ILLUSTRATION (Jan Kops, c. 1800): The striped white ball thrives in almost any habitat
and can therefore rightly be called an invasive plant. So watch out for its cute little tufts!
Beyond green lawns…
A shameless war is raging at ground level at Wester-Amstel
MOST PEOPLE only know grass from the little lawn beneath the tree at that aunt and uncle’s place in Laren, or, at the other extreme, from the elephant grass in which Meryl Streep attempts to hide in the rather sultry 'Out of Africa'.
And then there’s a generation (mine) that knows no better than that you’re mainly supposed to smoke the stuff. But I never imagined that a highbrow game like croquet (a sort of golf for the motorically challenged), on the website of ‘Pollennieuws’, would set me off in search of the Striped White (Holcus lanatus). Or that I’d be marvelling at the diversity of grass on Wester-Amstel.
The pitch on which the '1st Wester-Amstel Croquet Tournamenttook place had, in fact, been generously reseeded with Advanta Ravotbeforehand. Not to be confused with Advanta Tredvast, which was sown on an obscure patch of ground by our entrance gate, or Advanta Highway B3, to be found on “the sunnier parts of the orchard lane”.
The question arises as to whether we have been using these seed mixtures for years, or whether a new ‘Green Deal’ is behind this. If the latter, I have a bad feeling about this. After all, we’ve spent countless years hoeing ourselves senselessly, trying to keep the grasses out of the gravel of the central avenue. Now there’s every chance that, thanks to this “reseeding”, we’ll soon have to hack our way through the park.
Text by: Ruud Vrielink