My introduction to the use of contrasting plants to send an evil message involved a neighbor’s yard sprouting winter grass in their dormant bermuda grass reading “31 – 7”—that year’s Alabama/Auburn football score. Every day, until the neighbor seeded the rest of his yard with winter grass, I would look out my bathroom window and be reminded of that game.

I have mentioned Beachcombing’s Bizarre History Blog in a previous post and the first post of his I read dealt with totalitarian trees. In particular, the forest with trees in the shape of a swastika interested me. The larches (try to say that in something other than a Monty Python voice) stand out once their leaves change with the season and contrast with the surrounding forest, a stark reminder of what lengths people will go to in order to deliver a symbol of their belief. Or to kiss up to someone. Who took the pains to plant such a symbol? Who was intended to see it? The proposed explanations don’t feel satisfying to me, but then banal reasons may provide the most accurate explanation.

For more on “the outlandish, the anomalous and the curious from the last five thousand years”, be sure and check out Beachcombing’s Bizarre History Blog.