As recent press has highlighted, one or more residents and the City of Rockland are concerned about uncut tall grasses, which, incidentally, if you attempt to purchase them, you'd pay a bundle. But I think it is misguided to hold the perception that it is uncut grasses which epitomize abandonment and serve only as a barrier to functionality and quality of life on all levels, or that tall grasses inhibit a city's ability to rise to challenges and opportunities for investment. I offer another view:

Asphalt yields to nature's strength and beauty, and amongst the gentle grasses, a celebration of scent, color, texture, and perseverance, with tall sweet clover, goldenrod, daisy, St. John's Wort, milkweed, mullein, rosa rugosa, black eyed Susan, fleabane, pineapple weed, Queen Anne's lace, and a host of other self-seeded botanicals giving a feast for bees, birds, and the human spirit. With all this, the message of the tall grasses and self-seeded wildflowers becomes: "This is the place to grow and flourish. It is the place where you can be unique."

Maggie Trout lives in Rockland