Tumbleweeds are so iconic of the American West: blowing about on the wide-open spaces, a fixture of western movies, almost as recognizable as the cowboy.
They are also awful.
We live in the land of the tumbleweed, which is actually an invasive plant called a Russian thistle. They grow big, plentiful, and prickly, drying in the ground and then getting uprooted by the wind to blow about and disperse their seeds.
They are wretched plants. They are stiff and sharp, embed their prickers into the sheep's wool, and this year, they are EVERYWHERE.
We must have gotten rain at just the right time for them, because I've never seen so many. Even the one year when they formed a solid four-foot-high bank of tumbleweeds against the garden fence, I don't remember seeing so many in the ground. They're currently still rooted, but in the next month, they'll start blowing free, and then we're really in for it.
My ear worm for today will be The Sons Of The Pioneers singing Drifting Along With The Tumbling Tumbleweeds!!
ReplyDeleteOops. Sorry about that. :-)
DeleteYep, that song popped in my head as soon as I read the title. I first heard it at the Flying W Ranch in Colorado, on a family vacation in 1975, sung by the Flying W Wranglers. That was a great trip - thanks for triggering the memories!
DeleteCheryl in IL
No worries Kristin it was a good thing!! Brought back sweet childhood memories.
DeleteYep. I feel your pain. We have a couple long cedar windbreaks and when the tumbleweeds are bad and the winds blow 40-60 mph (it's Kansas; the winds blow), the tumbleweeds pack into the trees. We then have to go pull them out and very cautiously burn them. A windbreak full of dry weeds is a tremendous fire hazard and not something you want around your house -- and, equally terrible, the dry tumbleweeds will rub on, damage and eventually kill the trees.
ReplyDelete-- Karen.'s sister
I remember driving near Abilene, Texas once and was forced to stop by a wall of tumbleweeds. It was a formidable sight!
ReplyDelete