Walking Softly on the Sky

Pussytoes arch their backs towards the light.
Later they swell and burst—meow’s delight.

In early April, Plantain-leaved Pussytoes (Antennaria plantaginifolia) started to appear on the battlefield where I walk each day. They grow in colonies and catch the eye with their floppy look—each stalk arching over as if straining for the sunlight, or, as if the cluster of white fuzzy flower-heads was a heavy burden.

They are also known as Plantain-leaved Everlasting, Mouse Ears, Ladies’ Tobacco, and Dog Toes.1

I’ve seen these wildflowers before in previous springs but never noticed their next transformation (I suspect the Park Service was late with their mowing this year!). In early May, their flower-heads started to open up and disperse their seeds. To my mind, they look like little Einsteins with wild, crazy, expanding, out-of-control hair. Or, what it looks like when you’ve found an everlasting “meow’s delight.”