Greetings Franklin! Did you recognize what type of plant last week's mystery flower belongs to?
If you said "grass" you are correct!
I'm a little embarrassed to say that I'm not sure which type of grass this is. I had thought it was big bluestem, Andropogon gerardi, but I lost the plant tag. Drat. At any rate, it's a native grass that I bought from Garden in the Woods a few years back, and it has been a show-stopper in my garden ever since.
This particular native grass grows into a very tall clump, that, as you can see, is currently almost as tall as me. But native grasses come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, quite a few of which are fun for gardens as well as good for wildlife.
You may not have ever thought before about grass having flowers, but grass is a type of flowering plant. You just have to look closely to see the flowers.
You typically don't see flowers on mowed lawns because the grass needs to reach a taller height in order to produce flowers.
Native grasses aren't typically used in lawns. However, unlike the imported lawn grasses, native grasses handle our native growing conditions far better than their lawn counterparts. The grass I show above, for instance, remained emerald green throughout this summer's drought, even though I hardly ever watered it.
The next time you find yourself in a unmowed area, have a look at the grass, and see if you can't spot the flowers.
Here is next week's native plant:
Here is a hint: the fruit is a lot more interesting than the flowers.
Happy plant-sleuthing!
Michelle Clay writes about gardening here in Franklin at the Clueless Gardeners Blog.
Franklin, MA
Providing accurate and timely information about what matters in Franklin, MA since 2007. * Working in collaboration with Franklin TV and Radio (wfpr.fm) since October 2019 *
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Encourage them to answer the survey
The early returns have shifted already from almost an even split (13-no, 12-yes) to almost 2-1 margin favoring the No vote.
Should the Main St traffic pattern be changed from 1-way to 2-way?
No - 40
Yes - 23
Total - 63
This is a small number of the total residents (approx. 33,000) and of the registered voters (approx. 19,000)
The survey will remain open until midnight 9/28/10 so the numbers can be prepared for the Town Council meeting and public hearing on the 29th..
Encourage your friends and neighbors to have their say. Now is the time!
Visit the Franklin Downtown Partnership website to participate.
http://franklindowntownpartnership.blogspot.com/2010/09/downtown-improvement-project-survey.html
Franklin, MA
This is a small number of the total residents (approx. 33,000) and of the registered voters (approx. 19,000)
The survey will remain open until midnight 9/28/10 so the numbers can be prepared for the Town Council meeting and public hearing on the 29th..
Encourage your friends and neighbors to have their say. Now is the time!
Visit the Franklin Downtown Partnership website to participate.
http://franklindowntownpartnership.blogspot.com/2010/09/downtown-improvement-project-survey.html
Franklin, MA
Franklin Police offering Bike Helmets
The Safety Division has a number of bicycle safety helmets available, free of charge, on a first come first served basis.
Sizes from toddler to adult available.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Have you had your say yet?
In the first 12 hours of the posting, just over 50 people visited the link, and 25 contributed to the survey. At this point, the survey results are split 13-No, 12-Yes.
Have you had your say yet?
Follow this link to the survey on the new Franklin Downtown Partnership website
http://franklindowntownpartnership.blogspot.com/2010/09/downtown-improvement-project-survey.html
After you complete the survey, check out the new website?
Are we missing something? Let us know.
Franklin, MA
Have you had your say yet?
Follow this link to the survey on the new Franklin Downtown Partnership website
http://franklindowntownpartnership.blogspot.com/2010/09/downtown-improvement-project-survey.html
After you complete the survey, check out the new website?
Are we missing something? Let us know.
Franklin, MA
Two fact sheets on new health care, poverty data from the U.S. Census Bureau
|
Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center | 15 Court Square | Suite 700 | Boston | MA | 02108 |
In the News - solar, Tri-County
Franklin company goes solar
from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Joe O'Connell/Daily News staff
Franklin Ford to raise money for Tri-County
from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Ashley Studley/Daily News staff
Franklin, MA
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Downtown Improvement Project - Survey
The Franklin Downtown Partnership has opened a survey to gather input on the proposal to change the traffic pattern downtown from 1-way to 2-way on Main St.
The Partnership is hosting this survey on their newly revamped website:
http://franklindowntownpartnership.blogspot.com/
You can go directly to the survey here:
http://franklindowntownpartnership.blogspot.com/2010/09/downtown-improvement-project-survey.html
Note: As a member of the Downtown Partnership, I helped to revamp the website. Many thanks to my daughter Allison for her assistance with the website header. The individual photos were taken by Lisa Piana, Terri Frank, and myself. Allison 'magically' put them together with the Partnership logo for us.
Franklin, MA
The Partnership is hosting this survey on their newly revamped website:
http://franklindowntownpartnership.blogspot.com/
You can go directly to the survey here:
http://franklindowntownpartnership.blogspot.com/2010/09/downtown-improvement-project-survey.html
Note: As a member of the Downtown Partnership, I helped to revamp the website. Many thanks to my daughter Allison for her assistance with the website header. The individual photos were taken by Lisa Piana, Terri Frank, and myself. Allison 'magically' put them together with the Partnership logo for us.
Franklin, MA
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