Reasons to love grass

Note that I said grass, not lawns; I LOATHE lawns, except in small patches, to emphasize more interesting things. But grasses are a whole 'nother thing. Grasses are the basis of grasslands, one of our planet's delightful ecosystem types. Grasslands dominate in places too dry for forest but too wet for desert, and they show up everywhere else except Antarctica. They provide food and cover for birds, insects, and small mammals, and may have provided a home for early homo sapiens. And grasses, while not generally as drop-dead gorgeous as some flowers or as impressive as hundred-foot trees, can be pretty impressive in their own right. These big bluestem plants, for instance, are more than six feet high. 


And they bloom! Here's one from another patch that had caught the morning's mist--and provided a hunting ground for a spider of some kind, along with seed for small songbirds.








Good grasses play well with others, like those in this mixed meadow catching the morning light

or this grass garden in Toledo,

but keep their individuality, like this patch of (I think) pennisetum.

And some of them are just gorgeous.

I think we need to plant some purpletop.