Plantaloons

I got this green sweater yesterday which I love love and I might just wear it as much as I wear that navy hoodie I have. It was a lil' pricey but if I get that sort of mileage out of it, I'll have practically stolen it from the store :-)

There's a greenhouse in the middle of our campus that is loaded with all these beautiful potted plants that are almost ready to be planted in the gardens around campus. I never knew what that greenhouse was for, but a couple weeks ago all these little pots appeared and now every time I walk by I'm just dying to go in. There are plants everywhere - grasses and ivies and more flowers than I could count. The colors are amazing - greens and pinks and yellows and whites and reds and purples just don't come any way like plants can make them. It's so funny that plants don't have eyes and have no need for color other than to attract pollinators, yet they make color better than anyone. They don't have any idea how beautiful they are - well they don't have any ideas at all, without a nervous system, but still. They're just as naturally occurring as rocks and rivers and mountains, but they're more amazing than we realize day to day. Even the ugly ones are unique - some make poisons that smell like you wouldn't believe.

I don't think I'd appreciate plants nearly this much if I didn't spend two and a half months studying them, but it's not hard to understand how amazing they are. They're entirely self sufficient and can deal with anything, even getting eaten. Take grass, for example - a patch of grass is actually all one plant. All the blades of grass are interconnected under the soil, so that one or two bites means nothing to the whole monoculture. In fact, grazers actually help the grass - they fertize it with their you-know-what to keep it alive and well. They aerate the soil by walking all over it, so it gains oxygen and nitrogen from the air. Grass is freakin amazing, and no one thinks about it!

And, sadly, I'm not just talking about the grass of 4/20... I'm talking about the plain green stuff under trees...