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Austin South Asian | April 2019
Time For Bluebonnets And Wild Flower Day - Thank You Lady Bird Johnson
By Sumaiya Malik My association with bluebonnets began when my children were toddlers. Every spring, we would stop our car by patches of blue flowers on roadside, in fields, and when driving to Dallas or Houston on Texas highways, plop our “treasures” in the middle of the bluest of the blue and take pictures.
notice families taking pictures of little kids in the bluebonnets that bloom for about a month.
United States (1963 to 1969), is given the credit for this beautification of Texas roadsides.
I smile and think of my kids who I openly adore and love to see the
According to Kathleen A. Bergeron in her article, The Environmental
I think of how beautiful Austin becomes at this time of the year and
Good Friday (Continued From Page 01) It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, and Black Friday. Members of many Christian denominations, including the Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, and Reformed traditions, observe Good Friday with fasting and church services. The date of Good Friday varies from one year to the next on both the Gregorian and Julian calendars. Eastern and Western Christianity disagree over the computation of the date of Easter and therefore of Good Friday. Good Friday is a widely instituted legal holiday around the world, including in most Western countries and 12 U.S. states. Some countries, such as Germany, have laws prohibiting certain acts, such as dancing and horse racing, that are seen as profaning the solemn nature of the day.
It also encouraged States to acquire land or easements adjacent to highway rights-of-way where necessary to preserve and enhance the beauty of our countryside. As a child growing up in eastern Texas, Lady Bird had relished playing in fields of bluebonnets, wild poppies, and primroses.
My husband who has been in Austin longer than I have would proudly tell me the story of the bluebonnets, how it was the state flower and how Lady Bird Johnson was behind the ‘wild flowers’ on roadsides. It’s that time of the year again. Although my kids are now young adults, I still look at the bluebonnets as I drive on 360 and that turning on Braker Lane where Mopac crosses it.
Roads were asked to make landscaping a part of all projects on the Federal-aid interstate, primary and urban highways.
That love played a role in how to beautify highways. After the Act was signed, Lady Bird Johnson worked tirelessly to raise funds for the project especially in her home state of Texas.
tradition still going strong. Lady Bird Johnson, wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson who served as the 36th president of the
First Lady, it was through Lady Bird Johnson’s efforts that on October 22, 1965 the President signed the Highway Beautification Act under which the Bureau of Public
Ugadi
(Continued From Page 01) This typically falls in March or April of the Gregorian calendar. The day is observed by drawing colorful patterns on floor called kolamulus, mango leaf decorations on doors called toranalu (Kannada: Torana), buying and giving gifts such as new clothes, giving charity to the poor, special bath followed by oil treatment, preparing and sharing a special food called pachadi, and visiting Hindu temples.
to Hindu temples and community centers on this day. The same day is observed as a New Year by Hindus in many other parts of India. For example, it is called Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra, but sometimes observed a Gregorian day earlier because the lunar day starts and ends in Hindu calendar according to the position of the moon. In Karnataka, the festival is celebrated as Yugadi.
The pachadi is a notable festive food that combines all flavors – sweet, sour, salty, bitter. In the Telugu and Kannada Hindu traditions, it is a symbolic reminder that one must expect all flavors of experiences in the coming new year and make the most of them.
The name Yugadi or Ugadi is derived from the Sanskrit words yuga (age) and ādi (beginning) “the beginning of a new age”. Yugadi or Ugadi falls on “Chaitra Shudhdha Paadyami” or the first day of the bright half of the Indian month of Chaitra. This generally falls in late March or early April of the Gregorian calendar.
Ugadi have been important and historic festival of the Hindus, with medieval texts and inscriptions recording major charitable donations
The people of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana use the term Ugadi and Karnataka use the term Yugadi for this festival.
Even after leaving the White House her efforts continued. The Johnsons sponsored cash awards to be given to the Texas Highway Department’s maintenance crews. And on her 70th birthday, in 1982, Lady Bird gave 60 acres of land to establish the National Wildflower Research Center (now known as the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center) in Austin, TX. Today, the center provides advice on planting, growing, and maintaining wildflowers to agencies and organizations throughout the world. In 1971, bluebonnets became the state flowers of Texas and April 24 is Texas State Wildflower Day. This April, when you take pictures in the wild bluebonnets growing on road sides or see families by the flowers, take a moment to think of Lady Bird Johnson’s efforts in beautifying Austin, a city which becomes more beautiful when the blue patches spring up all around us this month. Perhaps, take a tour of the Lady Bird Johnson Wild Flower Center on April 24 to commemorate the day. Here are some facts about bluebonnets:
Bluebonnet is a name given to any number of blue-flowered species of the genus Lupinus (also known as Buffalo clover, wolf flower, and by the Mexicans - el conejo) predominantly found in southwestern United States and is collectively the state flower of Texas. The shape of the petals on the flower resembles the bonnet worn by pioneer women to shield them from the sun. (Wikepedia) Texas bluebonnets are annual plants, meaning they go from seed to flower to seed in one year. They germinate in the fall and grow throughout the winter, and usually bloom around the end of March to the mid-May. (www.theflowerexpert.com) • As the Texas bluebonnet flower ages, one of the top petals turns purple-red. • Blooming period of the Bluebonnet flowers is between March-May. • At full bloom, the Texas bluebonnet plants are 30-50 cm tall, 50-70 cm in diameter, and have a mounded form. • The foliage of Texas bluebonnet is yellow-green. • Seeds of Texas Bluebonnets are light brown occasionally speckled with black. • Bluebonnets grow in degraded soils in full sun. You will often see bluebonnets on heavily grazed land, and land on roadside. You might have noticed that, TxDOT lets the flowers bloom their whole cycle before they mow in April. • Bluebonnets germinate in late October For more information about bluebonnets please visit: www.wildflower.org www.theflowerexpert. com and Kathleen A. Bergeron’s article, The Environmental First Lady.