Southern Indiana Living - Sept / Oct 2022

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A Walk in the Garden with Bob Hill The bright orange crocosmia – roughly 3,700 miles from its original home – was hidden behind a pile of wood chips in the back field, barely peeking over the edge as if looking for some salvation, a helping hand. Mission accomplished. I feared I had lost them all, refugees from a trip to Ireland about 10 years ago, smuggled home in a plastic bag. Such thievery is, of course, wrong, illegal and possibly horticulturally unhealthy. On the other hand, the crocosmia were taken from the edges of a crumbing stone house above the Atlantic Ocean near Waterford – the very house in which my Irish family lived hundreds of years ago before immigrating to the United States in the 1880s. The. Home. Place. So, I plead guilty to plant thievery, your honor, but I was very careful to wash the roots, and minimize any possible disease damage. What better living memory to have in our Indiana garden than some flowers from my great-grandma’s Irish garden? And we left a few billion crocosmia behind in the homeland, scattered like orange weeds across the country from County Cork to County Donegal. And truth be told those crocosmia – once labeled montbretia – were originally native to South Africa, about 6,000 miles south of Dublin. They proved to be a perfect match for the Irish climate, and I was only helping the going eradication program. The larger picture being every garden needs some keepsake plants, mementoes brought home from foreign lands, or reminders of friends both here and gone. We have many. Our larger keepsakes include a crab-apple tree given to us almost 40 years ago by Janet Hill’s Uncle Elmer, a raggedy little seedling that has since become a raggedy old thing, but mostly still safe from the chain saw. On the other hand, it’s in way too much shade now and nostalgia has its limits. Closer to the house are day lilies and rain lilies given to us by Elmer’s wife, the Legendary Aunt Helen, a quiet, fearsome gardener of whom it was said could grow tomatoes in asphalt. We have a now 40-foot and 8 • Sept/Oct 2022 • Southern Indiana Living Irish Refugees glorious oak tree given to us as a 10- foot, balled-and-burlapped gift by a member of the famed Monarchs band after I did a story about the group. I start humming their fabled hit, “Look Homeward Angel,” when I look at it. We have another huge oak leaf tree that, when as a transplanted seedling, was run over by my father while backing up his car. The tree reminds us of that moment every year by hurling hundreds of acorns down every fall in retribution. We have a Kentucky coffee tree as a gift from a nursery friend, ferns in the shade and iris in the sunshine, succulents in the plant room and native azaleas in the woods, all the latter gifts with names attached, including another garden legend, Fred Wiche. The plant that kicks up the most seasonal memories for us is the agapanthus, which we first saw in New Zealand and happily blooms in the summers in Southern Indiana. Agapanthus, like our crocosmia, is also native to South Africa, so consider that mileage to Indiana. New Zealand really stirs up memories because the trip was just a spur-of-the-moment idea. We’d heard and read about it. Great plants and gardens and it’s warm way down there when cold up here. Our companions were two old friends from Minnesota who really wanted to get out of the cold. So, there we were in Christchurch walking the town’s botanic garden, headed south along the Pacific Ocean, west to a boat ride from Milford Sound, looking south to the Tasmanian Sea and Antarctica. The food was wonderful, the people fun and easy going, the whole country like a big sports bar with wineries and sheep farms and majestic mountains. It all fell in place in Auckland where we watched locals and tourists alike bungee jump off its iconic Sky Tower. As we returned to our car and left the parking garage, the crossbar lifted high to allow us out – a Viagra commercial written across its side. OK, that’s a lot to load on an agapanthus plant blooming in our yard, especially since we are roughly 8,300 miles north by northeast from New Zealand as very lost crow flies. But it does bring all those memories back: the crocosmia from my ancestorial home; the agapanthus from the wonderful folks of Kiwi-land. Walking our gardens is a little like old home week without the costs and baggage handling issues. And let the record show, your honor, I did not dig up any agapanthus in New Zealand and haul them home in my suitcase, although several billion of them exist there, too. We bought some later as memory makers and planted them in old metal baskets from Eastern Europe, this connecting three far-flung countries in one Hoosier backyard. We move that basket indoors in the winter, but if you are interested there are hardy agapanthus – those brave souls that will survive our winters if mulched or just dug up, allowed to dry and stored indoors. It’s a beautiful, underused plant easily available online. Beyond that, it’s just interesting to think about the country-to-country journeys plants take to get to our gardens. Crocosmia and agapanthus are considered lovable pests in Ireland and New Zealand. We just consider them lovable. • About the Author Former Courier-Journal columnist Bob Hill enjoys gardening, good fun, good friends and the life he and his wife, Janet.
HARRISON HARRISON COUNTY COUNTY HOSPITAL HOSPITAL YourHealthLink Connecting YOU To Connecting YOU To Your Personal Health Record. Your Personal Health Record. What is YourHealthLink? What is YourHealthLink? YourHealthLink gives Harrison County Hospital patients YourHealthLink convenient gives online Harrison access County to portions Hospital of your patients electronic convenient medical online record access (EMR) to portions anytime, of day or your night. electronic Whether medical you’re record at work, (EMR) on the anytime, road, or day at home, or night. you Whether can view you’re your at lab work, results, on the appointment road, or at information, home, you can medications, view your lab immunizations, results, appointment allergies and information, more. All medications, information is immunizations, stored securely. allergies and more. All information is stored securely. YourHealthLink provides convenient method of YourHealthLink provides communication a convenient method with your of physician’s communication office. with Send your non-urgent physician’s office. messages Send or non-urgent request appointments messages from or request your computer appointments or mobile from your device. computer or mobile device. Access or manage YourHealthLink with Access the or HealtheLife manage YourHealthLink Mobile app. with the HealtheLife Mobile app. What YourHealthLink Means To You? What YourHealthLink Means To You? Review medical information online: your • medications, Review medical immunizations, information online: allergies, your medical history, medications, results immunizations, and visit summaries. allergies, medical history, results and visit summaries. Stay in touch with your physician’s office by • Stay sending touch request with your for medical physician’s advice. office by sending a request for medical advice. Securely send non-urgent message to your • physician Securely send or nurse. a non-urgent It should not message be used to your to communicate physician or nurse. immediate It should medical not be concerns. used to communicate immediate medical concerns. Request appointments online. • Request appointments online. View details of past and upcoming appointments. • View details of past and upcoming appointments. Access family members’ medical records. • Access family members’ medical records. Peace of mind because we’ve taken extra steps • Peace to ensure of mind that because your private we’ve health taken information extra steps remains to ensure confidential. that your private Your records health information are safe from unauthorized remains confidential. access because Your records YourHealthLink are safe from unauthorized is password-protected access because and information YourHealthLink is delivered is password-protected via an encrypted and connection. information is delivered via an encrypted connection. Important: YourHealthLink is not to be used for urgent Important: needs. YourHealthLink For medical emergencies, is not to be dial used 911. for urgent needs. For medical emergencies, dial 911. www.hchin.org/YourHealthLink www.hchin.org/YourHealthLink Southern Indiana Living • Sept/Oct 2022 • 9
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Southern Indiana Living - Sept / Oct 2022

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