Decorative Winter Plants

     Tall weeds and grasses are pretty in summer, with lovely flowers on the weeds.  But the seed heads of some of those same, still-standing plants are just as attractive in some fields and along certain streams, ponds, railroad tracks and rural roadsides in southeastern Pennsylvania in winter.  And they are, or had been, loaded with small seeds that provide food for mice and seed-eating birds through winter.  Hawks, owls, foxes, weasels and other predators prey on some of those small rodents and birds through that harshest of seasons. 
     Some of these plants are native to North America, while others are aliens from Eurasia.  But most of them flourish on the disturbed soil of human-made habitats in farmland, making those habitats more interesting in winter.  Some of them can be spotted when on a walk or ride in the countryside in winter when flowers' beauties are not available.
     Although the stems and flower heads of these still-standing plants are dead and dry in winter, the roots of many of them are still alive and will sprout during the next spring.  And clumps of these plants block winter wind and provide small critters shelter against predators. 
     Patches of the native, abundant and widely scattered goldenrod and aster plants have fluffy seed heads that are attractive when seen with sunlight glowing through them.  Each bit of fluff carries a tiny seed on the wind and away from the parent plant, thus spreading its common species across the landscape.  
     The abundant and alien foxtail grass and common purple top and broom grass are attractive in built habitats.  These grasses are most lovely when seen with low-slanting sunlight behind them.  The purple tops have a reddish or purple glow in the sunshine while broom grass is a rich orange-beige in winter.  The foxtails are most loaded with seeds which feed a lot of small birds in winter.  Sometimes one will spot a small flock of birds feeding on foxtail seeds.
     Several kinds of flowering plants have attractively solid-looking and sculptured-looking seed heads in winter.  All of them are aliens from Europe, except common milkweeds.  Winter milkweeds have gray, open seed pods that are empty in winter, having released their seeds into the wind.  Some of those pods resemble small birds perched on stems.
     Burdock, teasel and nodding thistle plants have bristly seed heads.  Burdocks have spiny, half-inch seed pods that are oval in shape.  Teasel seed heads are about an inch and a half tall, grayish and loaded with empty holes where the seeds developed and fell out.  Europeans in medieval times used the protective bristles on teasel flower heads to tease out wool.
     Common mullien plants grow up to six feet tall, are branched once or twice and look a bit like certain cacti along our roadsides.  The upward-pointing arms of mulliens are riddled with empty holes where seeds developed.  Medieval Europeans dipped those dead, dried stalks into liquid animal fat to allow the fat to soak into the numerous cavities.  They lighted the cold, solid fat on the stalks to be torches at night.
     Dead, still-standing evening primrose and Queen-Anne's-lace stalks are attractive in winter.  Seed pods of primroses are upright, a half-inch tall and beige, perhaps looking like tiny candle holders.  The gray-brown seed heads of Queen-Anne's-lace curl upward at their edges, making them resemble small birds' nests.  When covered with snow, those same seed heads look like snow cones.  `
     Three kinds of wetland plants, cattails, phragmites and bulrushes, are striking in winter.  All of them spread by roots pushing through the soil, and seeds.  The familiar cattails look like fat hot dogs stuck on top of sticks.  Deer mice and certain kinds of small birds use the fluff of cattails to line their nests.  Muskrats consume cattail roots and use their leaves and stems to make their homes in shallow ponds.
     Phragmites grow up to ten feet tall and have large, attractive, feathery-looking plumes on top that glow in low-slanting, winter sunlight.  Stands of these tall plants block winter wind and provide cover for a variety of wildlife.     
     Bulrushes are wetland grasses that grow to be more than three feet high.  Their decorative seed heads droop from their stems, making these plants picturesque.  Mallards and other kinds of puddle ducks eat their seeds while muskrats ingest their stalks. 
     These are some of the attractive dead plants that can be spotted in farmland in winter.  When out for a walk or ride in the countryside, look for some of these inspiring beauties.