January
2007 Vol. IV No. 5
Ruth Loper, Director Lynn Sherrod, Director Phone
903-849-5357 Sonnia36@hotmail.com Jim Showen, VP Programs Elizabeth Parks, Secy/Treasurer Liz Soutendijk, VP Field Trips Herb Jarrell, VP Membership
Directors
& Officers
Sonnia Hill, President
Kay Fleming, Newsletter Editor
FROM
THE PRESIDENT
Many
of the members of the Native Plant Society are wonderful gardeners so I thought
the etymology of some common garden flowers would be interesting.
TEXAS BLUEBONNET: I’ll start with the Texas bluebonnet, Lupinus spp. The word origin of our state flower is the Latin lupus, meaning wolf. This plant thrives so well in poor soil that it gives the impression of “wolfing” nutrients from the soil when in fact the opposite is true. Like many of the members of the legume family, it is a nitrogen-fixing plant, meaning that it increases soil fertility by converting nitrogen into a form other plants can use. The seeds of this plant were used as food in prehistoric times and in ancient Rome they were used as stage “money” in the theater and called “lupins”. Some common names given to this plant are wolf’s bean and penny bean.
IRIS: Iris is a Greek goddess, a swift-footed messenger and the personification of the rainbow. She was a virgin goddess as described by early Greek poets. Later poets called her the mother of Eros, the god of romantic love. To the ancient Romans, Iris was a goddess who received the souls of dying women. She was also the faithful messenger and personal attendant to Juno, queen of the Gods. Iris resisted the advances of Juno’s philandering husband, Jupiter, so in gratitude Juno created a flower in her honor, with blooms having the wide range of colors of the goddess’ robes. A variant form of iris is orris and is found in orrisroot, which is taken from the rootstock of certain irises and is used in perfumes, cosmetics and some orange-flavored liqueurs.
GERANIUM: This word is from the ancient Greek word for
crane, geranos, and its derivative, geranion, which was given to this plant due to the
long, pointed seed pods resembling a crane’s beak.
DAISY: Some species of daisies close up at night, therefore, speakers of Old English called this flower “day’s eye” which got condensed to daisy.
TULIP: The tulip gets its name from the Turkish word
tülbend, turban. Tulips were introduced to
HYDRANGEA: Hydrangea has its origin in two Greek words, hudor (water) and angeion (vessel). The seed pods of the hydrangea look like tiny cups.
GLADIOLUS: A gladius
was a sword to the ancient Romans and a little sword was a gladiolus.
Pliny the Elder, a Roman author, gave this name to the flower with long,
sword-shaped leaves, the gladiolus.
Sonnia Hill
JANUARY
PROGRAM
Our January meeting of the Tyler Chapter of the NPSOT will be on January
8th at
She comments,
“In beginning art classes, we learned terms like, balance, accent, rhythm,
space, and textures. These same design techniques apply to natural
landscape design.
The landscape design medium is simply plants, edgings, and walkways instead of watercolor, clay, or oil paint. Plants have an added dimension, because plants have sun/shade and soil requirements. My most used 'style' of landscape design is natural looking landscapes. This can be compared to a paint artist who develops a 'realistic' syle or a 'post modern' style. Landscape design also has style differences. “
You can learn more of Carol and
Feldman Design Studios at her website: www.FeldmanDesign.com Jim
Showen
FIELD
TRIPS
Hi all! Hope you had a wonderful holiday. The
January Field Trip will be to Ron and Ruth Lopers
house. We will roam the edge of their woods and get some hands on
experience in identifying winter woody plants (threes and shrubs). Ruth
and Sonnia both have winter keys to help with identification. Ruth will help us keep warm with some hot
cocoa.
Date:
If you have
any questions, please call me at 903-967-2026. Thanks! Liz Soutendijk
NEW MEMBERS
We want to welcome new members to the Tyler Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas. It’s great to have you with us! If you haven’t come to one of our meetings or our field trips you are missing out. Also, if you have recently joined our chapter and are not listed below, let our Chapter President know. There’s always a possibility that our State office has failed to get the information to us on your membership.
Contributions
to Newsletter
The newsletter
is normally printed monthly, September through May. Members are encouraged to
submit articles for publication in the newsletter. Contributions will be considered on the basis
of interest, suitability, and available space.
Grammar and spelling corrections will be made at the discretion of the
editor. Email your articles and announcements to the editor at kfleming@suddenlink.net or mail to Kay
Fleming, 809 E.
If you have never attended
one of our meetings, and you are interested in learning more about native
plants and their habitats, we invite you to give us a visit. We have a good
time! Our meetings are normally held at the