Day 47: creamsicle and chartreuse

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OUR TOP STORY TONIGHT!

state-tree full of bloom  

Day 47: Here in Tennessee, we think the quarantine ended today. That's what they told us. But most everyone is staying put taking a wait and see approach.

This nature story has been hovering in our top five for quite a while. But the flowers are so high off the ground you hardly notice. That is until a strong storm or two blows through with high winds to knock them down to the ground for pretty young women to wear in their hair. 

The Tennessee State tree is in bloom. And you have to admire any flower with the chutzpah to put Creamsicle orange and chartreuse together. That's courage or panache, you decide which.

Tupliptree, a.k.a. tulip poplar, a.k.a. yellow poplar is a fast-growing pioneer species, a towering giant in most places. But my late botany mentor at the University of Tennessee all those years ago, Dr. Jack Sharp, would be ill with me if I did not point out that the tulip poplar is not a poplar. It is a magnolia. Yes, and American robins are not robins. They are thrushes.

This one is for you, Dr. Sharp! 

And I still have that goofy hat with the panda pin.

Ob-la-de, ob-la-da.  

     
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