Today, we had some sunshine so I ventured outside awhile ago to check what's happening in the Meadow. Uh oh. The Malta star-thistle (Centaurea melitensis)––one of our BAD BAD BAD invasive species (up there with bastard cabbage––is sprouting rosettes. Last March, I blogged about this annual thistle after I realized we had it growing in our Wildscape. For several evenings, James and I pulled piles and piles of it, hoping to get it under control. This afternoon, I spent some time, pulling up the few I could find. They're really not hard to identify....
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| Malta star-thistle has ruffle-edged leaves. |
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| Even when they're small, the ruffled leaves are obvious. |
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| I used an old fork to grab and pull up the thistles. |
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| Can you spot the Malta star-thistle? It's trying to push out a stork's bill. |
2 comments:
Hi Miss Sheryl,
Great post about Malta star-thistle. It's such a problem. You are an amazing invasive hunter!
Your friend,
Ben
Hey, thanks, Ben! Thanks for stopping by! Onward in our fight against invasives!!!
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