How You Can Thrive Like Crabgrass
#1 Thing You Need to Know from This Post:
To survive and standout in the crowded world of the Interconnected Age, you need to be as persistent and resilient as crabgrass.
A More Detailed Exploration:
For those of you who’ve read my blog post, A Dandelion Interlude, you know of my deep respect of those plants that refuse to be labeled as weeds. This same respect extends to the much maligned crabgrass.
If you have a yard, chances are you have faced the formidable plant commonly known as crabgrass. According to Wikipedia, “the most prevalent species of Digitaria in North America are Large Crabgrass (D. sanguinalis), sometimes known as Hairy Crabgrass; and Smooth Crabgrass (D. ischaemum).” For the sake of this post, we’ll call just it crabgrass.
Admirable Traits
What amazes me about this plant is how persistent and resilient it is. It remains green even in severe drought. It won’t go away once its rooted. It spreads like wildfire when presented with the opportunity to do so.
This past weekend, I was working in my yard and happened to pull up five crabgrass plants that had sprouted. I extracted them carefully so that I could inspect their root system better and take a closer look at each plant. I wanted to figure out what made them such persistent, resilient species.
Secret #1: Multiple Deep Tap Roots
Just look above at the photo of the five samples, especially the one next to the hand shovel. Their root systems have multiple tap roots and go deep into the ground.
Secret #2: Spread Your Stems High and Wide
Rather than compete directly against the favored Kentucky bluegrass in my yard, crabgrass sends its stems high and wide.
Secret #3: Lots of Seeds Left in a Fertile Spot
Each plant generates around 150,000 seeds in its one year life Because they are an annual plant, the mother plant dies off and leaves a fertile bare spot for some seeds to take root and the rest get blown to other places.
What lessons can you draw from the crabgrass for your cause?
I’m curious to find out how your cause is emulating the crabgrass. What’s working? What’s not?
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@scottyhendo
