This pervasive thing was the bane of my existence last year and now it's back with friends... lots of them! New ones are popping up in this bed and around the corner in the grass.. As you can see, it's a prickly sharp little devil and pulling them, even with goatskin gloves, means injury :( Does anyone have any idea what it is? I was thinking it is some kind of thistle but it doesn't really look like the pictures I've seen.
It looks like a bull thistle (Circium vulgare). They can be quite tenacious but if you go ahead and spray the foliage with Roundup you should be able to kill them off. Just don't let any of them flower or you'll have thousands more seeds/seedlings to deal with.
err.. It was wishful thinking on my part that it wasn't a thistle.. These spread by the roots, which go very deep and, from what I've read, every time the foliage is destroyed, a new segment springs forth from the root system and surfaces in a different area. My infestation is pretty extensive and is making it's way around the house. New ones have cropped up in the rose bed in the back.
I've read that the thistle was introduced here from southern Europe. I wonder if it was on purpose and, if so, WHY?!
Those leaving their native countries brought the seeds with them to remind them of home, sadly for the rest of us who are left trying to rid the scourge from our property.
I would imagine like quite a few other plants, the thistles entered this country with the settlers in the form of seed contaminated grain and feed, on clothing, and probably in the bellies of livestock. I read somewhere that the Canada Thistle was introduced into the USA in the 1600's and by 1954 it had spread to 43 states and was listed as a noxious weed. I think it originally hailed from the Mediterranean, Japan and China. (It could have spread to Japan and China in the same manner by explorers.
We have a neighbor, born and raised in Scotland, who loves thistle and wants what we all discard. We live downwind and don't want it! Naturally, we don't give her our discards.
When a thistle goes to seed it is like an invasion.I read that a milk thistle plant can produce as many as 20,000 seeds.
That's probably the reason it's so invasive and so unwanted.
I have had success in spraying the thistles growing in my yard with weed killer. I started with a yard full two years ago and now I am down to 5 or 6. Get them as soon as they sprout because it doesn't take long for them to grow. I even spray the ones in my neighbors yards to keep the seeds from heading my way. Unfortunately, I am in a rural area and they are in open fields and empty lots all around me, but at least I have seen improvement in my own yard.
As you have seen, It is a constant battle Rita. And some days i am nearly sure the weeds are winning....GRIN
O.M.G. this poor wee plant is the national plant of my Scotland Ha, ha, ha. anyway I agree with everyone, it is a sore point with most gardeners, but like all our plants there are ones of the same species which are beauties and don't cause all the heart ache, this pest is from the same family as the Artichoke we eat and it also has the same massive Purple flower IF left to go to seed.
These plants (all thistles) spread like Dandelions seeds, they have little parachute like seeds that are taken in the wind and are so abundant you could grow a whole field from one seed head.
Best way to get rid is with gloves, gently lift up the jagged foliage use folded sheet of news paper and wrap it round the foliage and pull / wriggle in the same action as you help it along with hand trowel. IF you cant get to the weed right away, soon as it shows Bud, nip off the buds before they open into large flowers and send out their seeds, burn or dump the seed heads.
Other way is to get your weed killer in a small beaker and old half inch wide paint brush, use rubber gloves and paint the foliage of the plants, underside too, this will help either weaken the growth or kill off the plant depending on size. this painting ensures you don't spray into beds with flowers or onto other plants,
Hope this helps you out. Good luck. WeeNel in Bonny Scotland, cold, wet and windy.
I found the only way to truely get rid of those boogers is to dig them up everytime you see one. I also used Scotts fertilizer and weed killer in one on the yard and couldn't believe the results, no more weeds after one use and one season. That stuff is pricey but it sure works well on Dandelions and what I call sting weed which looks like your thistle cawilliams.
