Goosegrass (what do you call it?)

~ Jan Hendry

Goosegrass

Goosegrass, cleavers, sticky willie, Galium aparine, bedstraw.

I saw it on the roadside hedge, thought “that stuff is pretty tough when you’re trying to pull it off plants in the garden…”

The dried stems were more than six feet long and easy to pull off the hawthorn. Dozens of adhesive little seeds tranferred themselves to my hat. A car passed and I didn’t catch the driver’s eye.

I walked on up the road, twisting and turning the straw into rope. I tested it for strength and it was good. Ten feet of goosegrass rope to play with!

I kept it for a few days before deciding what to do with it, then stitched this basket with beeswaxed linen thread.

goosegrass basket

I left the last strands of straw free. I like the ‘wind in its hair’ effect.

The basket has a sweet scent, like a warm meadow.

9 thoughts on “Goosegrass (what do you call it?)”

  4. Hi Jan,
    A beautiful wee nest. And I loved the cherry bark weave.
    I use all these names. But it is also Gorilla food. I didn’t manage to get a sample to check the genus, but I have photos of an adult female taking bundles of Gallium, & rolling them into a spring roll for eating.
    I’ll send you one – of the photos, not the spring roll.
    I will enjoy your creative blog.

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    1. Gardener said “a weed is a plant in the wrong place”
      Goosegrass said “the soil beside this hedge is perfect”
      Basket wifie said “I’ll let Goosegrass climb the hedge so I can use it in the winter”
      😉

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