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Take a walk with me. All photos including header are copyright protected. And unless otherwise noted were taken by Dawn.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Horsetails

10 comments:

Sandy Maudlin said...

Who would've thought you could capture so many different colors in this prehistoric plant! Beautiful.
sandy

Anonymous said...

They're wonderful, aren't they - and that's a nice shot!

Are they weeds where you are? Are they horribly difficult to get rid of? We have a variety here which grows anywhere and if you leave any tiny fragment in the ground, new ones will grow. Gardeners hate them. We're probably the only house in the row which doesn't have them and I don't know why!

robin andrea said...

What a nice shot, dawn. I haven't seen horsetails in a while. I love how our gardening book describes them: a rush-like survivor of the carboniferous age.

Dawn said...

thank you ladies! they are very common on the sides of roads here, they like it wet and the soil doesnt have to be very good. they are from the beginning of time Robin!

Suzanne McDermott said...

Oooh! These are pretty. In all of the many places I've lived, I'm not sure I've ever seen these growing! They remind me of a Missoni knit sweater.

Pablo VillicaƱa Lara said...

So cool and odd! I've been watching them grow around us, when they are just right I intend to use some in an upcoming painting.
I think you can make a hair rinse with horsetails.

Sandy Maudlin said...

Just another comment about their tenacity - we actually sold them one year at our nursery (I'd learned about them in high school biology and loved that we could actually buy some. We stored the few leftovers for the next year and never ever got rid of them in the place we'd planted them. They spread by spores, like ferns, and there was no product avaibable to eliminate them. Don't know how the people fared who bought them for their landscapes. Love the photo, tho.

Dawn said...

thanks Pablo, yes they have many uses.
Hi Sandy, I cant imagine bringing them into the garden, but what do I know? they also can reproduce by just a bit of stem or root. One kind of horsetail can grow ten feet high!

RH Carpenter said...

They look so interesting - I've never seen one. Great photo with lots of visual interest and what colors!!
Dawn, our babies have flown the nest :( but they are still around the house being fed by mama and papa.

Nick said...

never seen one, never even heard of them....do they swat flies?