Letter to the editor: Asphalt yields to nature's strength and beauty

Mon, 07/17/2017 - 9:30pm

As recent press has highlighted, one or more residents and the City of Rockland are concerned about uncut tall grasses, which, incidentally, if you attempt to purchase them, you'd pay a bundle. But I think it is misguided to hold the perception that it is uncut grasses which epitomize abandonment and serve only as a barrier to functionality and quality of life on all levels, or that tall grasses inhibit a city's ability to rise to challenges and opportunities for investment. I offer another view:

Asphalt yields to nature's strength and beauty, and amongst the gentle grasses, a celebration of scent, color, texture, and perseverance, with tall sweet clover, goldenrod, daisy, St. John's Wort, milkweed, mullein, rosa rugosa, black eyed Susan, fleabane, pineapple weed, Queen Anne's lace, and a host of other self-seeded botanicals giving a feast for bees, birds, and the human spirit. With all this, the message of the tall grasses and self-seeded wildflowers becomes: "This is the place to grow and flourish. It is the place where you can be unique."

Maggie Trout lives in Rockland