Is it a dying art form?
Here’s cowboy singer Don Edwards…
Maybe you have to be named Don to be a really good yodel-man? Here’s Don Walser. Let me say here that if it weren’t for my buddy East Texas Red I might not know about either of these guys.
Jimmie isn’t a bad name for a yodel-man either…
And let’s not forget Yodelling Slim Clark. Wow!
AKA Himalayan Cobra Lily. Jack-in-the-pulpit late-spring blooms. Sun to part-shade. We put ours in the big front garden near the front. This can get 4 or 5 feet tall with umbrellas of leaflets. That sounds spectacular. Ours is small but then we just planted it.
That’s a mouthful. I’ll stick to Dragon’s Breath. I think it’s called Dragon’s Breath because of the shape of the leaves. We’ve added a second one in the front gardens this year. It likes regular waterings, can handle part shade, and is otherwise a care-free, striking perennial with gold-yellow mid-summer flower spikes.
AKA Black Snakeroot AKA Dwarf Bugbane. It’s a woodland plant that prefers partial shade and moist environments. Late summer they show bottlebrush flowers that start mauve and finish whitish. We have two of these – one has darker leaves than the other. They don’t take a lot of care. The foliage is striking deep bronzy-purple
Here’s Nanci Griffith performing the Michael Burton tune Night Rider’s Lament, with help from Don Edwards. He sure can yodel nice, can’t he?
And now a taste of Ian Tyson. I like this tune a lot.
And finally, Tom Russell performing tonight we ride, with Andrew Hardin…on Letterman
We have one specimen of Phytolacca americana, from Lost Horizons. It’s in the front garden near the porch. This plant has a number of alias’, such as: Virginia poke, American nightshade, cancer jalap, coakum, garget, inkberry, pigeon berry, pocan, pokeroot, pokeweed, pokeberry, redweed, scoke, red ink plant and chui xu shang lu (for the Chinese medicine enthusiasts in the crowd). Parts of this plant are poisonous, but we don’t intend to eat any of it. It has a long history of medicinal use and scientists were apparently even looking at it as an anti AIDS drug. One story suggests the name Pokeweed was originally Polkweed, referring to James K. Polk, the 11th President of the United States, whose supporters reportedly wore the leaves. If you prefer a different story, “Poke” is thought to come from “pocan” or “puccoon,” probably from the Algonquin term for a plant that contains dye. Although the plant is reputed to be poisonous some folks twice boil the young leaves and eat them, and the leaves of this plant have been canned and sold as food in the past.
Here’s Tony Joe White performing Poke Salad Annie.
This showy herbacious perennial can grow up to 10 feet tall in ideal conditions but 6 feet is more usual. It fruits berries that birds enjoy. In some areas such as Southern California, it is considered an invasive weed because it can cause problems with native ecosystems.
I feel like a broke down engine ain’t got no drivin’ wheel. Tonight’s Daily Dose takes us back to Blind Willie McTell and his 12-string guitar. Here he is from 19 and 33.
I was a teen-aged blues freak, and it didn’t stop into early adulthood either (I hadn’t yet discovered how cool the diatonic accordion really was). I know a lot of blues is what I’m trying to say, and this one remains one of my all-time faves.
Here’s Johnny Winter’s take on it…
Townes Van Zandt is known for his songwriting but he also played his share of blues…
If you like this tune, also listen to World Gone Wrong by Bob Dylan. He did a terrific job on this song as well.
Robert Hughes, well known for his book and 1980 television series, The Shock of the New, has died. Hughes was 74.
We’ve had ‘Rozanne’ growing in the front garden for a while and this season we’ve added it to two more areas. It blooms freely, has a billowy appearance and spreads nicely on a border. This is a low maintenance beautiful plant and it loves the conditions in our front gardens. I read that if this plant looks like it it suffering from too much hot weather, cutting it back rejuvenates it. However, in our garden we haven’t experienced any difficulty with this plant at all.
Meadow Sage ‘Caradonna’ (Salvia nemorosa). The helpful label tells me: One of the least demanding, most satisfying perennials in the garden. Oh yes, yes, yes, this is a plant for me. Into the canoe garden with it. The purple blooms look great behind the bright yellow Moonbeam Tickseed. It can handle sun to part shade and as a bonus, this plant attracts butterflies.
27th Street 