Weed of the Month
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Weed of the Month: Canada Thistle
Canada Thistle, Cirsium arvense, may be the cleverest weed West of the Mississippi. It boasts a long list of weedy characteristics, including: Perennial growth habit, Ability to reproduce from creeping rhizomes (underground stems that creep out laterally in all directions), An abundance of wind-dispersed seeds that are also long-lived (up to 22 years!), Spiny leaves that are avoided by wildlife and most livestock, Tolerant of a wide range of soil conditions. And worst of all, roots that penetrate anywhere from 6 – 15 feet deep, sequestering nutrients that allow Canada Thistle to recover from any attempts to control it at the surface. To outsmart a weed like this, one must get to know it intimately and discover and exploit its weakness.
Weed of the Month: Oxeye Daisy
Oxeye daisy (Leucanthium vulgare) is the dainty white flower that you see blanketing open fields in and around Wilson, giving the impression of snow in summer. Although a field of daisies may seem preferable to a field of spiny thistles, or bur-covered houndstongue plants, the impacts on native plant communities and the wildlife that depend on them are the same.
Weed of the Month: Houndstongue & Black Henbane
Some of the first noxious weeds that bloom every spring are Black Henbane and Houndstongue. Both are easy to recognize once they flower. The houndstongue produces deep magenta-colored, five-petaled flowers along wiry stalks. Each flower will become a cluster of four burs that carry the plant's seeds and will stick to passers-by like Velcro.Black Henbane has foul-smelling whitish flowers with purple centers. Once pollinated, its flowers produce pineapple-shaped fruits packed with small black seeds.
Weed of the Month: Dames Rocket
Invasive and non-native species were introduced for a variety of reasons. Some hitched a ride and were accidentally introduced. Some were brought along and planted for their medicinal qualities. Others, like Dame’s Rocket (Hesperis matronalis L.), were brought to North America as ornamentals.
August's Weeds of the Month: Field Bindweed & Spotted Knapweed
Field bindweed, a native of Eurasia, is thought to have been introduced into the US through contaminated seed as far back as 1739. This vine species forms a monoculture by climbing and twisting its way up anything and everything keeping other plants from reaching light.
Weed of the Month: Cheatgrass Treatment
Cheatgrass is an annual or winter annual invasive grass that can grow anywhere from 4-to-30 inches high with dense hairs on its leaf sheathes. Cheatgrass also has an early lifecycle which allows growing to begin immediately after the snow melts.
Weeds of the Month: Dalmatian and Yellow Toadflax
By now you probably know that not all noxious weeds look the part. Some are quite pretty. But weeds are not designated as noxious because of the way they look – it is the way they ACT that counts.
June's Weeds of the Month: Houndstongue & Black Henbane
Spring has almost passed and summer is just around the corner. The buttercups, spring beautys, and chokecherries have already lost their blooms, and Arrowleaf Balsamroot is lighting up the hillsides.
July's Weeds of the Month: Dames Rocket and Leafy Spurge
After an unusually quiet June, the phones at TCWP have been ringing off the hook as Teton County residents watch the menacing flowering heads of Musk Thistle rising out of the surrounding vegetation.