Wanted: Canada Thistle
Dead or Alive (Well, really just DEAD)
We have an invader in the community garden and its name is Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense). Garden plots that have been left fallow (and now even those that haven’t been) are now home to sneaky little bands of Canada Thistle. In Maryland, this plant is considered a noxious weed and let me fill you in on why. This isn’t anything like our native thistle plants – so easy to pull, tiny little spines along the stem and leaves. A mere pair of gloves will give you complete protection. Canada Thistle, on the other hand, is filled with long spines that will puncture any exposed skin and easily puncture a single pair of gloves, so you need to double up and even then, some spines still manage to get through. The nearest thing I have to compare it to is a cactus, long ago having put my hand on one of those and spent the next few days pulling out spines. The pain and the spines are similar. Also, this plant is a reproducing machine, producing runners below ground and seeds above. I happily dug up the big plants, but now evil little thistle plants are popping up everywhere…every day. The University of Maryland Extension recommends just keeping them mowed down, so I will continue chopping off their heads. Join me in hunting them down and together we will annihilate this foe.