Thursday, October 7, 2010

Love


Let's all put on our deepest, smokiest, Barry White voices and discuss.. love.
Here in the nursery we have two kinds of love going on: the twice-yearly swarm of love bugs, and a great fall plant, Love Grass.

There's something about grasses that just says Autumn to me. Maybe it's because I've lived in the south too long and don't get to crunch my feet in leaves and have to do my oak tree raking in the spring. I think too it's the wheat-like bloom so many grasses produce in the fall and that makes me think of harvest time.

Love Grass is also known as Tallahassee Sunset or Tallahassee Skies. It's botanical name is Eragrostis Elliotti, and it's native to the Southeast of the US, as far west as Texas. It's a short grass - not more than two feet high really. But it puts out a great number of blooms and the blades take on pink and blue hues.
In our nursery in the early morning light the row of Love Grass looks like pots that have been shrouded in fog.

The other bit of love going around concerns the birds and the bees, only it's Love Bugs. They spend their larval life underground, but in May and October, they sprout wings, develop pheromones, and zoom out to find a mate. Cars wear special protection over their grills because you can't help but drive into several thousand while on a trip to the store. The splattered remains of the love bugs are supposedly harmful to a car's paint job. I've heard of people freshly waxing their cars or applying a thin spray of oil on the car to make washing them off easier.

Other than that, they are pretty harmless. I even read that the larva are beneficial to the soil and help plants find nourishment easier. They don't bite or sting, just mate. But if you're outside for a long period they land on you and tickle you, and fly in your hair and maybe in your mouth.

Nothing seems to eat love bugs, except me when one goes in my mouth by accident. Maybe a spider when one is caught in the web. My rooster doesn't seem to find them enticing. The larva are enjoyed by birds and armadillos. Imagine how many more could hatch if the larva weren't tasty!

They are really easy to catch and very fragile. Merely brushing them away because of the tickle will cause permanent harm or death to the love bug. The PE teacher at my childrens' elementary school came up with a unique game called Love Bug Tag. The students have to run out to the field, catch love bugs, and when they bring it back to the coach and it is still alive, then they get a prize. I bet she gave out a lot of prizes.

When we first moved here I had painted our porch. The railings were a bright white, and the love bugs loved it. Several hundred gathered there, and completely freaked my older daughter out. She does not enjoy love bug season at all. And she's not the only one. Just the other day a grown woman, a Master Gardener, came out to our nursery, and she really had to work hard to pretend she wasn't bothered by them.

The grasses are blooming, it's definitely fall in Florida, and it's a season we deserve after the long hot summers. Enjoy gardening!

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