Re: Re-OT Thistles

Hi Sally!
   You write (23 June 97):

> To John, Jeff & Marte,
> Am I in big trouble here?
> I never had any thistles in my yard until last year. I saw some growing
in
> a parking lot and cut some stems (with gloves) to take home and use in
> flower arrangements. I'm a floral designer by trade. 
> Thought they lasted great in water and dried arrangements, saved some
seeds
> and planted a few in my perennial garden, where they have grown quite
well.
> Are they going to take over the world and become a problem?

Here is what eminent British gardening authority, Christopher Lloyd, has to
say about Scotch thistle (Onopordum acanthium), which is undoubtedly the
most ornamental plant of the tribe:

"Friends who think I ought to grow it constantly ply me with seeds of
Onopordum. It is, I admit, as handsome a brute as you could wish to lay
eyes on; 8 ft of it all silvery, but clad from top to toe in spines and
prickles pointing in every direction. Half way through the summer the
plant, as it runs to seed, suddenly turns dowdy and tarnished and needs
removing. I know only too well that however carefully I rehearse a
throwaway manner in giving the order, 'Just clear away the Onopordums if
you will James?' , when it comes to it I shall be clearing them away
myself. I'd rather not grow them, thank you very much."  

Jeff Walters in northern Utah  (USDA Zone 4, Sunset Zone 2)
cwalters@cache.net
"This is the Place" - Utah Pioneer Sesquicentennial:  1847-1997
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