Farewell to our Flower Godmother
This entry was posted on 13 Jul 2007, 5:35 AM and is filed under Observations from the Garden.
Oh, Lady-bird, lady-bird
Why dost thou roam
So far from thy comrades, so distant from home?
Why dost thou, who canst revel all day in the air,
Who the sweets of the grove and the garden canst share;
In the fold of a leaf, who canst form thee a bower,
And a palace enjoy in the tube of a flower......
Catherine Ann Turner Dorset
Claudia Alta Taylor has died, the shy young girl from Texas who changed the countryside.
We all know Lady Bird for her work on beautifying our roadsides and those of us in Austin especially for the Wildflower Center named in her honor.
Few know how this extremely shy woman took over her husband duties in Washington when then Congressman Johnson joined the war effort. She met with constituents, cooked for the other young Congressmen and kept things flowing, she who was too shy to speak at her own graduation.
All of America has seen the results of her conservation efforts in the wildflowers that line our highways and we in Texas are most grateful, We see the her work in the bluebonnets and paintbrush, the bee balm and greenthread every day.
Thank you Lady Bird.
