Saturday, November 12, 2011

harding grass ~ 11/12/11 ~ Elkhorn Slough


Sigh... off the beach and back to drier land. My brain has to switch some serious gears for Nature ID. I occasionally overlook the fact that Elkhorn Slough used to be a farm. I'm often so preoccupied simply being in awe of the estuary, or looking for birds close enough to photograph, or seeking out native plants, which, pardon the expression, is like looking for a needle in a haystack. The official Elkhorn Slough site has a nice write-up on this common grazing grass.

6 comments:

John W. Wall said...

Good for you to ID a grass, though!

randomtruth said...

Yes, seeing Harding grass en-masse is like looking into the face of evil. But then you see a nice clump of California Canary grass, Phalaris californica, and life is good again.

Cindy said...

I spend so much time trying to get rid of Harding grass in coastal grasslands. It is really thick in some areas. When we do get rid of it, we get wonderful wildflower blooms as if the native seeds have been waiting suppressed in the soil all these years. But it takes a combination of careful spraying and burning to permanently get rid of it and some people don't want us to do those things, but at the same time, they want the spring wildflower blooms. Tough situation.

Katie (Nature ID) said...

John, thanks for noticing that I usually steer clear of grass IDs.

Ken, do you know if the CA canary grass is what they're using in native landscaping these days?

Cindy, I don't envy your position. I used to be against spraying and fires, but I've seen first-hand how well these management practices have worked at Elkhorn and Fort Ord. So, my opinions are changing. Wait for my next post, a truly evil invasive...

Imperfect and Tense said...

Hey! When I said you were brave, I didn't mean identifying grass brave. Big respect to you :o)

randomtruth said...

Dunno if they use Cal Canary grass in native landscaping. Seems like it would be a good choice. It's a bunch grass that pretty much looks just like Harding grass, but the seed heads are a little shorter and scruffier (not so columnar).