Dogbane on the wildflower path. ......................................... Dogbane cordage.
Dogbane Cordage
The highway department put a sign up across the road saying, “Wildflowers”. See my video at A Walk Alone. The area between the road and the farmer’s field is quite wide. It used to be double rail road tracks, one an inner urban. The tracks are long gone.
The track bed is so dry from the drought that the actual strip that was the rail road tracks was dry brittle grass and other plants so I mowed a ½ mile path to make walking easier. As the video shows, the wildflowers have been very pretty. I also have been eating choke cherries and wild plums as I walk the path each morning and evening.
As the drought continues, the plants have started to wither. Thistle and Prairie Dock, relatively late bloomers, are trying to bloom. Big Bluestem, our state grass, is a true prairie grass and is little affected by the drought but isn’t very thick around here. It is just starting to go to seed.
So I have been trying to identify as many of the plants as I can. (They are all flowering plants except for the horsetail rush.) I finally identified dogbane.
I was surprised to learn how many of the plants are used for medicinal and other purposes. Dogbane has been used for making cordage for 1,000’s of years. Of course I had to try to make my own. It has been a lot of fun. Look up dogbane cordage on the internet to find out how to make your own.
Dogbane Cordage
The highway department put a sign up across the road saying, “Wildflowers”. See my video at A Walk Alone. The area between the road and the farmer’s field is quite wide. It used to be double rail road tracks, one an inner urban. The tracks are long gone.
The track bed is so dry from the drought that the actual strip that was the rail road tracks was dry brittle grass and other plants so I mowed a ½ mile path to make walking easier. As the video shows, the wildflowers have been very pretty. I also have been eating choke cherries and wild plums as I walk the path each morning and evening.
As the drought continues, the plants have started to wither. Thistle and Prairie Dock, relatively late bloomers, are trying to bloom. Big Bluestem, our state grass, is a true prairie grass and is little affected by the drought but isn’t very thick around here. It is just starting to go to seed.
So I have been trying to identify as many of the plants as I can. (They are all flowering plants except for the horsetail rush.) I finally identified dogbane.
I was surprised to learn how many of the plants are used for medicinal and other purposes. Dogbane has been used for making cordage for 1,000’s of years. Of course I had to try to make my own. It has been a lot of fun. Look up dogbane cordage on the internet to find out how to make your own.