Meadows with uncut grasses and wildflowers are enchanting places filled with an abundance of life. One of the best ways I've found to observe a meadow is to find a place just to sit or lie back among the grasses. Watch how they sway in the wind, observe the insects that come to forage, the birds that fly by or into the grasses. Notice the temperature at ground level as you settle in for a bit of quiet observation. After you've taken some time to just enjoy being among the grasses take out a sketch pad or your camera and document what you see. 

Compare the first two photos of grasses; they are the same kind of grass but one is in bloom. Can you tell if this is meadow foxtail or maybe a timothy grass? Use this grass guide from the University of Maine Cooperative Extension to help you decide.

Interesting Facts

• Blue-eyed grass is not a grass as all but a kind of iris. See the photo of the the blue-eyed grass with the one furled purple-blue bloom. The bloom opens in the morning and closes in the afternoon. When you look at on open bloom look for the beautiful yellow center.
• Grasslands are efficient at cooling ground temperatures at the beginning of a heatwave because soil moisture evaporates fairly quickly. However, once the soil moisture is lost, the grassland will heat up rapidly. In comparison, while forests do not provide quick cooling - soil moisture is not released as quickly as in grasslands, and trees also conserve their own water and water use by closing their stomates, forests have a long-term cooling effect during heatwaves. 
• Lawn mowing, with gasoline mowers, in America contributes to 5% of our air pollution. "A conventional gas powered lawn mower spews nearly 90 pounds of the greenhouse gas CO2, and over 50 pounds of other pollutants into our air every year." (Source: EPA) Additionally the sound from the mowers contributes to sound pollution and the hearing loss of mower operators who do not wear adequate ear protection.