The week of the Pottawatomie County Fair went by in a blur. Fewer horticulture entries appeared this year, no doubt due to our ridiculous summer, but people brought their best regardless. The scarecrows showed up. One was reclining on hay bales reading a book titled “How to Scare Crows!”

I missed the whole shebang, spending two days in the Norman Regional Hospital having my knee taken apart, redesigned and reglued with some plastic and metal parts thrown in for strength. My best memory in the operating suite was looking over a table full of metal appliances and gadgets thinking this has to be the lab of a mad scientist. My surgeon’s robotic arm assistant was named Rosi. No doubt Rosi felt a kinship with all the paraphernalia.

One does not sleep the night after total knee replacement. Feeling like Gulliver after being tied down by the Lilliputians, the nasal cannula in my nose wrapped around both ears, the wrist became the portal for the IV, the oxygen monitor was firmly clamped and taped over my ring finger, and I don’t need to tell you where the catheter was. The nerve block was slowly wearing off, allowing me to fully experience the reconstructed knee coming back from the dead.

The schedule went like this: From surgery suite to recovery to room.

6:00 pm a stroll down the hall with a recliner following closely behind. 6:007:00 The Discovery Channel presented Explorer’s Club North Pole Adventure of Robert Peary (my grandmother’s cousin). 8:00 pm Antibiotics. 8:40 pm Nerve meds. 11:00 pm More meds.

1:00 am Tylenol, anti-inflammatory med and foley catheter leaked. 2:25 am Studied patient menu.

2:40 am Foley catheter fixed. Lots of outside lights glowing brightly in the dark throughout the construction site. When the huge new addition is complete, the Norman Porter Street Hospital will move in and the old building to be repurposed. Even though there are 57 channels to watch on TV, what a veritable wasteland.

3:00 am Compression sleeves going up and down on each leg. IV monitor constantly burring and humming.

Oxygen monitor goes off whenever I move. Reorganized my tray area.

4:30 am Antibiotics. 4:45 am Ice bag sprung a leak, necessitating a gown and ice bag change. 5:50 am Antiinfl ammatory. 6:00 am Lab vampire came to draw blood samples. 6:20 am Foley catheter removed. 7:10 am Food service calling. What for breakfast?

7:15 am PA and doctor visits. 7:45 am Disconnected from all tubes and wires. Breakfast here. 8:30 am More pills. After the occupational nurse helped me dress, it was two more Physical Therapy sessions, then the long uncomfortable trip home. I swear Shawnee was 380 miles from Norman.

Then I walked into my corner of the universe. All the sunflowers growing in the Earth Box and galvanized stock tank seemed to be in flower. The happy yellow faces with dark brown centers waved from as high as twelve feet as I limped while pushing a walker precariously toward them. Red sage flowers glowed within the plant wilderness.

Goldenrods, despite the drought, had determinedly opened their delicate yellow blossoms as if welcoming me home. The Lantana had restarted blooming.

The Lantana ( Lantana camara) native to Central and South America, took a summer break. Way too dry, so my partner in crime decided to give the Lantana a drink every evening.

I don’t recommend watering at that time, but we have to split times to water either morning or evening to prevent the well from going dry. New clusters of pink and yellow floral tubes added color to a rather pathetic east side.

Evergreen Lantanas can grow to 6 feet in height. Mine dies back every winter, but usually resurface the next spring. By end of summer, it might get 2 to 3 feet tall. The flowers supposedly have a tutti-frutti scent with pepper overtones, but it’s their color that determines if pollinators come. The flower color will change after pollination, usually from yellow to oranges, pinks and reds. Pollinators go for the gold!

Even the purple heart Wandering Jew ( Tradescantia pallida) was blooming from its long narrow pot under the hackberry and redbud. This plant originates from the east Gulf Coast of Mexico. My purple hearts came from the greenhouse at Seminole State where I taught Botany. They and their descendants have been distributed far and wide. Easy to cultivate and willing to fill in a bare area that has adequate moisture and soil, the plant must be brought indoors for winter. It will happily keep blooming and growing as a houseplant. Seems to be great at removing volatile organic compounds from the air. You may breathe better knowing the purple heart is nearby.

The tall White Snakeroot ( Ageratina altissima) hovered over my head forming an archway adorned in clusters of small white daisy-like flowers.

The woodland white snakeroot is tough, durable and highly toxic.

Trematol ketones within the leaves, stems and in lesser quantities the flowers, are effective deterrents against leaf eating animals. The chemicals accumulate in their bodies, damages their hearts, organs and causes muscle tremors, often leading to death. If lactating cows or goats have been munching white snakeroot, don’t eat the cheese or drink the milk. Abraham Lincoln was 9 years old when his mom, Nancy Hanks Lincoln (1784-1818) died at age 34 from milk sickness caused by white snakeroot. Pioneers cleared woodlands where the snakeroot grew along the edges. Unfamiliar with native plants, they had opened up habitats for the white snakeroot. Cows grazed on grasses and wildflowers including white snakeroot. The toxic poisons were passed through their milk. Milk sickness used to be more common, especially in dry years.

Improved farming techniques have diminished the toxic threat.

Small insects aren’t fazed by the potent plant. Certain fly midges and leaf miners live inside the leaf tissues and even the flower buds. Native American tribes used white snakeroot root in poultices to actually treat snakebites.

Purple Heart Becky Emerson Carlberg

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