Wednesday, June 16, 2021

The wonder of grasses

Have you ever stopped to marvel at grasses?

Seriously, I never gave grasses much thought except at a subliminal level when it comes to pasturage for cows. But here in our new home, all the wild grasses are out in force. As we walk the dog morning and evening, I was struck by how lovely they are.

I decided to document what's growing around here. I'm not a botanist so I don't know what they are, but here's a sampling. In fact, I'll label the photos so you can help identify them. (I might have duplicated some entries; sorry.)

Exhibit 1:

Exhibit 2:

Exhibit 3 (baltic rush?):

Exhibit 4:

Exhibit 5 (timothy?):

Exhibit 6:

Exhibit 7:

Exhibit 8:

Exhibit 9:

Exhibit 10:

Exhibit11:

Many of these grasses are blooming like mad, to Don's distress (allergies). Whenever Mr. Darcy diverges off the road, we can follow his progress through the grass by the little puffs of pollen that follow him.

I know things will dry out as the summer progresses, so I'll admire the lush beauty of these grasses while I can.

9 comments:

  1. Not only do I love grasses, I love watching waves of grass when the wind blows through them.

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    1. I too love how grasses wave in the breeze. My boys and I like to lay a blanket down in the taller grass. Lying on our backs to look at the sky is magic. The gentle swishing sound and the swaying motion greatly enhances cloud watching.

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  2. Ah... ah... CHOOO! (sniff!)

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  3. I love seeing all the different forms of seed heads!

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  4. Exibit 10, can't remember it's name right now, however the seed can be really bad for pets, these seeds can work their way in their ears or eye, or nostrils. Ear is more common and those seeds will work their way in and not out requiring vet treatment. Something to watch out for.

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    1. You're thinking foxtail, and you're right. It's nasty nasty stuff. It was all over the place when we lived in Oregon, and I can't count the number of times we had to bring our dogs to the vet to have foxtails surgically removed from between their toe pads.

      However, thankfully, that reddish grass is NOT foxtail. Or if it is, it's a different kind than we had in Oregon. It will certainly bear watching as it matures this summer.

      - Patrice

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    2. I finally remembered that it is also called cheat grass. The seed is also knows as awns.

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  5. Cheat grass is correct. When green is good feed, but those seeds are terrible on dogs. Gets in ears, burrows into the hide, or between toes. I have even heard of it getting in eyes. We had a border collie that had to go in a couple of times a year to get those out of her ears.
    A lot of people do call it foxtail when at the vet clinic, but it is cheat grass.

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