The cotton bolls are busting open and the fields are white unto harvest.
The unique smell of cotton defoliate (a harvesting aid) is in the air. The massive cotton pickers will soon make short work of the harvest, which I remember as being so painstakingly difficult in my youth when I dragged and stuffed a harvest sack with handfuls of the white fibers.
When I was 4 years old, Granddaddy made me a special harvest sack that was small enough for me to handle by putting a shoulder strap on an old flour sack. I was never much of a cotton picker, but I started my first savings account with the money I made picking Granddaddy’s cotton.
Today, I love to see the wide eyes of our Northern neighbors when they first glance upon a beautiful white field just before harvest. I call it a “hot weather snowfall.” I chuckle each time I see a group standing out in a cotton field taking pictures.
Cotton is king and a prominent member of the hibiscus family. Members of the hibiscus or mallow family love the heat and therefore love the South. I like to query gardeners about this diverse group of plants which can be worn (cotton), eaten, used to pull, and enjoyed for their beauty.
First, this group includes one of my favorite vegetables, okra. Thank goodness that Northern folk tend to turn up their cold little noses to this hot-weather Southern delicacy or there would never be enough okra to go around since it is so difficult to harvest. The cool temperatures have slowed okra harvest in my garden plot but until frost I may be able to save-up enough to fry or boil. But right now, as my daddy would say, “I have a hankering for a heaping pot of homemade vegetable soup,” of which okra is a key component so watch out, certified South Carolina vegetable growers, here I come.
Next, kenaf is a 20-foot-tall plant that resembles okra but is used to make rope. We used to grow some of this in the South, and in my youth, I did some work looking at kenaf production practices. Like most hibiscus it is easy to grow, and it loves our weather here in South Carolina, but the hard, laborious part is getting it harvested and made into rope, so we let the countries with cheap labor do the work.
Finally, hibiscus is also king of the Southern landscape. I have fond memories of the althea (Rose-of-Sharon) because I had one right at my bedroom window throughout my youth. It flowered all summer long while withstanding the dry sandy soil, heat, and humidity of McBee.
Today there are many varieties of althea including the ones with the old single cotton-type flowers, all colors of flowers, and multiple flowers. Also, what would our fall landscape be without the Confederate Rose (Hibiscus mutabilis). Growing 10 feet tall in one summer and then making a fall show of dinner-plate-sized rose-like flowers. We can enjoy this plant and its flowers while the true rose plants die off due to rose rosette virus.
I hate to say this but because of this awful virus disease true roses may be a thing of the past. There is no cure for it once your roses are infected. Even our heirloom roses at our Farm Plantations will be devastated in time. Also, many folks call my office asking what the beautiful hibiscus-like plant is growing in the wet areas along Highway 52, the swamp hibiscus. Also, many other types of rose mallow can be grown in the Southern garden including both hardy and tropical plants.
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With a weekly newsletter looking back at local history.
October 11, 2020 at 02:45AM
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TONY MELTON: Fields are white unto harvest - SCNow
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