It Looked Like Snow
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
Canada
November 17, 2015 4:04pm CST
Before we bought this forever house, the house we are never leaving until we're dead, we rented an old farm house with lots of land.
My best friend and I had a garden there and spent a lot of time outside on that property. We also walked through the fields and around the hedge rows in the fall to pick interesting twigs and wild things to put together with Christmas decorations to decorate the front of the both my house and hers. Back then she was driving a pick up truck.
I knew she was coming over that day so I had picked a lot of Milk Weed pods, that were dry and ready to send their seeds off with the help of the white fluff that plants makes. I had the box of milk weed pods next to the barn where I knew she would park.
We had walked the fields and forests and got a lot of stuff to play with to make decorations. She put hers in the back of the truck and mine stayed in the barn. She went into the house for some reason and I dumped the Milkweed fluff with seeds attached in the back of her truck.
We said so long and she took off down my long driveway and turned up the road. It looked like it was snowing from the back of her truck. Thousands of milkweed seeds took off and blew everywhere with white fluff while she drove back into town.
She phoned me when she got home...laughing.
Today as I drove through the country I noticed the milkweed pods have opened and the white fluff is everywhere. As a child i loved to play with milkweed too. It makes me happy
The photo is one I took a few years ago of a freshly opened milk weed pod.
Harmless pranks are fun, have you done any lately? Do you have milkweed where you live?
19 people like this
19 responses
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
19 Nov 15
@JudyEv I just looked it up to see if it really is just milkweed that the butterflies use and it is. My daughter has it growing in her gardens and so do I just for the butterflies.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
19 Nov 15
Do you have Monarch Butterflies there? if you do, and even if you don't, It might be milkweed. From what I've read, the eggs are laid on milkweed plants and only milkweed.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (341742)
• Rockingham, Australia
19 Nov 15
@PainsOnSlate We do have monarch butterflies. Apparently they have been introduced so it most likely is milkweed.
1 person likes this
@fawkes62 (1276)
• United States
19 Nov 15
@PainsOnSlate It would be fun to see a video if you ever re-inact it.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
19 Nov 15
I think its too late this year but maybe next fall...@fawkes62
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
19 Nov 15
Back then I didn't even have a camera. And now the cameras come with video. I might have to re-inac that to get it on video. She still has a truck...
2 people like this
@divalounger (6117)
• United States
17 Nov 15
We don't have it--in some ways your picture reminds me of dandelions--I think there is a poem in there somewhere!
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
19 Nov 15
I know there's a poem in that somewhere. Can't wait for you to write it! Its very different from dandelions. The milkweed where I live grows as tall or taller than I am and the fluff is huge compared to dandelions.Its probably too dry for the plant where you live.
@arthurchappell (44998)
• Preston, England
18 Nov 15
must have looked quite a pretty site - we get lots of them drifting round in Spring - they even get into the houses from the park nearby
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
19 Nov 15
How interesting. Ours fly around in the fall. I love to see them traveling, so delicate and pretty.
1 person likes this
@simone10 (54187)
• Louisville, Kentucky
21 Nov 15
@PainsOnSlate That is so fascinating. I've often heard of milkweed but had no idea that it was those white furry things floating in the wind 
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
19 Nov 15
When they first pop open they are damp but within hours they are floating around. The milky substance is sticky on your fingers if you open the pods too early. As a kid we always had sticky fingers in the fall when playing outs side.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
19 Nov 15
I let milkweed grow in my garden just for the butterflies. I think its an interesting plant. So different all seasons as it grows. Beautiful blooms (that don't last long) but so much fun when the pods dry out.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
22 Nov 15
That's funny!
We have something, not sure if it's milkweed or something similar, but it floats around in the spring making it look like snow. It sticks to everything!
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
22 Nov 15
There is a fluff that flies around in the spring but I can't think of what it is at the moment. Milkweed in the north east is definitely fall thing but only in the country, most cities and parks don't let it live because it spreads like crazy.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
22 Nov 15
@PainsOnSlate Then I've probably never seen milkweed. Just the spring stuff... is it dogwood? I don't know why but that just popped in my head.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
22 Nov 15
@katsmeow1213 I love dogwood in the spring but don't think it fluffy.....CottonWood is that it?
@rebelann (112959)
• El Paso, Texas
20 Nov 15
Wow, we do have a plant that produces a flower that when the pod it ripe it bursts open and the wind will carry off the hairy seeds @PainsOnSlate they're not nearly as spectacular as the ones in your picture but they are a kind of fluff. I haven't seen any in a while, but in spring I'll look for them.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
19 Nov 15
I'm pretty sure milkweed is a northern thing although while visiting my husband's sister in Florida i noticed the monarch caterpillars on a plant in her garden I asked what it was and it was Milkweed, it didn't look anything like ours up north. But it makes sense since it is the plant that the monarch lays its eggs on and those butterflys are everywhere. They migrate to Mexico for the winter so watch for them... I asked my SIL if it had fluff and she said yes but the pods are tiny compared to the ones up north. I learn something new every day...
1 person likes this
@Juliaacv (51458)
• Canada
19 Nov 15
@PainsOnSlate I remember making Christmas ornaments and all kinds of crafts out of the pods after they'd dry.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
19 Nov 15
@Juliaacv We did that too, and we made wreaths out of wild things, leaves, twigs, berries. So much fun!
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
19 Nov 15
I like to hike and walk in wilderness. That's where you find them, I saved some seeds and planted them in my garden for the Butterflys. It fun to watch.
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (137461)
• United States
24 Nov 15
I don't really pull pranks on people, pains. Although I do love to tease people.
It is too easy for pranks to get out of hand without you meaning for them to go that far. Then you've hurt someone without meaning to hurt anyone!
Yes, we have milkweed here. I do my best to pull those buggers up every year. They are a right nuisance if they get out of hand!
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
24 Nov 15
Why do I not believe you about pranks??? I'm talking about simple pranks, nobody get hurt!
@crazyhorseladycx (39509)
• United States
20 Nov 15
great story! the milkweed we've got here's not the same's what'cha got there i don't reckon? the ones here're prickly 'n i'm allergic to their milky sap. ugly plants, funny lookin' 'n shaped yellowish flowers.
's fer doin' pranks? nah, i fear that's ne'er been in my 'bag'.
1 person likes this
@crazyhorseladycx (39509)
• United States
20 Nov 15
@PainsOnSlate folks say i'm purty funny'n my goods days 'n i get that laughter from there. reckon i've seen too many pranks go awry whilst growin' up 'n jest ne'er 've partaken in such. i'm doin' finer'n frog hair, hon. jest slow gettin' 'round here 'tis all. big 
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
20 Nov 15
You just don't know what you missed, imagine the laughter. 
Its so good to see you here. How are you doing?
Its so good to see you here. How are you doing?1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
21 Nov 15
@crazyhorseladycx I'm glad you are finer than frog hair. Now I need to look up frog hair...Good to see you here.
1 person likes this
@jillybean1222 (6407)
•
20 Nov 15
i remember playing with that as a child as well.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
20 Nov 15
They were messy and spread seed where they shouldn't have gone ( like in my parents gardens) but It was fun and it still is fun...
@troyburns (1405)
• New Zealand
19 Nov 15
I've seen these plants (or something similar),but I never knew what they were called until now. Cheers.
1 person likes this
@babaraimc (1310)
• Pakistan
20 Nov 15
i think you have not used myLot for quite some time
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
20 Nov 15
I'm new here so thanks for stopping by.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
20 Nov 15
@babaraimc I understand what you are saying and its a compliment. I enjoy reading the posts and comments and I like to leave an interesting comment, Its what I do.
1 person likes this
@babaraimc (1310)
• Pakistan
20 Nov 15
@PainsOnSlate i was saying this because i haven't seen some beautiful and thoughtful comment
i think now i am buttering ?
am I?
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
19 Nov 15
Maybe some day you will get to see it, Its an interesting weed.
1 person likes this
@wetnosedogs (1533)
• United States
17 Nov 15
I don't think there is any by me.I imagine it is a great thing to see.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
18 Nov 15
Milk weed is the bush that many grow in their garden today so the monarch butterflies have a place to lay their eggs. It is a wild plant but I have several growing in my gardens, just for the butterflies. It blooms beautifully in early summer but the bloom only lasts a few days. I've always loved playing with the fuzzy pods.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
19 Nov 15
Thanks i appreciate you read it. We moved around 30 times in our lifetime and when we had to leave the farm house because the land was being sold for a housing development I said we're buying and we're never going to move again. He wasn't happy, but when he saw this place he decided this could last our life time..
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
19 Nov 15
I would think it would grow there where you live but it likes ponds and wet lands...
