Nature Offers Allison Kelly Much to Love

by Allison Kelly

The dandelion is probably the most well-known weed around here. Some people view it as an eyesore that ruins the appearance of their manicured lawn, while others consider it a cheerful sign of Spring’s arrival. I’m on Team Dandelion. Whether it’s in the middle of my yard or on the edge of our gravel driveway, this little yellow flower is a welcome pop of color after the grays and browns of winter.

In 2023 I had an unexpected six-week stay in the hospital, during which time I missed the entire month of May, so I was determined to get outside as much as possible in 2024. My prolonged hospitalization had left me unable to drive my golf car through the fields and wooded trails on our property. Thank goodness I have a power chair that will take me over gravel or grass with relative ease. I do lower the speed on the chair when I’m going down our sightly steep macadam driveway, but I can safely stop on the hill if something photogenic catches my eye.

Using the chair lets me get into places the golf car can’t take me. Being unable to reach the gear shift to put the golf car in reverse makes it impossible for me to travel on dead-end trails or ones where a fallen tree has blocked the path. But my power chair allows me to reverse or swivel around and retrace my steps/tracks in the grass.

Going off the beaten track lets me discover all sorts of interesting flora. I love taking pictures of spring azaleas and flowering trees or summer lilies and hydrangeas; but when these popular varieties have finished blooming for the season, I seek out other lesser-known plants to photograph. Weeds never disappoint. The expression “growing like a weed” is true; these plants survive – even thrive - in less-than-perfect conditions. Last year’s drought that started in the summer and stretched well into autumn did not seem to negatively affect the green and growing things flourishing in unusual places.

A good spot to find these weeds is along the side of my father’s machine shed where he keeps his tractors and mowers. A variety of grasses sprout there, close enough to the building to be safe from the mower and tucked away enough to not fall victim to whacking or herbicide. I don’t expect to find colorful flowers back there; I go there to get shots that focus on texture – the filigree edges of a grass frond – or light – the glow of a fuzzy stalk of grass in the late afternoon sunshine – or shadows – the interesting patterns projected by the spindly grasses against the red side of the outbuilding.

In August 2024 I spotted a new weed; it was as high as the other grasses – about 3 feet tall – but there were little white cylinders at the end of each stalk (a detail I would not have noticed if I zipped by in my golf car). I wondered if these were buds and kept waiting for them to open. One day I decided to pick some of the interesting weeds I’d been watching every day. I figured out how to take a plastic bag with a handle, hook it over the arm of my power chair, and carry scissors inside it. Then I could cut small leaves or stems from plants within my reach and collect them in the bag to deposit later in tiny vases. I included a few of the mystery weed in my bouquet.

The next morning, I was astonished to enter the kitchen and see that those little cylinders had erupted into white fuzz overnight! It looked like dandelion fluff. After posting a few pictures on Facebook, I learned from my friends that this plant is called burn weed. An internet search informed me that those little cigarette-shaped tips ARE the flowers; the cotton candy state is the final stage when this hardy annual spreads its seeds. The plant by the barn also started to sprout the white puff balls at this time (late September, about a month after I’d first noticed them at the end of August).

I took the pile of fluff surrounding the vase on the kitchen windowsill and spread the seeds at a few out-of-the-way spots on our property. I haven’t seen any burn weed growing in those places this year, but I’ll keep looking. Perhaps I’ll find some other varieties of flora to pique my interest. Nature has so much to offer if you just take the time to notice it!

* Despite living her entire life with severe juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, Allison has always enjoyed the outdoors. Growing up on a family Christmas tree farm – she could literally go over the river (creek) and through the woods to her grandmother’s house – instilled a love of nature in her at an early age. As an adult she uses a mobility scooter or power chair to get up close to nature and take photos that she turns into note cards available for sale at Engage Arts Studio, 1005 Gravel Pike, Schwenksville, The Collective, 10 S. Hanover Street, Pottstown, or in her online shop at www.noteworthynaturephotos.com.

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