Weeds again.

    Many of the plants we know as weeds were once garden flowers; think dandelions and purple loose strife. South Dakota classifies leafy spurge as a noxious weed. It's a woody plant that invades grasslands but is not an issue in ground that is tilled. Perhaps you've wondered what those yellow flowers are filling the ditches of the interstate highways around Minneapolis. Those flowers are leafy spurge. Euphorbia esula, commonly known as green spurge or leafy spurge, is a species of spurge native to central and southern Europe (north to England, the Netherlands, and Germany), and eastward through most of Asia north of the Himalaya to Korea and eastern Siberia. Why is leafy spurge a problem? Leafy spurge is an aggressive invader with stubborn persistence due to its vigorous roots and rhizomes. With leafy spurge invasion, native plant diversity is reduced. It replaces more valuable livestock and wildlife forage and the milky sap is poisonous to some animals. However, sheep and goats graze on spurge with no ill effects.
    Spurge has been appearing on my grassland. Do birds spread the seeds? The plants are few enough that I was able to hand spray today but scattered over a wide area.  
    Several years ago the township board mandated removal of trees from the road right-of-ways. It is the landowners responsibility to clear the trees from the adjoining road ditch. Chris, Rollie and David helped me clear the ditches which were very overgrown. Today I  cleared a half mile of ditch which had numerous small cedar growing. It's stoop labor plus the necessity of some kneeling and lying in the grass. Good exercise and no need to pay any gym fees and best done before ditch is over gown again.
      Viet Than Nguyen won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel, The Sympathizer, which I enjoyed. Now I've just finished his The Refugees, a book of short stories.  Nguyen gives powerful voice to Vietnamese refugees, and by extension, any who are forced by circumstances out of their homeland. The book conclude with two poignant essays on refugees and how people respond, or don't respond, to their plight. 
    I recommend both The Sympathizer and The Refugees.

Takk for alt,

Al

My lilac is blooming.