Fifty-four tornadoes have been recorded to date (May 7, 204) for the year 2024 in Oklahoma. Many storms have passed by Norman, where I live. Some of those were predicted to pass over my neighborhood, but, by some fate either dissipated or moved off in another direction.
Yesterday, May 6, 2024, several activities were cancelled due to expected bad weather for the second time in one week. The first set of cancelled activities occurred the weekend prior, which was unfortunate for several reasons – it was the weekend of: Norman Music Festival, a free festival that features hundreds of musicians; Festival of the Arts in Oklahoma City; various high school proms; competition for Olympic river rafters at Riversports OKC; and more.
My son and I already planned to complete work in the morning and attend activities in the afternoon. The cancellation of events that we hoped to attend (the Norman Music Festival and the Festival of the Arts) swirled with the repeated tornado warnings to create an ambience of anxiety and disappointment in our house.
We didn’t have to shelter until 9 p.m. the evening of April 27.
We grabbed everything we held dear and near to us – the dogs, the pet rats, the pet leopard gecko. My son managed to stuff his favorite puppy pillow under his arm, and I managed to transport my stemless glass of wine.
Yesterday’s storm warnings for Norman were for strong winds that had potential to become tornadic. The late afternoon breeze pushed some of the humidity out of the air. I didn’t want to wait in fear as I had the weekend prior. Instead, I stepped outside to investigate my gardens.
I’ve been planting more and more native species around my house. Every year, I add milkweeds for the monarchs and spread the seeds of previously planted wildflowers. I eagerly examine the milkweed for monarch eggs, caterpillars and chrysalis. I have yet to see any this year, but I did make an incredible discovery.
Native ladybug larvae.
I have never seen these before. They are shaped nothing like the red, round buggers with black spots. They are long, sort of bumpy, black or grey with symmetrical orange spots. If they are one of milkweed, the likelihood is that they are on every milkweed. My discovery made me very, very, very happy.
My yard is host to a variety of butterflies, moths, bees and birds, but some years, like 2023, I find very few. The year prior, 2022, I counted over 50 monarch butterflies and chrysalis. Then, a huge storm came through and decimated most of them. My heart hurt.
Ladybugs are beneficial to the plants and to butterflies. The ladybugs eat aphids, scale insects, larvae and eggs that might harm plants beneficial to butterflies, or that might infest caterpillars and cocoons. The ladybugs in my garden will definitely not starve! See all those little dots in the photo? That’s some of their food.
The stock I plant comes from nurseries and citizens who collect samples locally. The memory for growth through drought, drenching downpours, winds and tornadoes rests within the seeds and roots of these plants. My hope is that they will withstand the forces of nature and help provide food and structure for monarchs and other butterflies, birds, bees and beetles.
We didn’t need to seek cover in our tornado shelter yesterday but we were jolted awake around midnight by the NWS automated wind warning. We watched the news and listened to weather reports. The predicted 80-mph winds bypassed Norman. We are fortunate, but, as always, our thoughts are with those whose homes, businesses and lives were impacted by yesterday’s weather.
This ordinary girl hopes to remain as resilient and splendid as the fifty-and still counting native plants that thrive in her garden, regardless of the storms that pass by. I hope, through my gardening and writing, that I brighten at least one person’s day.
