Thistles While You Walk

Our latest adventure with More Nature Study with the Outdoor Hour Challenge brought us in close contact with those beautiful-to-look-at/dangerous-to-touch wildflowers called thistles. Some would say calling them wildflowers is a stretch because of their invasive behavior, but more on that later.

                                             Late afternoon at  Sharp's Waterford Farm.

      We live on the edge of the countryside, ever encroached upon by development, but farmland is still in our backyard. On the day we took on the thistle challenge we were finishing a farm field trip that included a very interesting and fun lesson about life as the Pilgrims knew it. Thankfully this farm, in the same family for over a century, had applied for preservation status. Driving away over the upper pastures, we envied the unbroken view to the horizon across cow and horse pastures and acres of pick-your-own pumpkins ("sugar pumpkins, the best for pies"). 
     Mei's riding experience had taught her how dangerous those flat pizza-sized sprouting thistle rosettes could be to her horse. We winced at the thought of the pain or worse it could inflict on the tender underside of a horse' hoof. Knowing this pasture would be a preferred habitat, we very quickly spotted evidence of our subject just inside the (electrified) fence. Jumping out of the car on a narrow lane to snap its pic, I found a large rosette of spiny growth on my side just at my feet. I also spied a couple of teasel plants, one of which I helped myself too. I'll leave that for another post...

Probably Canadian Thistle. Bull leaves are hairy.

    Earlier that day we had used the notes from the Handbook of Nature Study to learn about the two main thistles and how to identify the differences. The Bull or Common Thistle has the larger head and is annual, growing in single clumps here and there. While it may look the fiercer, it turns out that the delicately branched, smaller bloomed and less-spiny Canada Thistle is a wolf in sheep's clothing because of its pernicious habit of propagating itself by underground runners. Snip off the main plant and the off-shoots just become more vigorous! From the Maryland Invasive Species newsletter I found this quote:

• "Canada thistle is considered a noxious weed throughout the U.S, with millions of dollars spent annually on its control. Left uncontrolled, it can reduce yields of row crops by as much as 90 percent.

Well, if that didn't get your attention, I give up!
    Of course God doesn't make anything without a reason.  The numerous species of butterflies, bees, and birds that depend on them for food attest to this. And just watching a colorful swallowtail or goldfinch clinging to the flower is a balm to our spirits.I was encouraged by some of this quote:

A Painted Lady. Lay some eggs!

• "Red Admirals, viceroys and painted lady butterflies lay eggs on Canada thistle, and the subsequent larvae feed on the leaves and stems. However, only the painted lady butterfly builds up populations high enough to eliminate an infestation. This butterfly is generally found in southern states and will migrate north only once every 8 to 11 years."

Here's some nice info and a coloring page for kids on Painted Lady butterflies at Enchanted Learning.com.

   By the way, I was relieved to read that Niger thistle, the type sold for feeding goldfinches, is a sterilized seed and not a threat. (Though I'm not convinced because I find SOMETHING coming up under those feeders every year!)

Spreading seeds. A no-no!

    As we walked the dog to our "thistle sanctuary," an unmown field near a state park, I challenged Mei to find our plants. I was pleased that she could pick out thistles from a distance even though by now the brown, dried stalks with their bedraggled fluffy heads looked very different from the purple-plumed, lanced defenders of the field of a month ago. But because of their post-season state, we weren't sure if we were finding Bulls or Canadians. We snipped a few specimens and headed home.

Bull Thistle gone to seed

Bull Thistle spent flower head

A Bull Thistle flower that was caught by frost.

     Across the road was another field and I had to take a look. Sure enough, thistles, only these had a decidedly delicate structure with many branches and numerous small, fluff heads. These then were the infamous Canadian thistle. The prior were the Bulls.

                          A row of Canadian Thistles going to seed. 
                    Pretty little flowers a month ago.

Canada Thistle seedhead

You can see how fragile the Canadian Thistle appears to be compared with the Bull/Common. Looks are deceiving, aren't they?
We then investigated the bed by the road that had been invaded last year. Plants were popping up everywhere one next to another through their insidious under-ground roots. And  from what we know now, it's going to take a lot more than hand-pulling to eradicate the Invaders!

                                      Garden pests

Chow down, Bambi!

 The one bright spot was discovering that, for all the damage our local deer do to our landscaping, they may be developing a taste for thistles....!

Hope you learned a little. Thanks to The Outdoor Hour Challenge, we learned a lot including some things we might rather NOT have learned! Ignorance can be bliss. 


Hop over to the Outdoor Hour Blog Carnival to see what discoveries others have made.  And don't blow the thistles!

Know Your Flowering Trees!!

This is the view I wake up to for the next precious few days: a cloud of Bradford Pear blooms and the particular scent they carry. Now Father R doesn't share my enthusiasm for them. He says it smells like "dead fish." ("Then it's followed by a lilac-y smell, but first it's dead fish! I lived here for three years before I figured out that I was smelling those trees!") I admit it isn't exactly honeysuckle, but dead fish?

Oh, well.


The point here is not scent-bashing , but a quick flowering tree ID session. There are so many out there in our Mid-Atlantic area right now, all blooming their big, fluffy heads off and all hoping it doesn't either: a) freeze; b) storm; or c) blow a gale force wind. At this moment they're getting C.

See the Jefferson Memorial in the background?



Always ask someone with a good camera around their neck to take your picture.








Then there's also the  National Cherry Blossom Festival which is winding down, but living a few miles north means our trees are just peaking. The pleasure Mei Wei and I enjoyed on a record-setting day a week ago in DC is now extended to our own garden.


So it seems fitting that we start with...

The Yoshino or Flowering Cherry

Look for smoothish bark with horizontal cracks, a bright green leaf that doesn't come out  until the flowers are passing peak, and pale pink flowers with 5 simple heart-shaped petals. The Japanese cherish them as a symbol of the beauty, but also fragility of life. The Festival this year, a bare few weeks  after the earthquake, was especially poignant.

The Weeping Cherry

This one's easy. Beautiful, drooping branches loaded with medium pink blossoms. Like a pink waterfall in the garden.

Doubled pink blossoms of Weeping Cherry

The Bradford Pear.

Probably confused with the Yoshino Cherry because it blooms at the same time. However, notice the flowers are white with a slight greenish cast, and the general shape of the tree is upright. The Yoshino has a spreading habit like a small oak. 

The Bradford was the tree of choice for lining modern suburban neighborhoods until its ugly habit of losing huge limbs--even splitting in half--from storms made it more eye-sore than eye-catching. That's what happens when science (in this case hybridization) tries to play God. The branches simply can't support themselves. If you're going to plant one, plan to prune it regularly.





The Redbud Tree

Not as nice as mine, the neighbor's seems to be dying.

Still in bud.

 Also called the Judas Tree, its small reddish- purple flowers seem to creep up and down branches like blood oozing from its pores. Blooming during the Lenten season, it's easy to see how it was named. Despite the creepy description, it's really a lovely and unusual tree, particularly its growth habit: long, thin, many-twigged branches twisting about in sinuous movement. In my photo, the tree has not quite bloomed as they come in a bit after the Yosihino.






The Kwanzan Cherry

Not my pic, but when mine blooms, I'm gonna take one just like it!

This was my childhood favorite, planted by my mother next to a stream, that my girlfriends and I climbed all season. You could imagine a lot of lovely things inside a pink cloud. When the breeze blew, down would come pink rain. It could also conjure petals thrown at Cinderella weddings held just for us.
Sadly, cherry life-expectancies are comparatively short and on my last visit home, I discovered only the trace of a stump from my old friend.

The Kwanzan blooms after the Yoshino, so having both in the garden will extend the flowering tree joy. Its double blooms are gi-hu-normous for a flowering tree, like small carnations. The color is medium pink. It's not as graceful what with all those big blossoms but it sure stands out. You can't not notice it.



The Flowering Plum

Notice the Yoshino behind it. See the difference?

This one can easily be confused with the Yoshino Cherry. They're blooming at the same time, the shape is similar and the blossom is almost that same pale pink. Almost, but a little pinker. And smaller. AND the leaves are coming out and are PLUM colored. So look for leaves!








Finally:
The Flowering Crabapple

This one mimics the Flowering Plum in foliage color, but the hint is that it comes out later, not at the same time as the cherries. In addition, the blossoms are large, and very pink. We had a lot of fun in this one as kids too! After the pink snow season, you could throw the crabs at boys.



This should help you figure out what you're passing when you drive through town. It's not exhaustive; there are still apple trees, and (edible) cherry trees, and others I might just be forgetting, but the ones here are the ones you're likely to see in the 'burbs. Now, go grab your kids, your sketchbook, and some lunch and enjoy some spring nature study!


For more about the National Cherry Blossom Festival, go here. 
To learn about the trees planted there, go here.