Bottlebrush Buckeye (Aesculus parviflora)
The bottlebrush buckeye is a large, multistemmed, shade loving shrub that brightens the forest in the late spring when it blooms and then again in the fall when its leaves turn a rich yellow. It is native to the Southeastern United States, but specimens have lived successfully all the way North to Minnesota (USDA hardiness zone 4 to 8). This plant gets its name from its bottlebrush shaped flowers which have a subtle but pleasant scent and which attract a wide range of pollinating insects including bees and butterflies. No woodland garden in the Southeast is complete without a bottlebrush buckeye.
Joan B. Lourie
Much like the butterflies she loved and modeled herself after, Joan Beckel Lourie was a constant work of transition. Born in May 1933 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, she grew up as a traditional dutiful and loving daughter and sister near the coal mountains of eastern Pennsylvania where family was the center of life. She left home after high school to begin her studies to become a teacher at Beaver College in suburban Philadelphia. She then transferred down the road to Temple University, where she graduated and then moved to Boston with her husband to begin her career in teaching elementary students.
Two children and 8 moves later she found herself in Charlotte, a city she adored. With her children growing both in age and independence, she decided at aged 44 to head back to school, and nervously tried her hand at an introductory art class at Central Piedmont Community College. Surprised that she was able to keep up with the other students half her age, she decided to move on to the Department of Education at UNCC where, under the tutelage of Sister Mary Thomas Burke, she earned a Master of Education (M. Ed.) in 1978, with a concentration in counseling. While at UNCC, she worked with Sister Mary Thomas to develop specialized programs to convince other like-minded, transitioning empty nesters that they too could come back and thrive at UNCC (even skipping the art class step at CPCC).
Upon graduation she accepted a position in the counseling center at Belmont Abbey College, where she provided counseling services to students and began to focus her academic curiosity on Transactional Analysis, a system of social psychology developed by Eric Berne, consisting of certain concepts that practitioners use to help clients, students, and systems analyze and change patterns of interaction that interfere with achieving life aspirations. As she became more proficient in TA, Joan became active in the International Transactional Analysis Association, which lead her over the next 20 years to travel around the world helping further the use of TA in both developed and undeveloped countries.
In 1979, Joan moved to Chicago, where she began a private counseling practice helping couples and young professionals find peace and comfort in their everyday lives. She retired in 2012, still receiving regular updates from the hundreds of clients she worked with over her 35-year second career.
Upon retirement Joan transitioned once again back to her role as a mother and grandmother, passing away in June 2017 and leaving behind 2 children, 4 grandchildren, one great grandchild, many nieces and nephews and countless friends and clients who cherished her and who are grateful for all she provided to them.
The Bottlebrush Buckeye, standing in Joan’s name at the UNC Charlotte Botanical Garden, is a flowering shrub for shade areas that attracts and serves as a refuge for the butterflies that serve as an eloquent reminder of the ability to transition that Joan not only experienced but also believed lies within all of us.
