Quill of the Hill

  First, the critter part of the column this month. On her way to work Sarah Dunbar, Program Therapist in the Memory Center, stopped to rescue two baby opossums that were clinging to their mother who had been killed by a car. She fed them with a syringe until she had time to deliver them to Forrest Trails Animal Hospital. This is the place to take wild animals that need our help. They are licensed (unlike the rest of us) to care for and rehabilitate them to be returned to the wild.

For the April Garden Club meeting (the last Tuesday of the month) Dana Forrest, our Horticulturist, declared an outside planting day and boy did we get a lot done. Lots of weeding and tilling and potting and planting all thanks to the efforts of: Ronnie Ferguson (Maintenance Department), Janet Newman and Tina Hicks (Life Enrichment Department), and other employees who volunteered and came out to help -- Kum Yon Jones (Health Care Center), and Daisy Nelson and Deanna Cline (Memory Center)

We also were blessed with some very hard working residents who have also been outside helping including: Vallee Kidd, Vernon and Betty Lawson, Jaunita Davis, Margaret McConnell, Pat Jones, Violet Cox, George Thurman, Frances Canlis, Eloise Bock, Jo Bob Hille, Margaret Roberts, Joan Clack, Ruth Baber, Dorothy Bryan, and Helen Bentley. Your hard work shows.

Be sure and notice the Peppers and Tomatoes in the raised bed in the Gazebo Courtyard. Vernon Lawson planted these and even fertilized them so they are growing fast. Also nearby around the birdbath we planted a Butterfly Garden of Lantanas, Pentas and Zinnias. Many of our flowers, including these, were started from the seeds we planted this winter. Also the Rubiaceae has come back. In the bed next to it are our May Night Salvia, Lockspur, Cosmos, Shasta Daisies, Poppies (they’re already blooming), Baby’s Breath, Sweet William (also blooming), Melampodium, and Dill. And everywhere Mint – a most invasive plant. We thought that by originally planting the Mint in a pot in the ground

     Oklahoma’s climate does provide surprises. Remember those beautiful Amaryllis some of you got two Christmases ago? We planted them the following Spring just outside the Health Care Center door and they somehow made it thru this past winter and are now blooming for the first time. I had no idea they could survive outside. We also had Begonias and Caladiums outside the Ice Cream Parlor return.

The Adult Day Services Support Group meets every two weeks at St. Dunstan's Episcopal Church, and is open to the public. The meetings in June will be Tuesday, June 4th and Tuesday, June 18th at 12:30 p.m. For more information, call Chris Smith at 425-3583 x204.