Saturday, November 21, 2015

Saturday scenes and scenery: grasses still stand tall

It's been a strange autumn in drought-stricken northern California. We've had a couple of moderate rain storms, but temperatures have remained comfortably in the 60s and most days have been bright and clear.

Anticipating that one of these days El NiƱo storms will drive me off the hills, I've been out on the trails every chance I can seize.

The pampas grass is thriving everywhere. It seems to be an invasive species from the Andes, considered noxious by horticultural purists. I'm rather fond of it. These hills were cleared of whatever was native here many decades ago.

2 comments:

Hattie said...

Is that pampas grass? I would love to hike those hills again.

janinsanfran said...

Yes, Hattie, these particular hills with pampas grass are the ones above Pacifica. You felt it...

BTW, I'm now in Vermont, and they have pampas grass, but it is another sort, not Andean-origin like the CA coast. This variant is white, while the CA variant is purple-tinged ... Things I didn't know until I looked them up.