My Sweet Hubby's Idea of Landscaping

[Southern28Chick]

Quote:
Exactly! My DH ran over my grape vine with the mower then pulled it up by the roots! When I asked him why he did that he said he thought it was a stick in the ground. He has a habit of pulling up my plants that he thinks are weeds. He's not allowed in my veggie garden.

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

I have to agree with your hubby.

My own dear husband insists that I cut these (below) down before we hay off next week, to keep them out of the bales, but I made him wait until they bloomed. I don't care if every farmer in the county IS trying to erradicate these as noxious weeds, I think they are lovely. Hmm... I wonder how I can plant them where I want them.....

Oh well, the donkeys adore them, so I guess they can have them when they get cut down.

 

[Lunachick]

What is that Chiknmama? I like it.

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Quote:
They are Thistles. They are also VERY tall, LOL. The state (or some govt. entity) brought them in years ago to help with soil errosion, I think (<~~don't quote me on that) and they took over. Most everyone down here has mules or donkeys to eat them - chopping just doesn't do it.

I have heard from the neighbors that just a few years back these were taking over something fierce. They are mostly under control now (unlike the Kudzu, tee hee - which can be kinda pretty too, but it does choke out other stuff really badly)

My sister (in Michigan) bought packets of Blessed Thistle seeds - which, when they grew, didn't look nearly as lovely as these.

I just put in a decorative wooden fence to delineate my yard from the hayfield, these would look great planted at the end of the fencerow.

Peace -
Meriah

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
They are Thistles. They are also VERY tall, LOL. The state (or some govt. entity) brought them in years ago to help with soil errosion, I think (<~~don't quote me on that) and they took over. Most everyone down here has mules or donkeys to eat them - chopping just doesn't do it.

I have heard from the neighbors that just a few years back these were taking over something fierce. They are mostly under control now (unlike the Kudzu, tee hee - which can be kinda pretty too, but it does choke out other stuff really badly)

My sister (in Michigan) bought packets of Blessed Thistle seeds - which, when they grew, didn't look nearly as lovely as these.

I just put in a decorative wooden fence to delineate my yard from the hayfield, these would look great planted at the end of the fencerow.

Peace -
Meriah

I'm not sure, but I think that those are native thistles and easily eradicated.
Be glad that they aren't Canada thistle from Europe; that stuff's a real nightmare of the worst kind.

 

[JaciesCoop]

Quote:
Awwwww Now that is sweet!!!! My wonderful hubby would end up sending me pictures of a lot of weeds!! LOL

 

[JaciesCoop]

Quote:
Pray that it's not a Canada thistle. My native wildflower/grass meadow/prairie was totally taken over by it, and I had to destroy the meadow/prairie entirely last year to be rid of it. All last year, I first sprayed with generic RoundUp (glyphosate), then burned the field entirely, then continued spraying until winter. I have to do the same thing all of this year because it'sssssss baaaaack! I will continue spraying this year, and reseed over the snow in December. This is costing me thousands of dollars, but I LOVE MY PRAIRIE.
Pray that it's not Canada thistle and watch to be sure that it doesn't have hundreds of very small, purple flowers. In order to kill it, you HAVE to kill the very deep root, and that ain't easy t' do.
BTW, Canada thistle originated from Europe, not Canada. It's called Canada thistle because it's Canada's greatest destroyer of cash crops.

Oh Lordy!!! I think it's getting little purple flowers!!!

 

[d.k]

* The sand here is so tricky-- what you want to grow won't without a lot of amendments and what you DON'T want to grow will---exponentially. Still, the 2 worst blunders have been mine. Canary seed saw grass (I think), that took over half the backyard from it's seeds in a bird feeder and orange honeysuckle stands that took over the rest from a load of wood chips I asked local Asplundh guys for hoping to jump start a compost pile and use as mulch.

 

[Dixiedoodle]

Sorry, but I am with Ty on this one.. I do all the yard work, so at the top of the hill, I mow around four thistles ever yr.. The goldfinches, butterfiles and bees love them and I think they are neat.. But I also leave the Goldenrod, Purple Vetch and dandies around the yard and field edges. I actually plant new plots of clover every yr,,

 

[Lunachick]

Those thistles remind me of that old movie "Day of the Triffids" only salt water killed those suckers.

I may have that title wrong.

Anyone remember that movie?