I think the recent rains finally did wash away the pine pollen around my home just north of Lufkin. There for a while, it seemed like there would be no end to it.
Immediately following the pine pollen was oak pollen. My wife and I are blessed to have several large oak trees around our home. Truth be told, I need to have some cut down are they are too close to the house and in declining health. But the catkins were bothersome this past week. They were everywhere.
“Catkins” are the long (about an inch or two) hanging clusters of the male portion of flowers that release pollen and then eventually drop. The oak pollen is carried by wind to fertilize the female flowers on other oaks. This pollination of the female flowers ultimately leads to the development of acorns.
Last week, while visiting a rancher just south of Lufkin, I noticed that he had five large pecan trees. Looking up high into the branches, I could see the catkins of the pecan tree, signaling to many that spring is officially here.
Not all trees have catkins and rely upon wind pollination. Think for just a little bit and you can name all kinds of trees that have colorful blooms – redbuds, magnolias, crepe myrtles, dogwoods, mayhaws, and all manner of more traditional fruit trees such as peaches, plums, apples, pears, and more.
Those trees with showy, colorful flowers are not wind pollinated. They depend on bees, butterflies, and other insects in addition to the occasional bat or other mammal for pollination.
It’s those plants that don’t show us, or the pollinator insects, their showy blooms that cause us to have the allergies that plague so many of us.
In addition to some trees, grasses are wind pollinated as well. Think about your lawn. Any flowery blooms that you see in your yard are certainly not from San Augustine, Centipede, Bermuda, or other turfgrass.
My arch nemesis is ryegrass pollen. The annual ryegrass along the roadways and in my pastures is just about ready to turn its pollen loose and I must be ready with my antihistamine medicine.
I learned just how much I was affected by ryegrass many years ago while studying a pasture with several types of bermuda hay types. It was late spring and a group I was with was walking a field, stooping over, and literally sticking our heads into the tall, “flowering” ryegrass to determine the growth of Coastal bermuda and several other kinds of bermuda grasses used for hay production.
In no time, my throat was itching, I had a mild rash on my neck, my eyes were watering, and my nose was manufacturing enough snot to….well, it wasn’t a pretty sight.
All this to say, that when you see plants blooming with beautiful blooms, don’t blame them for your allergies. Look closely beside them for the plant in bloom that doesn’t have a showy flower. It is those wind -pollinated plants that have pollen drifting all through the air.
Getting back to those pecans that were in bloom, conventional wisdom says that when pecans bud out, there is no more chance of frost. Whether that is true or not, the tree pollens are certainly diminished at my place and I am looking forward to seeing my vegetable garden start to really get growing. My six tomato plants are already in bloom and the bumblebees are visiting their small, yellow flowers.
