So often we walk around in nature failing to notice the details, the grass under our feet.
Subtle changes in colour and appearance indicate the passing of the seasons. Many varieties of grass remain invisible, yet are an integral part of the natural landscape.
The theme for this week’s Friendly Friday challenge is:
‘Splendour in the Grass’
Using Grass to Frame a Landscape in Photography
In photographic terms, grass can be used to frame the shot or make an interesting feature in the foreground.
This ‘Moon viewing,’ photo captured during the Tsukimi festival in mid-Autumn, in Japan.
Tooway Creek, Moffat Beach Redcliffe Peninsula, Australia
Japanese Senga Grass Fields at Mount Fuji
The Japanese find Splendour in the Sengakuhara Pampas Grass, by strolling along a walking trail, at the western side of Mount Hakone. For it is here that the changing colour of the tall grass offers stunning vistas. In November, the grass turns a shimmering, silvery gold. Wedding proposal and selfies abound at this time of year.
Australian Splendour
In Australia, a country fringed by blue oceans, you will find grass the colour of sunburnt earth, which often makes me yearn for the vivid fluorescent green grass of wetter climates.
Australian deserts display different kinds of saltbush grass.
In the arid conditions of the Australian landscape, plants have adapted to grow under extreme conditions, such as the grass tree.
Grass Trees in Australia
A relic of the Age of Dinosaurs, Xanthorrhoeas, also known as the Grass Tree, grow very slowly and are resistant to bushfire. In fact, fire helps the grass tree produce its flowers. They also have a unique symbiotic relationship with the soil. The presence of a mycorrhizal microbe in the soil around their roots allows them to flourish, even if the soils are nutrient-poor.
Grass Trees are highly sought after in Australian horticulture and as such are often illegally removed from their natural locations. They fetch high prices as ornamental plants. Little do the owners realize that if the soil in their garden does not contain the mycorrhizal enzyme, the grass tree that they paid so dearly for, will wither and die.
Imitating Nature in Growing Grass Trees
Here’s a secret that an old-timer once told me. Take a cup of brown sugar, put it in a bucket of water and water your grass trees once a month for two years with that mixture. The sugar feeds the mycorrhiza and gets it going and your grass tree will survive.
www.abc.net.au/gardening
Create a Friendly Friday Challenge Blog Post
Everyone is welcome to join the Friendly Friday Challenge with your own interpretation of the theme.
Add a pingback to StPA and tag your post with ‘Friendly Friday – Splendour in the Grass.’ Then return to this post and leave a comment below listing your post’s published link.
There is a full set of instructions on how to join the Friendly Friday Photo Challenge on my blog header. This challenge runs until next Thursday.
Last week’s Friendly Friday Challenge initiated some excellent contributions, with the theme of ‘Markets,‘ over at co-host Sandy’s blog.
Would you like to join in this week?
Beautiful views.
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Thank you for taking the time to comment.
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Some wonderful landscapes here
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Thank you, Alison. I like the sheaves of grass seeds illuminated in the sunny foreground.
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Wonderful Natural landscape. Beautiful grass fild. Awesome place. All pictures are much like.
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So you like the Japanese grass field, Rajkkhoja?
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Yes. I much like. I like landscape. Mountain, Waterfall, Greenery, Flowers. & Naturally sine,
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Nature is a powerful force and often we are in awe of its beauty.
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Right you
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What a fascinating selection of grasses and trees, Amanda. We’ve certainly reached the withered stage here in the Algarve, and keeping potted plants alive is a major undertaking. 🙂 🙂
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Late summer sounds like a dry time in Portugal. What time of the year do the rains come?
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It varies a lot, Amanda. Sometimes October but usually just for a week, and sometimes not till January. Impossible to predict but it is a rarity.
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Hmm. I had not realized the climate there is so unpredictable and assumed you had a certain time for rains. How silly of me? I suppose it is semi arid climate?
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Not silly at all, because our climate is changing, Amanda. In general terms it can rain any time from October to March, but whether it does, and how much, is unknown. Many years we barely avoid drought conditions and this one is no exception. 🙂
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So you are seeing signs there of change too. My own son just told me that children who are 5 years old have already lived through 2 of the hottest ever years of this planet. I had to get to 52 before I experienced this. Sort of puts it into perspective.
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What a great selection. I’m sneezing as I look at them (yes, my hay fever is an allergy against grass)! That doesn’t keep me from getting close: https://picturesimperfectblog.wordpress.com/2020/08/28/dont-let-it-grow-under-your-feet/
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Grass affects some people like that, me included but only mildly. So look only, don’t touch!
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I have a few grasses Amanda
https://bushboy.blog/2020/08/28/lets-look-at-grass/
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I think you would, Brian. In fact as I was scrolling through my wordpress media library looking for suitable photos to add to this Friendly Friday post, I came across your photos that I re-blogged. (when you re-blog the photos from the post are added to the media library of the person who is posting the re-blog.)
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Well I didn’t know that. Thanks Amanda 😀
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It certainly dissuaded me from re-blogging too much as my storage is getting very low. Are you on a free or paid plan, may I ask?
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I do paid to get storage as photos take a fair bit
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So is that a blog plan or can you just purchase extra storage?
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That’s just the premium plan below the business plan. I think I will delete photos and posts to reduce my storage as I am almost at 90%
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You post a lot of photos so I can imagine that level. I resize everything now – never used to. I got rid of a lot of old irrelevant posts, and any extra photos not needed. They did help somewhat. Can you do the same, or another trick – start a secondary blog. I have four but only two active. You lose your followers but gain extra space.
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Can you retain your address ie http://www.bushboy.blog or does that change as well?
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Each blog appears to have a new address even though they are attached to the same dashboard. My second blog at the Home by the Sea is seachange.home.blog which is rather different from my first and main blog forestwoodfolkart.wordpress.com
However, this is what happens with the free plan. A paid plan might be different.
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Thanks Amanda. I don’t think starting a new page would give me the 13GB of space again without a monetary charge. My media page says to upgrade so I guess reducing will be the best way. I have been recycling old photos to stave off doing that as it seem daunting. Two screens would help but I am not that tech savvy or have another screen.
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Perhaps you could keep your domain as you choose yours with a paid plan.
I just had a quick look at plans and you might be right, though. There used to be a button that allowed one to add a new blog. It has disappeared now, unless I can’t find it. So I am glad I started the four blogs so I can go back to them if I want.
If you did start a new blog you could export and import the things you want to keep but that is only content, not followers….
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Love all the clicks especially grass tress and the moon viewing 👍👍👍
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I am happy that you licked the photos PiP, but the two you chose are not mine. I have linked for photo crediting. I assume you would need a very good camera to capture that moon view photo in Japan.
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Thank you my friend.All the clicks are a visual treat.Yeah good camera and skill in approaching the scene.
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https://nowathome.wordpress.com/2020/08/28/friendly-friday-splendour-in-the-grass/
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Nice tour of the world’s grass lands.
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Thanks Phyllis. There are many more grasslands of course. This is a sample of some of the ones that captured my attention today.
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I wouldn’t have thought of the different variations in grass. The landscapes of Japanese grass is something and Australia’s grass trees! I’m always amazed at Australia’s unique flora and fauna.
So much potential for creativity with this week’s challenge Amanda! I look forward to seeing peoples’ interpretations.
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I thought about varying the title so that it could be interpreted in a variety of ways, especially if there is no grass. It might even be a picnic on artificial turf!
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Love your gallery! Those grass trees are amazing.
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The grass trees are rather special, Maria. The Aboriginals call them gins! They are generally a sign of poor soils and because of this, some stands have been saved from development. Thank goodness for that because a grass tree 1 metre high might be as much as 80 years old or more.
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A lovely, varied set of photos, as indeed grasses vary so much. I love the grass trees, never heard of them before. The Sengakuhara Pampas Grass must be amazing to see, too. Here’s my offering: https://grahamsisland.com/2020/08/28/early-morning-puu/
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The blades of grass are not as interesting as the flower heads which are quite diverse. They seem to have one common characteristic – thin stalks and seeds on a linear stalk, in various forms. Nature is amazing isn’t it? That grass in Japan must set allergies going, but to walk through the grass which is as tall as a person must be special indeed. ( as long as I had taken an anti-histamine first!)
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Given that it grows as tall as a person and this is Japan, do they cut mazes into it?
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Not as far as I know. They just have a few walking trails that you might see in the photographs.
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what a tour
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Thank you Cathy.
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Grass trees are quite special aren’t they. We know of an area where they grow in large numbers near Roma and last week we came across another big group near Kilkivan.
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Beautiful! Great to hear there are lots out there. Where are you off to now?
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Nowhere at the moment. Just biding our time for a while.
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Sounds sensible. But in Queensland?
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Oh yes, we wouldn’t even consider leaving the state. But there’s so much to explore here, we’ll be able to keep busy.
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As the marketing says, Queensland for Queenslanders.
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Unfortunately that’s the way it has to be at the moment.
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Have to laugh about your Helsinki photo of grasses so green ! Well, I was born in that city opposite it on the Gulf of Finland: Tallinn . . . I can assure you the grasses are abundant and very green there also. I was getting into my teens when I arrived in Australia and have to admit ‘I love a sunburnt country’ was a bit of an ‘ask’ ! Everything seemed so dry, so dull, so same-same !! Oh I grew to love Australia with its freedoms and lifestyle very soon, but driving say from Sydney>Melbourne still seemed same-same for many years. Maturity was slow in coming but now a desert-looking landscape with its saltbush et al is not only home I would never leave but a ‘thing of beauty’ to my eyes . . . the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence . . .
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I am very interested in your comments, Eha mainly because I think that the Scandi and European grass and luminescent green vistas are more attractive than my own dry country with its blue green Eucalyptus foliage and yellow-brown grass. When I return home from Europe I always think like you it’s too dry; it is too boring and yet so many people love it here. Australia’s real treasure is it diversity, in terms of fauna and that makes Australia unique and special and much loved.
I was entranced by Talliin in 2011-12 with its winter coat. Beautiful memories there but almost succumbed to a large snowdrift falling from the roof onto the pavement where I was walking.
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Methinks psychology and individual feeling-worlds enter the arena . . . I am older than you and have been here longer than you. Estonia will always proudly be my birth country but Australia, with all its good and not-so-good sides became home a very long time ago . I have lived practically at the door of one of our national parks for over a quarter century . . . . ‘I’ve grown accustomed to her face’ one aught say . . . I love the kookaburras and King Island parrots in my garden as I wake and shoo the big white galahs in their dozens most days . . . put up with most of the creepy-crawlies, chase the ruddy snakes with the nearest stick . . . and, somehow, feel ‘comfortable’ with the endless grey-green eucalypts . . . smile – ’tis more in the mind than the eye . . .
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I agree – Eha. If what you are saying is that it is an attitude or mindset? I know that I am now one-eyed in terms of Europe and Scandinavia in particular. Everything else will be a poor second or third, fourth etc. Having said that, this is my home so I have found an environment here that is to my liking and I am happy. It is just a bit hot for me, and well, that has to be tolerated. The birdlife in Australia is some consolation, as it is so prolific and so beautifully unique.
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Those grass trees are amazing.. had never heard of them.. Here all is going slightly golden..
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The seasons are turning. Spring is almost here, just a cool wind near the sea.
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I love to see a field of pampas or tall grass in sunlight. When the wind blows it looks like waves moving across the sea.
https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/randomsusings.wordpress.com/63
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That was what the field of Senga grass was like but on a huge scale! Like a Mexican wave but in nature!
That link doesn’t seem to work. Is it the right one?
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This may work
https://randomsusings.wordpress.com/2020/08/29/friendly-friday-photo-challenge/
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I am glad you posted the correct link as I would hate to have missed out on the visual genius of those photographs. The hare peeping behind the grass; the buck behind the tall grass and the first shot – well I was speechless on seeing that!
You made me laugh at the scorched earth policy of the neighbours. Are they still using power tools in the middle of the night?
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They were quiet for the last 3 weeks until last night when they seemed to be having some kind of party until 1AM which is early for them!
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Ugh….
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Two different photos of grass taken a few yards apart:
https://davidmsphotoblog.com/2020/08/30/splendour-in-the-grass/
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Amazing that these photos were taken in almost the same location. Both very good shots for the challenge.
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Thank you for the fun challenge Amanda! Here is my entry:
http://heavenstobetty.com/2020/08/31/splendor-in-the-grass-friendly-friday-photo-challenge/
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My pleasure, Jen. Great to have you on board again. I shall pop over and check out your post.
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What amazing grass photographs, thanks for the challenge this week.
https://joannescraftsandadventures.wordpress.com/2020/09/03/hiding-in-the-long-grass/
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Thanks for joining in this week, Joanne. Sandy will have another topic posted today – or on Friday if you are in another time zone to me. I will take a look at your submission.
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Thanks, I can’t wait 🙂
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So happy that I found your blog.. All those amazing pictures made my day❤️
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Thank you, Divya! So glad you are visiting here. It is always a pleasure to welcome new visitors. How long have you been blogging?
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Thank you for your kind words. I have been blogging for 4 and a half months now😊
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Keep up the great work
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