Comments on: Wind-Borne Plants

Wind-Borne Plants

interrobang — Fri, 18 Jun 2004 18:54:54 -0800

From Gliders to Parachutes, from the well-loved "helicopters"to the hated Cottonwood, here's everything you need to know about the wind-borne seeds of Summer.

By: quonsar

quonsar — Fri, 18 Jun 2004 19:36:15 -0800

[this is good]

By: moonbird

moonbird — Fri, 18 Jun 2004 20:27:42 -0800

[i second the motion]

By: MarkO

MarkO — Fri, 18 Jun 2004 21:27:15 -0800

Good, but when admiring the clever adaptations that can be found in life, don't forget to marvel at the spiders. If net-casting spiders aren't cool, I don't know what is.

By: y2karl

y2karl — Fri, 18 Jun 2004 21:31:28 -0800

Hated cottonwoood, my ass. There's nothing like the smell of cottonwoods in bloom. I go canoeing on Lake Washington and go through this slough that leads into the islands around the University of Washington's Arboretum. You paddle along and all the cotton from the cotton wood trees is sitting on top of the water. And you can't miss that smell. Cottonwoods have this pungent winey and turpentiney smell that is quite unforgettable. It's really not floral but it's not at all unpleasant. I remember it from every trip we took into the country when I was a kid. They were in bloom, too, in the park we walked by to the big parade (well, big for a little town) we had in Payette on Memorial Day. It's the smell of summer. I just love paddling down that slough between the Broadmoor golf course and the arboretum--look out! golf balls off the port bow! duck, matey!--and seeing lines of stacked black and green turtles sunning themselves on the logs, all the ducklings and goslings following their mothers in little flotillas, the great blue herons stalking fish like mimes on stillts and the red winged blackbirds clingng to the cattails and popping out their epauletttes and keening their metallic this is my territoree-ree-ree! And smelling those cottonwoods. Life is so sweet then.

By: interrobang

interrobang — Fri, 18 Jun 2004 22:50:14 -0800

I don't hate them, y2karl; I just know people who do. Then again, there are people who hate the wonderful lake-scum smell we have here in Madison. For me, it's the smell of Summer.

By: Shane

Shane — Mon, 21 Jun 2004 07:53:32 -0800

Very nice, John! Excellent post!

By: rocketman

rocketman — Mon, 21 Jun 2004 15:15:43 -0800

John, you are a vital contributor to this community.