A couple of months ago, I met a man named Weldon Vickery.
He was quite influential in helping save purple martins in Alabama, as well as being a County Commisioner.
However, he’s also saved an old, old variety of sugar cane known as “Blue Ribbon” cane.
I mentioned it in yesterday’s post about urban gardening in Atmore, as we have some sprouting right now next to the wall of our shop.
After a conversation at the shop with Weldon – who is 93 years old – he told me he would get me some of his cane so I could help save the variety..
It has been in his family since the Civil War War of Northern Aggression.
Check this out:
A few years ago I was given a cane that was supposedly “Blue Ribbon;” however, I was deceived.
It looked like this:
No stripes! The real Blue Ribbon has “ribbons” in it, and it’s strikingly beautiful.
Weldon told me this is a weaker variety of cane and crosses easily with other types. He also told me not to plant it anywhere near another cane or it will disappear.
I’m not sure how this could be the case, as all the cane grown here is reproduced via clonal propagation, not sexual reproduction. Yet I still planted it in a bed by itself, as far from my other cane as I could manage.
I am not arguing with someone in his 90’s who has been growing cane for most of his life!
There is a lot of sugarcane history in the South, and much of it is dying out as the old cane boilers leave us.
Maybe we can save it.
