Gramen artificiosum odi

- I hate Astroturf

I was out in the yard last evening between downpours (yes, we do live in Oregon...) and mildly bemoaning the fact that I had been too lazy to cut the grass when it was not raining last weekend and now the tufts of crabgrass are knee-height and too wet to mow...and in fact the Electric Mower would probably present a rather dangerous option if I was to roll it through just now. I am not really sure when or how it is that the crabgrass has had a chance to grow, as it was just last week that I was observing that the front yard had been so totally overtaken by moss that I was opting to preserve it as such like an expensive new breed of groundcover. Crabgrass is an interesting plant, it appears as a small tuft, looking rather charming at first - then suddenly it sends out legs that shoot from the center like something from the movie Alien. By this time it has put down a serious substructure of roots that reaches halfway across the yard and entwines with its sister crabgrass plants in a handhold that defies digging out. By that point, the lawn is doomed. I have given in to its grip, and within a few days the lawn looks like a savannah. That said, I have started to appreciate this weed, both for its tenacity and its survival techniques; it has a beauty to it as long as I realize that it is a plant, not a lawn. I will be attacking it soon with the mower, and it will recede into the general green of its mossy base. I do now and then wish that we had a glowing perfect lawn like the one across the street that was just recently rolled into place, but to be honest seeing this strident prehistoric survivor enjoying the rain this week reminds me that just letting go and stretching legs feels really nice, even if it is just for a brief moment. Who needs astroturf?