Horses tails, but not in the sky




      On a cooler morning last week the two terriers and I set off on the walk before the real heat set-in. Good old Barney at thirteen plus years finds the heat intolerable, he's OK lying quietly when it's hot but walking him in high temperatures, well it just isn't fair on him with his super thick double layer short coat.
      Anyway, back to the horses tails. We took a different route and found this large clump growing in the corner of a thirty acre field. It has the look of an aerial view of a tropical rain forest but in reality the plants are only eighteen inches high at the absolute maximum. Incredibly the old terracotta land drains in this field are six to seven feet down in the ground and when the farmer pressure washes them out there are horses tail roots in there drinking draining water.
      Now there's a warning for gardeners, if you pull them out you are never, ever, going to eradicate the plant and in any case I think fossilised versions have been found so the plant definitely has staying power.
      It may well outlast you.


Comments

  1. Glad too see you've brought up the sensitive topic of horses tails.
    We've tried nearly every weed killer on the market, blasted them with a flame thrower, tipped creosote on them, and finally tried neat disinfectant and still they keep coming back.
    I am though now growing a certain respect for them after watching a programme that explained they were around when dinosaurs wandered about and are the forerunner of every fir tree now growing.
    Just wish they'd have made "friends" elsewhere

    Phil

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  2. The farmer said you can knock them over time after time but they always come back. The deepest land drain he's got is eight feet down and the roots get in there. I did see a fossil, can't remember which museum, and the fossil was in a pice of coal so the plant has had plenty of practice surviving. Stay safe, John

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