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The garden can rouse each of the senses. We can enjoy the beautiful colors, the sounds of wildlife, the texture of the plants, the taste of fruits, herbs and vegetables, and of course, the delightful fragrance of many flowers and plants’ foliage. Retail garden centers are beginning to fill with beautiful, fragrant spring bedding plants.
Stock flowers (Matt-hiola incana) are some of the most fragrant spring-blooming flowers grown as a bedding plant. Stock has long been used in cottage gardens and by florists for both color and their clove-like fragrance. Recorded history shows these plants were referred to as gilly flowers in England and were popular during the Victorian era. Thomas Jefferson grew them at his gardens at Monticello in the 1700s.
Stock is grown as an annual in Louisiana and performs best in full to partial sun in a rich, well-drained soil. Plants grow 12 to 36 inches in height and have an upright growth habit. Flowers are tightly clustered on tall stems and come in colors of white, purple and pink. It pairs well with other flowers with similar needs such as alyssum, dianthus, nemesia, petunias, snapdragons and violas.
Because stock prefers cooler temperatures, flower production will last longer if planted in areas that receive morning sun to reduce exposure to the hot, bright sunlight of the afternoon. Remove faded flowers to promote new growth. Flowers are edible and have a delicate taste. They are a beautiful addition to salads and great as cake and dessert decorations.
Nemesia (Nemesia spp.) is another excellent spring bedding plant to bring fragrance to the garden, and it pairs well with stock. With more of a spreading, mounding habit, it grows well in both containers and in landscape beds with taller, upright plants, including snapdragons and dianthus. Nemesia offers almost every color imaginable and many bicolor blooms as well.
Nemesia prefers well-drained soil and can be susceptible to root rot. For the best flower production, grow nemesias in full sun. Plants will last longer into the summer in an area that gets morning sun and is shaded in the afternoon. Giving them a little afternoon shade can also help extend their blooms a little longer, as they do tend to go out of flower once night temperatures are consistently above 70 degrees, causing them to become leggy. You can trim and shape plants to encourage new growth and flowers and fertilize with a liquid feeding after trimming.
Another excellent, fragrant flower is alyssum, also known as sweet alyssum. This plant, like nemesia, has a trailing growth habit with a shorter height of 3 to 6 inches, making it a great selection to use as a border plant, in containers as a “spiller” and in hanging baskets. In addition to having a great fragrance and prolific blooms, alyssum is a drought-tolerant option for the landscape. Flowers are produced in tiny clusters in a mounding habit coming in colors of pink, purple and white. Plants bloom more in full sun but also perform well in partial shade.
All three selections are highly fragrant with delicate color and have few pests or disease problems. All three prefer well-drained, rich soils. Deadhead flowers to encourage new flower growth, and be sure to supplement rainwater with irrigation in extended periods of drought and as temperatures heat up.
I will end this column with a quote from film director Louis Schw-artzberg: “Always take time to smell the flowers, and let it fill you with beauty and rediscover that sense of wonder.”

PATTERSON — Many warm feelings were expressed at Tuesday’s City Council meeting: prayers for Councilman John Rentrop, who is hospitalized; a moment of silence to remember the late Jackie Como, a longtime Patterson music teacher; thanks for the ARC of St. Mary/Center of Hope for training disabled people for jobs; a welcome to new Councilman Ray Dewey Sr.; and gratitude to Tina Johnson, whom Dewey replaces.
When the topic turned to Shady Grove Drive, the temperature rose higher.
Dewey took office at Tuesday’s regular monthly meeting. He was the only candidate who qualified for the March 26 special election to pick a council member to complete the term of Sandra K. Turner, who resigned in July. John-son, Turner’s daughter, served on the council in her mother’s place until Dewey took office. Johnson received a plaque in recognition of her service.
“To be a voice for my city,” Johnson said in a letter to the council, “if even for a few months, was an absolute joy.”
Dewey took his council seat in time for Tuesday’s most contentious issue: street projects to be funded with proceeds from a recent $570,000 bond issue.
The city government has been working on a list of projects for that money, focusing on smaller, low-traffic streets, some of them surfaced with gravel, that hadn’t been ad-dressed in two earlier street improvement programs.
The most expensive item on the list is the reconstruction of Shady Grove Drive at more than $200,000.
Mayor Rodney Grogan and consulting engineer Melanie Caillouet said the wetland soil in that area requires a different approach. The plan is to use a 6-inch mixture of soil and cement as a base topped with asphalt.
Tall Timber and Fern would get a similar treatment. Another set of streets — Eighth, Ninth, 10th, 11th, Jake and Bridge — would be resurfaced. St. Mary and St. Lucy would get covered with gravel.
The Shadow Lane proposal drew the attention of audience member Lea Oubre, a Shady Grove resident. Oubre, along with neighbor Grant Dohmann, told the council that they’ve been waiting for Shady Grove’s broken surface and potholes to be re-paired. They’ve been put off with promises by the city, only to see little or nothing done, Oubre said.
After the meeting, Oubre showed cellphone pictures of portions of Shady Grove with large potholes and broken pavement.
In a sometimes heated exchange, Grogan objected to Facebook posts by Oubre about the condi-tion of the street and said her previous com-plaints had cost her support among council members.
“I am pushing Shady Grove,” Grogan said.
Then the talk turned to when the work might be done. Grogan said he hoped the work could be done in July, but Caillouet said the testing needed before the soil-concrete base can be constructed will require more time. But she said residents should see construction on the street this year.
The council voted 3-0 to move ahead with the street plan, including Shady Grove. The $92,000 that had been set aside for Bridge may have to come from a different source in order to make up for the higher than anticipated cost of the Shady Grove work.
Councilmen Dewey, Lee Condolle and Travis Darnell voted for the plan. Absent were Ren-trop and Joe Russo, who missed the meeting due to illness.
Also Tuesday:
—The council set property tax rates for the year. The tax for general government purposes will remain at 8.3 mills. The tax for the waterworks bond issue will be 12.3 mills, down from the original 16 mills when the bond issue was passed to build the city’s new water plant.
—The council heard a presentation by Kristal Hebert, director of the ARC of St. Mary/Center of Hope. The Medicaid-funded center provides training and paid work for people with physical and developmental disabilities.
Accompanied by cli-ents and Patterson residents Sarah Charlot and Heather Guillot, Hebert said the center shut down for 16 months because of COVID-19. But she received a grant that provided iPads to clients so they could remain in contact and keep them from feeling isolated.
Now the center is open again and provid-ing transportation to and from the center and to janitorial jobs that pay at least minimum wage.
“We know gas prices are going up, so things are going to be tough,” Hebert said.
—The council ap-proved a can shake for the Patterson Volunteer Fire Department. The fundraiser will be 9 a.m.-1 p.m. March 19 on Catherine Street.

A Louisiana lawmaker wants to eliminate the state’s two Confederate holidays.

State Rep. Matthew Willard, D-New Orleans, has prefiled House Bill 248 ahead of the upcoming legislative session to remove two days from Louisiana’s list of legal holidays: Robert E. Lee Day and Confederate Memorial Day.

Louisiana recognizes Robert E. Lee Day on Jan. 19, the day he was born in 1807. Lee was best known as the commander of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

Florida and Tennessee are the only states that also celebrate Lee’s actual birthday, while Alabama and Mississippi celebrate Lee’s birthday and Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday on the same day; the third Monday of January, WLOX-TV reported.

Louisiana’s Confederate Memorial Day is celebrated June 3, the same date as Confederate States of America President Jefferson Davis’ birthday. The intent is to remember the more than quarter-million Confederate soldiers who died fighting against the Union.

HB 248 follows many others in states across the south in recent years aimed at eliminating state holidays or monuments in honor of the Confederacy, which opponents regard as racist.

The shift has coincided with efforts to promote Juneteenth – a day celebrating June 19, 1865, when Mjr. Gen. Gordon Granger led Union soldiers into Galveston, Texas, bringing news of the end of the Civil War and Emancipation Proclamation that had freed slaves two years earlier.

Gov. John Bel Edwards signed House Bill 554 last year to designate the third Saturday in June as Juneteenth Day. Beginning this year, all state offices will close the Friday before that Saturday in observance.

“This is an important part of American history, commemorating the day those who had been enslaved in the United States learned of their freedom,” Edwards said in signing the bill into law. “There are meaningful lessons for everyone to learn.”

Local officials also are taking action to remove public references to the Confederacy.

Willard filed HB 248 days before the St. Landry Parish Council voted to remove a Confederate monument that had been in front of the parish courthouse since it was erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1920.

Community leaders told KLFY-TV the monument is a reminder of a dark era of racism and alleged it was erected with the intent of intimidating Black people from registering to vote.

“We’re not trying to denigrate anyone. We’re not trying to demonize anyone. No one in that council meeting tonight participated in putting up that monument. They have no fault in that,” former parish district attorney Charles Cravins, who led the effort to remove the monument, told the news site. “The only fault would come from not removing it when we know better.”

Willard’s HB 248 was referred to the Committee on Judiciary. The 2022 regular legislative session begins March 14.

President Joe Biden announced a ban on the importation of Russian oil, coal and gas as a response to the nation's ongoing invasion of Ukraine just as gas prices in the U.S. reached a record high Tuesday.

Biden said Tuesday that the decision was intended to “inflict further pain” on Russian President Vladimir Putin and defund his war in Ukraine. He also acknowledged it would further raise the price of gasoline for Americans.

“Today, I am announcing the United States is targeting the main artery of Russia’s economy,” Biden said. “That means Russian oil will no longer be acceptable at U.S. ports, and the American people will deal another power blow to Putin’s war machine.

“Americans have rallied to support the Ukrainian people and made it clear we will not be part of subsidizing Putin’s war,” he added.

Biden said the decision was made in consultation with American allies, though he acknowledged that many European countries “may not be in a position to join us.”

Biden also claimed he has not hindered U.S. domestic oil production, pushing back against a persistent criticism of his energy policies, which limited the Keystone Pipeline and drilling on federal lands.

“Good news. After sending Putin millions for oil, Biden has been shamed into doing the right thing,” U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said in response to Biden’s announcement. “Now, Biden needs to reverse his ban on drilling leases to reduce the pain Americans feel at the pump.”

The Russian government warned against this kind of ban earlier this week.

“It is absolutely clear that a rejection of Russian oil would lead to catastrophic consequences for the global market,” said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak in an address on state television Monday. “The surge in prices would be unpredictable. It would be $300 per barrel if not more.”

Gas prices have hit record highs. According to AAA, the average national gas price is $4.17 per gallon, the highest ever. That price is a major increase from just one year ago, when the average price was $2.77 per gallon.

Amid these price increases, Republicans have hammered the Biden administration for its energy policies with many calling on the president to replace Russia’s oil supply with a surge in U.S. oil production.

“Democrats will try to blame historic gas prices on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But the facts show otherwise,” said House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. “On Day 1, Biden halted the Keystone Pipeline and issued a moratorium on new oil and gas permits on federal lands. Then he gave the green light on a pipeline for Putin.”

A Rasmussen poll released Monday found that 70% of those surveyed say the U.S. government should encourage domestic production to make the nation less reliant on foreign sources of energy.

"With gas prices soaring, energy policy is likely to be a major issue in the midterm election campaign, and voters strongly favor a policy of promoting domestic petroleum production," Rasmussen said. "The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 70% of Likely U.S. Voters believe the U.S. government should encourage increased oil and gas production to reduce America’s dependence on foreign sources of oil and gas. Only 18% oppose a policy of encouraging U.S. energy independence, while 12% are not sure.