Temperatures cool down for a few days, then climb back to summer-like levels. Winds, which are more southerly much of the summer, begin to shift to the winter’s northwest and back. The start of leaf fall occurs. Shifting and strengthening winds loosen the tan, spiky seed heads of Eragrostis spectabilis (Purple Lovegrass) also know as tumble grass.
lovegrass in the wind
Photo by J. Harrington
|
Here at the eastern edge of the Anoka Sand Plain is prime habitat for tumble grass. The field behind our house is full of it, as are the fields in front of both neighbors to our east. Ditches and sheltered corners have been filling with tumble grass heads the past few days.
One of my favorite characteristics of lovegrass is the way it captures autumn dew and shines magically as the sun rises on September mornings. The fields surrounding us look as if they’re full of clouds that were resting for the night on beds of grass before rising with the warming air of the day.
Thanks to an abundance of pocket gophers and drought this summer, our fields are much the worse for wear. Either this fall or next spring, we’ll do more reseeding with some drought tolerant ground cover that does well in sand. If the lovegrass reseeds itself, so much the better. One nursery is offering seeds at $450/lb (no, I didn’t miss the decimal point), which is too rich for my taste.
The Grass
By Jeffrey Yang
Bouteloua blackgrama grass redchino side-oats blue grama grasshairy buffalo-grass toboso three-awnland’s dawn 旦 sunover sand, tumblewind-mill witch- cup- saltgrassplains love- indiangrass, prairiecordgrass, pink pappusgrass, sprangle-top green knotrootbristle, bluestem, tangle-head, sacatonpaniclesopen, golden drop-seed blooms desert winter-grass, awns twist, un-twist, suchsyllables flickerout of grass: Nanissáanahthirst, ghost dancenativespirits, activeroots, footstalksto soil as to site, stemsbend, range-lands wave, seichefields sway, cloudspass over-grazed grassstaked, fenceddries, weakens, dies,fallencrowns, the grasslandswhatcomes to pass, ranch-hand lands, live-stock livelihoodwildlife gone, displaced, migrationsimpeded, scales im-balancedthe yearsspread, each itselfhitched to everything elsein the universenodeshollowed, drought-land years, dropson the hardpannatureis endlessregenerationtrichloris, muhly, switch-grass, wind misses沙 沙 shasha through the pass-es, whispering seedswill pass, will passwithin leaveslisteninggrasses, not onlythe revelationbut the nature behindto sustain it, over-land grasses seedsspread and grow, rhizome,stolon to sod, curlymesquite cotton-top, draftto draft 草ten thousandgrasses, 草 dancingculms 草 of grassflorescence, sheathsand blades whorlflower toflower, wildgrass, knowingwind strips, slipsof time, the leaveswords weave, un-weave thegrass
********************************************
Thanks for visiting. Come again when you can.
Please be kind to each other while you can.
No comments:
Post a Comment