• HOME
  • Books & Publications
  • Talks & Workshops
  • Meet Carol
  • Contact: Media & Booksellers

WINTER COMPANIONS

11/30/2010

0 Comments

 
Picture
I always lament the end of a month: its rush to be over, its unfinished business, its losses and gains—now history.  In contrast, tomorrow’s new page features hopeful squares waiting to be filled.  Winters return might bring the same sadness if it were not for my companions on the prairie.

Skeletons of plants, once in bloom, line the driveway and on into the expanse beyond. At first glance they meld into brownish sameness but there are as many variations of hue and girth and height as there are in people.  

   The spindly switch grass always catches my eye with its long sturdy spine, minute seeds and pale, gracefully arching foliage.  This amazing plant often stands upright even through winter’s snow.  The big bluestem still towers but its characteristic crows feet are more like tufts, without their dangling seeds.  In their old age they seem to have lost some height. Most of the thousands of feathery seeds have flown from the little bluestem but the stalks take on an almost maroon glow.  In the summer I could hardly find Canadian rye but now that all green is gone, I see the heavy seed heads bending beautifully.  The Indian grass stalks have also lost their seeds but continue to look regal, especially when the early morning light gives them a bronze hue.

   Most wildflowers are only little button heads denuded of their seeds but the milkweed pods retain their skeletal remains.  I love the way the brittle tear-shaped pods twist on the stem, making artistic arrangements.  

   I don’t know what goes on within the dying stalks or what’s happening to their long roots below the ground past the frost line.  Do they have capillary systems like trees? How do they store the nutrients needed to grow again? But after ten years in this place, I know this much: the flowers and the tall grasses are really only hibernating within their seeds—ready to grow again when warmth, moisture and sun usher them back in spring.



0 Comments
    Picture
    ALL NATURE SINGS  
    A Spiritual Journey of Place
    by Carol J. Rottman

    Join Carol's Mailing List

    Categories

    All
    9/11
    A Cup Of Cold Water
    Advent
    Beaver
    Butterfly Weed
    Children
    Climate Change
    Color-blindness
    Compass Plant
    Controlled Burn
    Creation Care
    Creative Non-fiction
    Cygnets
    Days Pass
    Detail
    Eagle
    Easter
    E.B. White
    Family
    Friends
    Frogs
    Garden Watch
    Giving
    Goldfinch
    Good Friday
    Grandchildren
    Home
    Home And Habitat
    House Plants
    Ice Storm
    IN-DOOR PLANTS
    Indoor Plants
    Inspiration
    Lent
    Life Continues
    Loss
    March In Michigan
    MID-WEST WINTER
    Milkweed
    Nature Notes
    Nature Watch
    Newspapers
    New Year
    NEW YEAR\\OUR HOPE
    Raspberry Bushes
    Sandhill Crains
    Simplify
    Snapping Turtles
    Snow Scenes
    Special Days
    Spider Web
    Starvation
    Sunrise
    Survival
    Swans
    Switch Grass
    Tall Grasses
    Thunder
    Travel
    Turtles
    Weather
    Wildflower
    Wild Life
    Winter
    Winter Beauty

    Archives

    April 2016
    March 2016
    March 2014
    June 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    October 2011
    August 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.