every now and then on one of my walks, i see so many STILL blog opportunities that the embarrassment of riches actually begins to shut me down. yesterday was one of those days.  i saw wild grape vines beginning to set tiny fruits, birch catkins puffed up like mini pineapples, mulberries just starting to take shape, bluebird eggs shells, wood duck egg shells, cottonwood fluff piling like snow.  it just didn’t stop.  so, i finally had to take a deep breath and pick one thing to carry home. i chose these prairie grass stems. they had just started to go to seed send pollen, and each head was dusted with seeds stamen that looked as if they would blow away at the first hint of a breeze.

rice creek regional trail

saint paul, minnesota

note: i learned this later from a botanist friend:   “This is orchard grass (dactylis glomerata) and it came to North America with the European colonialists. Now it is everywhere! The things hanging out from the head of the plan are actually stamens, the part that spreads the pollen. These, like all grasses, are wind pollinated, so they hang it all out and hope that at least some of the massive amounts of pollen that they spread will find its way to a female part on another orchardgrass.”