Calliope Geraniums for Summer Color

I believe the geranium is one of the most popular landscape plants in the South. I see geraniums at almost every garden center or nursery I visit. I also remember as a kid seeing my grandmother’s potted geranium in a container on her front porch. It had bright red flowers.

Some of my favorite geraniums are in the Calliope series. This is one of the most popular varieties suited for baskets, containers, and gardens. Plants in the Calliope series most closely resemble zonal geraniums in leaf structure and form. They have a vigorous, semi-trailing, strong branching growth habit and semi-double flowers that provide long-lasting color. They are good choices for attracting butterflies and hummingbirds to your yard.

Calliope is a cross between upright zonal and trailing ivy geranium.

Red is the most popular color, and Calliope Large Red, an outstandingly rich, deep, velvety red, doesn’t disappoint. This variety grows to about 14 inches tall at maturity with a spread of 20 inches. Its foliage tends to remain dense right to the ground.

My favorite geraniums have red flowers, but Calliope doesn’t stop with this traditional color. It comes in a wide range of colors. Cascade Violet has intense-colored, semidouble flowers. Large Orange Splash has clusters of coralorange flowers.

Geraniums like lots of sun and are heat and drought tolerant. Always plant them in well-drained potting mix, and water only when the soil is dry to the touch. Be careful not to overwater since geraniums don’t like wet feet.

They are heavy feeders and need plenty of fertilizer to meet their nutrient needs. Feed them with a watersoluble fertilizer like 20-20-20 every two weeks or with a controlled-release fertilizer every four-to-six weeks.

If you are looking for a plant with variegated foliage, try Wilhelm Langguth Geranium. It is not a Calliope, but it has large clusters of showy red flowers with unique variegated foliage. It will add visual appeal to your hanging baskets, containers, and landscape beds.

When geranium flowers are fading, don’t forget to deadhead them. Do this by pinching or pruning the flower stalk at the base where it is attached to the plant. This process encourages more flowering.

Be sure to check your local nursery or garden center for Calliope geraniums this spring. You know you will be getting plants that will bring you lots of color and enjoyment all summer.

THE socialSCENE HAZLEHURST, MS

Hearts Matter Walk

In conjunction with American Heart Month, Copiah County Medical Center recently held its Hearts Matter Walk! Photos submitted by Kristi Carney

Anna Phillips, Ginny Dixon, and Juli Morgan

Chuck and Shirley Busby

Reda Avent and David Channel

Addie Carver (dressed in heart costume) and Dr. Dan Jones

Kortney and Jack Gaddy

Christy Wilson, La'Kimberly Cooper, and Lacey Rutland-Tobias

Jan and Julie Mattingly

Ginny Dixon and Lacie Weaver

Dr. William Morgan, Dr. Randy Hankins, and Kristi Carney

Dr. Randy Hankins and Ann Thrasher

Caitlyn Mack, Kortney Gaddy, Jack Gaddy, Pam Gaddy, Ashlyn Gaddy, Tucker Gaddy, Shannon Armstrong, Sarah Claire Armstrong, and Melanie Byrd

THE socialSCENE MAGNOLIA MS

Libby Hewitt’s Birthday Lunch

Friends recently treated Libby Hewitt to a birthday lunch at the Creole Cottage Cafe in Magnolia, Mississippi, where all gathered for a fine time and delicious lunch. Happy Birthday Libby!!!! And many more! Photos by Bill Perkins

Libby Hewitt

Rossi Johnson, Jimmy Harris, and Betty Ann Perkins

Glenda Robinson and Christopher Hart

Linda Richardson and Betty Ann Perkins

Bill Perkins and Libby Hewitt

John Kaimano Smith was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on September 3, 1942. His mother, Rachel, was Hawaiian; and his father, whom he’d never known, was an American soldier. John made a career of the United States Navy, married, had two sons, and eventually retired in San Diego, California, with his wife, Janet.

In March 2008 hoping to find his father’s family, John completed a DNA test from Family Tree DNA. None of the DNA matches were close enough to help him, so his DNA kit sat there, waiting.

In the summer of 1946, a nineteen-year-old young woman traveled to Natchez, Mississippi, to the King’s Daughters Maternity Home on Cemetery Road. She was a guest there for months when on September 30, 1946, she gave birth to a baby girl who was adopted within a few days.

That baby girl’s revised birth certificate shows that she was named “Suzanne” and adopted by Wallace and Sue Pyron of Natchez, Mississippi. Suzanne was very fortunate and lived a privileged life with loving parents, but she never knew where she came from or who her biological family was. There were a couple of rumors that weren’t true at all.

I met Suzanne and married her in 1970; we raised our children in Natchez and eventually had grandchildren after we moved to Utica, Mississippi.

In May of 2017, our oldest son’s wife, Karrie Rawson Womack, became interested in genealogical research and volunteered to help Suzanne find her biological parents. This was Karrie’s first Ancestry DNA project. She purchased a DNA kit from Ancestry.com and instructed Suzanne to “spit in the bottle.” It took a few weeks to process the sample.

We never dreamed that this small bottle would help connect the lives of so many people from Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Texas, California, Hawaii, and the Philippines.

Once Karrie uploaded Suzanne’s DNA kit to other websites including Family Tree DNA—BINGO! John K. Smith’s DNA had been waiting for a decent match for NINE YEARS. He and Suzanne shared enough DNA to be first cousins. The only information John could share was that his mother told him his father was a sergeant in the United States Army from Mississippi, and his name was John Johnson. Helping John find HIS father would help Suzanne find HER father as well.

With this new information, Karrie started searching the internet for family trees, obituaries, memorials on the Find a Grave website, newspapers.com, census records, and military records. Helpful distant cousins pointed her to Covington County, Mississippi, which is in the south-central part of the state and includes Collins and Mt. Olive.

Utilizing World War II enlistment records from Covington County, Karrie found three Johnson men: Dewey, James K., and Harold H. They were the right age and served in the correct time period to have fathered John K. Smith in Hawaii. Also, she messaged quite a few cousins and people who might know more, eventually being connected with Joann who lives in Texas.

Joann and all of her siblings were overjoyed to finally learn what had become of their eldest brother. John was thrilled finally to know who his father was and that he had 10 siblings he’d never known!

CLOCKWISE (from top)—Harold Hayward Johnson | John K. Smith with his siblings in Texas | John K. Smith and daughter, Kris | John K. Smith, his wife Jan, and his daughter Kris with her husband and children in California

Joann knew exactly who John K. Smith was because her father (James K. Johnson) had told her he had a sweetheart in Hawaii and a son named “Johnny Boy.” She had even seen his picture! Joann and all of her siblings were overjoyed to finally learn what had become of their eldest brother. Both Joann and another sister took DNA tests that confirmed John was their half-brother.

John was thrilled finally to know who his father was and that he had 10 siblings he’d never known! Five of his brothers and sisters flew to San Diego to surprise John on his 75th birthday. He would have another surprise later.

John and his wife, Jan, traveled across the United States in their motor home to visit his siblings and extended family in Texas and then on to Mississippi to meet Karrie, Suzanne, and other Johnson cousins. He said it was an unforgettable trip!

Confirming that James K. Johnson was John’s father helped narrow the possibilities for Suzanne’s father. He had to be one of James’s brothers, and Karrie ruled out all of them except for Harold H. Johnson (born 1917), who had been buried in McNair Cemetery in Mt. Olive, Mississippi, for over 70 years.

This conclusion was validated by Suzanne’s newfound first cousin, who had been told by her mother that Suzanne’s biological mother went away and had a baby girl who was put up for adoption. She was deeply in love as a young woman and was devastated when her boyfriend was killed. Using newspapers.com, Karrie found a story in The Clarion-Ledger dated August 27, 1947, describing that Harold was killed in an automobile accident on Highway 49, south of Jackson in Florence, Mississippi. Suzanne was not quite eleven months old.

So how did we find and prove Suzanne’s biological mother’s identity? Years ago, Suzanne’s adopted mother gave me a note with the number “10800” written on it. She said, “If Suzanne ever wants to find her biological mother, this might help.” That was in 1990, and I filed it away.

We discovered this number was a court decree and found it in the minutes record book at the Chancery Court in Natchez, Mississippi. The decree number and the biological mother’s name matched! The helpful people there made copies of the adoption decree and directed us to another building where the office workers dug up everything they had on Suzanne’s adoption, including the receipt from the lawyer who handled it. Unfortunately, we still weren’t able to access Suzanne’s original birth certificate because to do so Mississippi requires a court order signed by a judge, even when all the relevant parties are deceased.

Suzanne’s biological mother married and had another daughter who never knew that she had a half-sister. However, the adoption decree with her mother’s signature as well as the DNA evidence was enough to convince her of their relationship. They visited each other several times and shared many similarities. The sisters were both registered nurses; loved their families; had horses, dogs, cats, and a green thumb; and enjoyed retirement in the country.

This newfound relationship sadly ended with Suzanne’s death from COVID-19 in 2020. All of her “new” relatives miss her and wish they’d had more time with her.

We thought John’s story was finished; but in April 2022, there was activity on his Ancestry DNA account. John is now 80-years-old, and it’s been 14 years since his first DNA test. When Karrie reviewed the new DNA match who had reached out to her, she called John in San Diego, California, and asked him, “Were you stationed in the Philippines in the early 70s?” He said, “Yes”; and she told him that he has a daughter named “Kris” who would very much like to talk with him.

Since that time, John’s daughter, Kris, and her husband and children drove from Florida to California to visit her newfound father, stepmother, and all of her “new” family members. They talk all the time and are very happy finally to know each other.

Now we have come full circle and maybe this is the end of the story?

Note: I forgot to tell you that Karrie has a master’s degree in education, is a whiz with a computer, and loves to search and connect the dots that make up people’s lives. Since solving John’s and Suzanne’s cases, she has worked on over 30 of these puzzles. Karrie gives lectures on DNA research in genealogy, and she is happy to help people with their DNA tests. She can be reached via email at Ancestry.Karrie.1975@gmail.com.

ARTICLE | Sonny Womack PHOTOS | Submitted