REPORT ON PUSSY WILLOWS AND COMMON REED

PUSSY WILLOW CATKINS, STILL DORMANT

PHRAGMITES (COMMON REED ) AT THE BEACH

Tuesday,  9:30 AM.  10 degrees F on the porch, 2 degrees at the ferry dock.  The sky is blue with a few high, thin clouds.  The wind is calm.  The humidity is trending up at 72%, and the barometer trending down at 30.28". Buddy and I had a fine morning walk.
   I stopped at the Sioux River Beach yesterday to see if the pussy willows, Salix discolor, are showing signs of spring.  They are not.  I don't really blame them.
   The common reed, Phragmites australis, is very evident at the beach, last year's canes with their now-seedless flower heads reaching far above the waist-deep snow.  Now considered a foreign invasive, it was once used to control beach erosion, which is probably why it is growing along the beach road.  It is very aggressive, and does its job so well it is almost impossible to get rid of it.   It is  circumpolar, and probably world-wide in distribution, much like the Russian Empire.  Maybe it should be called "Putin Reed".
  There is a native subspecies, americanus, that perhaps should be called "Obama Reed", since it is weak and can't compete with the invader,  and is ultimately forced from its territory.