I love thistles from an aesthetic standpoint, but in the garden, they are admittedly a huge pain in the wherever.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
One huge Carduus acanthoides emerged near the south wall of my house among the runner beans. That is a place where it actually does not disturb me in any way. It does not impede mowing the lawn, watering the beans, or moving around the garden in general, so I left it grow. It is beautiful, and pollinators love it.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
I especially like the spiky flower buds just before they open. They can be dried and painted for nice decorations, but I am not going to invest the effort in that. I enjoy them outdoors when walking by.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
Thistles are pioneer plants capable of driving their roots even through compacted loam very deep. And they are not perennial, so they are actually good for the soil because the roots decompose after two years, leaving channels in the clay through which water can seep into the soil. That way, they help to de-compact it over the years.
But what am I actually testing with this thistle right now, I don’t hear you ask? Well, nothing gardening-related, actually. After eight years, my phone was getting slow, and the battery was no longer holding charge for very long. And to top it off, I dropped it, and the loudspeaker started to sound crackly. So as much as I did not want to, I had to buy a new one. And after a whole day of setting it up with all the apps I use, the thistle provided a nice opportunity to test the camera.
I learned that it makes nice macro pictures, as long as I do NOT use the built-in macro mode. All pictures made in the macro mode were blurry and just 1600×1200 px. I got better results by taking the pictures in the default mode and cropping them afterwards, just like I did with my old phone. Funny how that works.
Thistles. I wage an annual war against thistle.
I know it’s very pretty, and I have taken some lovely pictures of thistles, mainly on our visit to Scotland many years ago, but every year I try to find and cut down as much thistle as possible.
In our area, thistle will displace the common field grasses, to the point where a field can become entirely thistle. Since I prefer the tall grass, plus the few wildflowers which grow in it like Queen Ann’s Lace, to thistle I cut down as much as I can. Every couple of weeks I’ll go around with a scythe and cut down the thistle.
I have noticed, however, that the 1/3 of an acre I’ve planted with native prairie grasses/flowers seems to be immune to thistle. The native prairie grasses/flowers grow to over two meters in height, and the thistle can’t get that tall. Further, I did a controlled burn this spring and I think most of the thistle was eradicated. As I extend my native prairie (to the extent of my land, which is quite small) I hope I won’t have to worry about the thistle taking over any longer.
Yet, the pictures are very pretty. It is a very pretty plant.
I love thistles too, I leave them anywhere they aren’t in the way just because they are beautiful. Breaking up the clay is a side benefit.