to eat, but it’s still fun to behold when the claw-like pods open in early fall, revealing bright red seeds.

Very tall wildflowers deserve a category of their own. Seemingly oblivious to the broken thermostat of peak summer, joe pye weed and ironweed shoot up through the crispy grass. Joe pye weed can grow 6-8 feet tall and has light pink flowers. (There is a slightly shorter version for home gardeners on the market.) Ironweed has deep purple flowers.

Both are often seen near goldenrod in bloom. If the mere mention of goldenrod makes you sneeze, take heart that it is probably not the cause of your pain. Usually, ragweed is the real culprit when goldenrod is blamed.

Goldenrod is a pollinator powerhouse; I saw an uncountable number of bees enjoying goldenrod along the Guild Trail on Lookout Mountain last fall. Next time it pops up in your flowerbed, consider keeping it around!
Jewelweed and cardinal flower (or lobelia) are two other late summer flowers for your checklist. Jewelweed is orange with red spots, and what looks like a tiny orange gnome’s hat on the back of the bloom. Cardinal flower is red and dramatic, with fringe-like petals on a spire.

These wildflowers are a small sample of the natural bounty of our state. If you would like to see many in one place, McCoy Farms has a beautiful garden including many native species. You can also consider adding wildflowers to your own yard. Reflection Riding has a dedicated native plants nursery, and Signal Mountain Nursery sells a large selection of native plants as well.

Wherever you find wildflowers this summer, may they bring you the same happiness they brought me our first year in Tennessee.

by Ginger Gibson

Some of us are fastidious about the way our yards look, while some of us keep ordered chaos, and others of us just keep the grass cut. I keep ordered chaos with a small bit of grass in the front yard and open turf in the back. In my front yard, I use loads of native plants, which provide fuel for our native wildlife that I so love and enjoy watching. I have birdhouses and feeders to encourage nesting and feeding. I also supply simple water sources. With all the trees and shrubs in my yard and one of Signal’s great parks across the street, there’s lots of shelter. I do not rake my leaves away in the fall; instead I pile them into my natural areas, providing excellent habitat for lots of beneficial insects. I also try to use only natural pesticides and weed killers.

These simple and easy things meet the requirements to certify your yard with the National Wildlife Federation as a Certified Wildlife Habitat®. I bet you didn’t know how simple it is!

Do you have all the things you need to get your certification? Do you need to make a few changes? Making simple changes toward this goal will absolutely enhance your yard, attract more wildlife and make the neighborhood more attractive and valuable to our native wildlife, which in turn brings all the benefits they provide. It’s a win-win!

Getting your National Wildlife Federation Wildlife Habitat certification is super easy! Just follow this link,
https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/Certify, and fill out the form. You can also Google search “National Wildlife Federation certify.”

On the National Wildlife Federation website, you can find information regarding native wildlife and plants in addition to a checklist to help you determine if your yard meets the requirements. A water source seems to be a barrier for some people, but don’t let this deter you. You can put down a basin, pan or other receptacle to hold water or set up a birdbath. This certification is not complicated, in fact it’s quite easy and a one-time deal. It’s not legally binding - just a good faith conservation effort.

On a larger scale, a group of Signal Mountain residents are making an effort to certify the entire 37377 zip code as a Certified Community Wildlife Habitat® with the National Wildlife Federation. It sounds like a massive undertaking, but it’s fairly simple. We are already making great progress toward the goal, but we need your help! 


Certify your yard and help spread the word about our effort. Points for certification are earned for yards, parks, schools, churches, businesses and public spaces that meet the requirements and are registered. The size of the land does not matter. Certifying your yard creates a direct impact toward the accumulation of the points needed. Don’t forget to ask your neighbors to do the same! If you live in a neighborhood with an HOA, let us know and we can send information to help with the process. Thrasher Elementary School has joined our effort  by educating third-grders about habitats and their importance in our environment. The children are building trails, enhancing existing habitats and learning about the value of food, shelter and water to our wildlife neighbors.

So what’s the big deal? Why is certifying your yard as a wildlife habitat so important?

Well, it’s simple. Without wildlife, our environment becomes unhealthy, and when our environment is unhealthy, we humans are unhealthy. Wildlife holds the pulse of our environment by performing so many jobs for us that we don’t even consider - it keeps ecological balance. The least we can do is provide their basic needs - food, shelter and water in exchange for the massive amount of good wildlife provides. Pollinators literally are keeping humans alive as they pollinate the plants that produce our food. And remember, when you provide life needs for a chipmunk, you’re not only helping him, but you’re helping his predators. 

Rethink how you view your yard. Don’t focus on the aesthetics of it, focus on the ecological function - the natural processes, products or services that it provides or performs for species and ecosystems.

With so many habitats being damaged, reduced or eliminated, it’s imperative we provide these critical refuges for resident and migratory species. “With habitats dwindling, every habitat garden is a step toward replenishing vital resources for wildlife.” National Wildlife Federation.

The National Wildlife Federation’s website states, “America’s experience with cherished landscapes and wildlife has helped define and shape our national character and identity for generations. Protecting these natural resources is a cause that has long united Americans from all walks of life and political stripes. To hunters, anglers, hikers, birders, wildlife watchers, boaters, climbers, campers, cyclists, gardeners, farmers, forest stewards, and other outdoor enthusiasts, this conservation ethic represents a sacred duty and obligation to protect and build upon our conservation heritage for the sake of wildlife, ourselves, our neighbors, and, most of all, for future generations.”

We are so blessed to live on Signal Mountain with a vibrant community spirit and fabulous wild spaces. Help us celebrate them!

Join us for a kickoff meeting to learn more about this effort to certify the entire 37377 zip code as a National Wildlife Federation Community Wildlife Habitat® at the Mountain Arts Community Center (MACC) on July 29 at 9:30AM. Stop by and let us answer your questions. 

Questions? Contact me at tishwaw@gmail.com.

by Tish Gailmard

What to do about our frozen landscape? Maybe you fared better, but my yard is brown and withered and desolate. My mature holly trees are sticks, with prickly leaves strewn under them. It looks like an errant flower girl dumped her basket in one place. And it was a big basket.

Two of my little gem magnolias look completely dried up and dead; one is perfectly green and supple. They are all in a row, side by side, so what’s up with that?

My swath of Lenten roses, the ones that came from my mother-in-law’s home, the home my husband and his siblings grew up in, are all deceased. They lie prone in the freezer-burned bed, along with the twigs of what used to be evergreen azaleas. All of my Otto Luyken laurel is toast, its dead leaves cluttering the ground.

My rhododendron looks good, and surely my ancient oak trees are okay. Surprisingly, my hydrangeas look like they are supposed to at this time of year. But I don’t know what to do about everything else. Do I cut it all back while it’s dormant? Do I fertilize? Do I do anything besides wring my hands?

Actually, I knew exactly what to do. I called Ann Brown, gardener extraordinaire, who has spoken to the Garden Club of Signal Mountain. I happen to have her on speed dial on my phone.

The mountains around Chattanooga are in Zone 6b, so plants that are from warmer zones may suffer or die, especially if they are specified for Zone 8. Looking on the bright side, Ann says that the good thing about the timing of the freeze is that it came after a heavy rain, so our plants were well hydrated. Dehydrated plants can be severely damaged or die during severe freezes. Also, plants not protected from the wind can be damaged regardless of hydration. (I wonder if my one green magnolia somehow escaped the wind.)

To prevent damage in the future, Ann recommends mulching all your plants with compost and raking leaves around everything you want to come back in the spring, including perennials, shrubs and small trees.

“This is a natural way to protect and insulate roots from the varying temperatures we get in the winter. This layer of leaves also provides a place for insects (bumble bees, butterflies, moths) to complete their life cycles, and these insects serve as winter food for our birds,” Ann says.

Ann, a member of Tennessee Valley Wild Ones and on the board of Bee City USA, tells us to be patient with our plants.

“My advice for shrubs, ‘wait and see.’ If the stems are green in March and April, they will slowly leaf out. Prune any dead (brown) stems down to where it is green in May and June. Perennials, especially native plants that are deep rooted, will return with no problem,” Ann promises.

Renowned for her gorgeous garden teaming with flowering native plants, Ann advises cutting Miss Huff lantana to the ground. This pollinator should return by June, and wait until then before calling its time of death.

She advises waiting until spring, when the plant should be leafing out, to prune any small trees or shrubs.

About my poor Lenten roses, she believes they should survive, no matter how pitiful they look.

“Lenten roses are able to withstand temperatures down to minus 20 degrees. Remove old, scorched, damaged, or dead leaves from the plant before the plant is in bloom (usually late winter to early spring). After blooming has finished, cut back flowering stems to the base to encourage new foliage growth,” Ann says.

Okay, fine. I’ll use the excuse of being patient for my laziness in addressing this desolate dead-looking yard of mine.
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by Ferris Robinson

Most of us know the study of plants is called botany. Most of us know Native Americans and other indigenous people are well versed in plants of their region and use these plants for medicinal and other purposes. Combine the two and you have ethnobotany. 

Ethnobotany is the study of how people of a particular culture and region make use of indigenous plants. Plants provide food, medicine, shelter, dyes, fibers, oils, resins, gums, soaps, waxes, latex, tannins, and contribute to the air we breathe, removing CO2 and emitting O2. Plants are also used in indigenous ceremonial or spiritual rituals.

The term ethnobotany was first used in 1895 by the American botanist Dr. John William Hershberger to describe his research as the study of “plants produced by primitive and indigenous peoples.” Although ethnobotany did not emerge as an academic discipline until the end of the 19th century, its roots reach back to Greek, Roman, Islamic sources and Old Testament times. It is a complex study, not a pure science, involving a multidisciplinary approach of botany, genetics, evolution, history, anthropology and sociology. It is rooted in observation, relationship, needs and traditional ways of knowing. One can travel many paths of ethnobotany. Mine is one of understanding and appreciation - recognizing what plants do for us and the gifts they give us, as well as the interrelations between humans and plants. Maurice Iwu professor of pharmacognosy describes ethnobotany’s central theme as, “the recognition of the reciprocal and dynamic nature of the relationship between humans/indigenous communities and plants.”

Many indigenous people possess a previously undervalued knowledge of native ecology gained through years and generations of close contact with their living environment. I was recently introduced to the book “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer, a mother, scientist, professor, and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. The author graciously explains that what we refer to as natural resources, native people refer to as gifts.

Plants know how to make food from light and water, provide materials and food, and they hold so much knowledge … and they give it away. This understanding is thought of as a gift economy. Kimmerer explains, “When we think of these resources as gifts, we know what to do with a gift - we are grateful for it, take care of it and want to give back.” Natural resources are often taken for granted and taken without consideration of the consequences. The thought of these resources as gifts gives us a new perspective, softens our hearts and fosters a new relationship with and appreciation for nature. The author states, “It invites gratitude, not expectation that I’ll get more and more and more, but gratitude for what I have been given. It generates a kind of self-restraint in return for that gift. When you know it’s a gift, it somehow makes you less greedy and more satisfied and appreciative of what you have. When we’re given a gift, it also opens the door to reciprocity, to say, in return for this gift, I want to give something back and that’s the gift-giving economy.”

Kimmerer also speaks of plant blindness, the inability to notice or recognize plants in one’s environment. “Most people find it easier to discern or recall an image of an animal than of a plant; this deficit diminishes interest in the critical role that plants play in our environment and human affairs.” She suggests that learning the names of plants instantly develops a relationship with them, “an antidote to plant blindness.” If plants are directly tied to human health, but we don’t know them, how can we learn from them and unlock more of their gifts?

Plants led us to modern medicine. According to Joseph I. Okogun, author and chemistry professor,  “It has been established that up to 25 percent of the drugs prescribed in conventional medicine are related directly or indirectly to naturally occurring substances mostly of plant origin. This contribution is a credit to ethnobotany in drug discovery. Natural products from plants, microbes and animals contribute to about half of the pharmaceuticals in use today.” 

According to culturalsurvival.org, in recent years, the discipline of ethnobotany has become increasingly associated with the search for new medicines and other products from plants. Researchers use ethnobotany to identify plants that may contain compounds that could be used for marketable products. This approach has been called biological prospecting - using indigenous cultures’ plant knowledge as a way to pre-screen plants for medicinal or other properties, which can increase the possibility of finding marketable products.
Some ethnobotanists argue that biological prospecting for plant products to be used by another culture like mainstream society is a form of economic botany rather than ethnobotany. Releasing culturally sensitive information like medicinal plant data can be antithetical to the ethnobotanical objectives of promoting and protecting biological and cultural diversity and spoil the trust of indigenous people. This leads to the “publish or perish” dilemma. However, withholding research data discounts a moral obligation to share potentially beneficial information with society. This is an issue that academic research guidelines, ethical review criteria and professional codes of conduct need to acknowledge.

Stop and consider in your daily life how plants touch you indirectly and directly. We eat plants. Wood from trees is used to build our homes. Cotton and other fibers are woven for clothes, towels and fabrics. Medicines are derived from plants. Wildlife needs plants to survive, and they in turn provide us with a balanced and healthy environment. Kind of blows your mind when you consider the many facets of our lives that plants touch!

There is a huge diversity of potential uses of plants that has not been tapped. Continued bio-prospecting is critical to the discovery of new, previously unknown uses of plants, as foods, medicines and materials - there is so much that has yet to be discovered. Researchers will continue to utilize ethnobotany to enhance their research. The local, traditional knowledge of indigenous people is often rapidly lost once they become integrated into modern, materialistic society. Conserving this knowledge is critical to their culture, heritage and contribution to science. 

In Kimmerer’s book, she speaks of braiding sweetgrass and the metaphor it provides. She describes the book as a braid of stories, which are made up of three strands. One is the indigenous knowledge and traditional environmental thinking about plants from the Native perspective. Two is the scientific knowledge about plants. The third strand is the knowledge that the plants themselves hold - not what we can learn about plants, but what we can learn from plants. Her hope is for the reader to use these three ways of knowing plants “to reawaken our relationship with plants and to fully engage with all of our human ways of knowing the gifts that plants hold for us.” 

by Tish Gailmard

Lookout Mountain volunteer Jimmy Campbell proudly announces the completion of a new park located on Whitt Road across from the Carter Soccer Field in Lookout Mountain, Ga. A beautiful, shaded path connects the garden to Fairyland Elementary School and has been named “The Jimmy Campbell Connector Trail.” 
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Planning for the garden began in 2020 when the city received a grant from the Riverview Foundation to develop the one-acre plot. Mr. Campbell and Lookout Mountain, Ga., city manager Kenny Lee spearheaded the grant requests and then formed a planning committee made up of representatives of local garden clubs and the local Bee City USA committee chairs. Meeting off and on during the pandemic, Denise Taylor and Lulu Brock represented the Garden Club of Lookout Mountain, which donated $5,000 for the purchase of perennials. Penny Simmons represented the Lookout Mountain Beautiful Garden Club, which donated 1,000 bulbs for the garden. Laurelwood Garden Club, represented by Chrissy Jones, donated $100 to help develop the garden. Candace Wells and I, Bee City USA advocates, helped by creating a list of native plants indigenous to the Cumberland Plateau to attract birds, bees, and butterflies to the garden.

Dennis Bishop, owner of Going-Native Landscape, was hired to clear the area of invasive plants, design the garden, and oversee the purchase of plants. A water source was added to ensure the sustainability of the plants. Over 150 trees and shrubs were planted in November of 2020 and over 2,500 perennials were planted in May and June of 2021. More plants will be added later this fall.

Stone paths and seating areas with beautiful teak benches were installed for residents to pause and enjoy the lush, colorful, woodland setting. Mountain stone borders beds of echinacea, rudbeckia, milkweed and other pollinator-friendly perennials. Many species of native bees, as well butterflies such as monarchs and swallowtails, are finding a home in these new beds. Butterfly host plants are an important part of the garden so butterflies can complete their life cycle. 

Plant identification signs will be added to let visitors know what plants are beneficial to pollinators and birds. The Fairy Trail Garden adds one acre, or 43,560 square feet, of pollinator habitat to the mountain! What an amazing gift to support and sustain our bees, butterflies, and birds. As an advocate for pollinators on Lookout, I am very thankful for Jimmy Campbell, Kenny Lee, and the committee of mountain residents for this contribution in conserving this invaluable group of insects and birds. Mr. Campbell points out, “Even though this garden is on the Georgia side, it is a garden to be enjoyed by all the residents on Lookout Mountain.”

More good news is that the committee is under budget and has about $10,000 to further enhance the garden’s footprint on Lookout. For more information and plant lists, contact Ann Brown at brownw01@yahoo.com. 

by Ann Brown

Once upon a time there was a professor who lived a good, long life on Lookout Mountain, eventually moving to Signal Mountain. He will go unnamed to protect the innocent and the guilty. As a young teacher at the McCallie School, he taught English literature and the art of weight lifting. As an English professor at UTC, he taught the glories of Shakespeare, which he frequently embellished with colorful language and bawdy anecdotes. His flair for the dramatic lifted and energized the Holy Scriptures when it was his appointed time for the liturgical readings at his beloved Church of the Good Shepherd. 

Some of you may have guessed who this legend might be, but I wonder if you’ve ever heard this story. On one of his journeys to England, the professor had occasion to visit the Shakespeare garden in Oxford, where, with stealth and cunning, he snipped several stems of mint. From thence he proceeded to smuggle the purloined mint through United States customs to be planted in his own garden on Lookout Mountain. 

Being a generous good fellow, the professor shared the bounty of his garden with his brother-in-law Rolph Landry. (Now, can you guess the culprit of this story?) The English mint moved in a pot from the Landry home on East Brow to its present home in Black Creek. My friend Rolph, also a generous good fellow, shared some of the Shakespeare mint with me. After it had rooted and was flourishing in my garden, I espied, by chance, a director of this mountain tabloid purchasing mint at a local nursery this spring. I offered to share some of my English mint with her, promising that her writers would find inspiration from the magical herb.

And so it goes, the wandering mint spreads its fresh summer fragrance around the world and beyond the statutes of limitations for thievery and smuggling. May it continue to bless our Southern sweet teas, our Derby Day juleps, Rolph’s gin gimlets, and my Sunday morning mimosas as we worship online at “kitchen church” during the present plague.

Here’s an interesting footnote from the New Yorker, May 7, 2020:

Shakespeare lived his entire life in the shadow of bubonic plague. On April 26, 1564, in the parish register of Holy Trinity Church, in Stratford-upon-Avon, the vicar, John Bretchgirdle, recorded the baptism of one “Gulielmus Filius Johannes Shakspere.” A few months later, in the same register, the vicar noted the death of Oliver Gunne, an apprentice weaver, and in the margins next to that entry scribbled the words “hic incipit pestis” (here begins the plague). On that occasion, the epidemic took the lives of around a fifth of the town’s population. By good fortune, it spared the life of the infant William Shakespeare and his family.
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by Wiki Carter