Beauty and the Beast: weed or wildflower?


June 23, 2009


July 14, 2009

Goatsbeard (Salsify)

Salsify is actually the name that is more recognizable. I now know why my step-Dad, Bill, has a dislike for this particular “wildflower”. Even though the seed pod made for a fun and pretty photo, in reality, the salsify gone to seed look like dandelions on steroids. And I can see that a lot of them make for a takeover, so much so that in Colorado, where my folks live, Salsify is considered a noxious weed.

I recently had my woods sprayed for noxious weeds. I first walked the woods with Bob and Tana Gornick who did the spraying. It was an experience I anticipated with low expectations only to be surprised at how fascinating it was. Bob and Tana are retirement age and spend Winters in Arizona, but they are Montanans with their own woods and acreage. Noxious weed eradication without destroying any more than necessary of natural flora and fauna is a passion of theirs and I LOVE passionate people so we had a wonderful time!

I had the woods logged two years ago for the health of the trees and fire defensibility. Bob Love, Confluence Timber, who did the logging is a man who loves trees, woods and the land with an incredible and knowledgeable passion. Before he left, we walked the woods and he instructed me to get some grass seed on the areas that were turned up from the logging equipment. New weeds, exposed to new and favorable conditions, were likely to grow. Good vegetation is the best defense against “bad” vegegation. I did as told.

Bob and Tana said they had never seen a woods that looked so healthy and full of good stuff so soon after logging. Still, there were patches here and there of noxious weeds. I had tried to keep up by pulling as I saw them, but a few areas were close to being out of hand and there were some things I hadn’t recognized as noxious. We agreed on a plan of backpack spot spraying with only 3 small areas of broadcast spraying.

Broadleaf weed killer is to vegetation as antibiotics are to bacteria … good things are killed along with the bad. The less broadcast spraying, the better.

It has been almost 3 weeks since the weeds were sprayed. Most of the noxious weeds are dead or dying. I pull anything that is noxious as I see it. I learned from Bob and Tana to recognize the young versions of the noxious weeds. I also learned of a few things that I didn’t realize were noxious.

But the Goatsbeard/Salsify…in Montana, it is not classified as noxious. It is a butterfly attractant…so far.

Beauty and the Beast: weed or wildflower?

Downtown Somers, MT

I am not a car buff by any means and tend toward the truck/SUV kind of thing as I have enough trouble with my hair, so a convertible or going “topless” in the Jeep is not on my list of things to do. But, I DO appreciate the classic lines of both THIS convertible and the cafe as they appeared this Saturday morning.

And the Somers Bay Cafe? – a most excellent breakfast spot. And while I have no first hand experience, I have observed that it is full at lunch time and is also reputed to be a most wonderful dinner place with a complete “Wine and Spirituals” (see previous post) selection. The Somers Bay Cafe is joined by Del’s Bar, Tiebucker’s (dinner only restaurant) and Sliter’s Hardware for the total of Somers’ downtown merchants. There is another bar on the outskirts of town.

And Patty Wylie – if Somers is between your new Montana home and mine, the Somers Bay Cafe would be a wonderful place for a first time meet!

2009: The International Year of Astronomy and I need to go here!

Pic du Midi – this is where I need to go!

This Times Article notes that 2009 is the Year of Astronomy and goes on to say that the best place to see the stars and the heavens is in the French Pyrenees at Pic du Midi . For a scant $420 per night double occupancy which includes dinner and breakfast, one may stay there.

It is Europe’s highest museum and access is by cable car from the ski resort of Le Tourmalet…I CAN ski :)!

My favorite part:

The Pic du Midi can be eerie in colder months, when freezing mists swirl around the domes and antennas, but on clear nights, when the skies are blazing with stars, it is as close to heaven on earth as astronomers can imagine. Galileo would have loved it.

I would WILL love it!

My second favorite part…I was looking around the Pic du Midi site and followed a link to the restaurant page. Beverages are listed as “Wine and Spirituals”…AMEN!!!

Closer to earth, it is Friday evening in my neck of the woods. A long, intense and productive work week is over, although considering the heat forecast for the weekend and the work deadline next week, it might be a good weekend to just keep on keepin’ on with the work and take a break another time. We shall see.

Currently, there are clear blue skies, bright sunshine and it is 83F at my house, down from an earlier high of 87. A bit earlier, I ventured out to my chair which I pulled into the shade of the old garden, but there is a hatch of some sort of little flying thing zipping around and my house is deliciously cool with soft light through the wood rollup blinds so I skipped back inside and will enjoy a quiet evening reading in the sunroom. Karl is resting in a cool corner of the living room and Bob is sprawled on the front porch.

All is well with me and mine – hope the same for all who venture here.