I had to look up what exactly these are. Dwight calls them "worms" but their official name is "catkins" (or tassels) and they are the spent male flower from oak trees. See, we all learned something new today. I had no clue. Well, one clue. Dwight and I figured they must have something to do with pollination or creating acorns and I guess we were kind of right. They DO contain pollen, and they ARE required to make acorns. Did you know acorns are the fruit of oak trees? Me, neither. At least I never thought of them that way, but I guess it makes sense. After all, acorns are what make new oak trees. (And by the way, we had a crap ton of them in the fall.)
Oak Trees — The tree that keeps on giving. (Don't even get me started on the leaves.)
Seriously, this stuff, these catkins, are everywhere: on the roof
(Thank goodness for gutter covers. And yes, all of those trees in the background—in my back yard—are oaks.)
in my flower pots...
On everything!
When we got home yesterday, the driveway was completely covered in them. This after having removed a driveway-full just a few days prior.
Dwight fired up the leaf blower, making giant catkins tumbleweeds. Needless to say, we both started sneezing and getting itchy. It was AWESOME.
Here's hoping these stupid things are about done. I honestly can't remember them ever being this bad before. If this is a predictor of how many acorns we'll have in the fall, someone is going to have to come dig us out of our house. For serious.
Ugliest. Flowers. Ever.
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