Weeds in Winter

For those of us who do not take part in Winter Sports, (unless you can call cultivating a Panic Disorder at getting behind the wheel of my car in anything REMOTELY resembling frozen precip a SPORT) New England winters can give us a long dreary time of being locked away from the great outdoors. For those of us who also cultivate a distinct propencity for contracting Lyme Disease, this SHOULD be the safest time for getting out in the wild. (Remember, of course, the little TickDevils will awaken ANY time during the winter that the temp tops 40*F)

Many years ago I bought a beautiful book by Laurel Brown called "Weeds in Winter". What a fascinating premise, to be able to identify the common weeds by the sculptures left behind when winter takes the life out of them. The line drawings are just perfect. They're truly beautiful, showing a real understanding for the nature of each plant, but they're also as accurate and clear as anything you'll find in a Field Guide. Well, I thought the whole thing was just wonderful and dragged that book around for years. The rest of the world must have had a true "Who cares?!" reaction as it has now been re-released under a new (more digestible) title: "Wildflowers and Winter Weeds". Whatever works.

I so appreciate the much-maligned Goldenrod, victim of such Rural Legends. Its heavy yellow pollen, which stays quietly stuck to the flower inviting every late-season bee and wasp in the county, is too often blamed for all the hay fever that is actually caused by that rag of a weed, the Ragweed. Ragweed blooms GREEN and so attracts no pollinators, making it one of the great breeze-hitch-hikers, whose pollen is headed straight for a nose near you. Goldenrod lights up the roadsides and fields with the clearest, most perfect yellow blooms in a myriad of different forms. This WOULD make it a flower arranger's dream if one did not need to put a TAG on the arrangement advising folks that if they would just keep their FACES out of it, they wouldn't sneeze!

But why would I spend a December article in New York State on GOLDENROD?? Look out your car window, squirrels! Along those same roadsides and in those same fields, the sculptures left behind when the Goldenrod nodded out for the season have gone silver. The structure is the same, but the flowers have 'fuzzed' in a manner that catches the winter sun in a beautiful way. The stems, too, will stand there most of the winter. It always amazes me how it can produce SUCH a stem with just one season's growth.

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