A little something dug up from the past.
Winter is still going strong and a light snow is falling as I write this. Once again I have to pull old photos out of my $%& (absurdly schismatic site) in order to have something for Green Thumb Sunday.
I’m anticipating a good Bluet season this year. I have a section of ‘lawn’ more suited for tough little wildflowers than grass. These little wildflowers share the barren ground in my front yard with Pussytoes (antennaria) and Devil’s Paintbrush (Hieracium aurantiacum).
I suspect when the house was build the subsoil was spread over the area creating a tough place for anything to grow. Grass has a hard time getting a foothold since the soil is very poor and in the summer months gets so dry any lawn goes dormant quickly. I don’t want to improve the area because it’s home to a wonderful spring display of tiny flowers.
Our household goes through a bit of conflict every year. My wife wants the lawn improved and mowed. I want the Bluets and Pussytoes to go to seed and could care less about the grass. It became a real crisis situation one spring when she found an accomplice who mowed then spread ‘weed and feed’ while I was away. Needless to say when I returned and found the Bluets cut down in their prime I was upset. When I learned that my daughter’s boyfriend had used the ‘weed and feed’ I saw red. Like a bull I was ready to charge and everyone scattered attempting to stay out of my way.
The next year instead of a carpet of wildflowers only a few sparsely populated patches were left. We had to reach a compromise so now the patches of wildflowers are mowed around until after they go to seed. It’s been a couple years now and the Bluets and Pussytoes are slowly reclaiming lost ground. To seal the deal Crocus are now planted and because my wife likes them as much as I do there isn’t as much pressure to keep the lawn clean cut.
Not the best photo but here are the Pussytoes in bloom. They flower after the Bluets so it’s tough to delay the mowing but so far I’ve managed to keep the ‘Mad Mower’ at bay. (I’ll duck when she reads this)
A closer look at the Pussytoe’s foliage.
A small vine in the Pea family with velvety, fragrant flowers. Leaves are smooth with 5 to 7 sharp pointed leaflets. Walnut size tubers form on the root system which are edible. The vine grow 3 to 5 feet and is a bit sparse making it hard to spot when not in bloom. In this case I got lucky and found it growing out of a rock embankment along the Grasse River. Not only was it easy to see the boulders made a good backdrop for the photos.
