Weekend Blog Blogging

The past week in invasive species blogging:

• Lake Loop has an informative post about not one, but two different invasive threats to the native West Virginia white butterfly.
• Stephen Bodio's Querencia blogs about the biological control of Tamarisk, and spawns a number of interesting comments.
• Elijah Weber posts the second of a two-parter about ethics and the mute swan conundrum over at the Mindful network. Part one was back in June.

Weekend Blog Blogging

Seems like invasive species have been on the minds of a lot of American bloggers lately, what with spring finally getting going and all:

• The Birdfreak Birding Blog posts about something decidedly un-avian: garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata). Walking the Berkshires posts about it too.
• The Urbane Homestead starts off on garlic mustard too, but then waxes philosophical about Bishop's weed (Aegopodium podagraria).
• Walking the Berkshires also notes that some idiot let loose a whole bunch of pot-bellied pigs (Sus scrofa, but a presumably more domesticated variety of pig) in Connecticut.
• Fieldmarking posts about the pessimism surrounding the spread of the Emerald ash borer beetle (Agrilus planipennis).
• The most awesomely named SusHI blog (Sustainability in Hawai'i) posts about efforts to rid the island of Kauai of the Australian tree fern (Sphaeropteris cooperi).

P.S. - I am noticing a lack of scientific names in these posts and the articles they refer to. Are we all just feeling very "local" about our blogging these days? :-)

Weekend Photoblogging

Garlic mustard is in bloom right now both in its native Europe and in North America, where it is typically considered an invasive plant. Here is a shot of it in its native range (The Netherlands):

Bibio lanigerus ( or marci?)/Alliaria petiolata - Kleine rouwvlieg/look-zonder-look
Originally uploaded by AnneTanne.

And here it is again in the USA:

garlic mustard visitor
Originally uploaded by cyanocorax.

Both are being visited by insects that are likely pollinating the flowers.

It's Not Easy Staying Green

Weekend Photoblogging

It's Not Easy Staying Green
Originally uploaded by urtica.

Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is one of the few herbs around that manages to keep its leaves alive and green the whole winter. This is a biennial species, and the leaf in the photo above is from the first year's growth - a basal rosette of leaves clustered close to the ground. The plant it belongs to will flower, and then die, this coming spring.

Eat Your Greens

The Michigan Nature Association is having an interesting fundraiser, according to this report from The Oakland Press. This Saturday, they are holding an "Eat the Invasive" Garlic Mustard Benefit Dinner. Lucky attendees will be able to sample a variety of garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) dishes, from hors d'oeuvres to desserts! Then, through early spring, the organization is holding a series of "Food Workdays" where volunteers spend time pulling garlic mustard. The pulled greens are then donated to a local food bank.

An Herbe à l'ail by any other name, still stinks

There is an interesting piece by Paul Wiegman in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, about his trip to Europe and subsequent discovery of garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) in its native habitat. He goes on to wax poetic about the invasive herb's history in North America, and invasives in general. A good read.

Thanks to a member of the Yahoo! group ma-eppc for posting a link to the story.

Dye, Garlic Mustard, Dye!

Want a unique way to use up all that garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) you've been pulling up? How about creating some neat tye-dyed t-shirts using a dye made from your chopped up invasive plants? Marc Imlay, from the Maryland Native Plant Society, has generously given me permission to post his "recipe" below.

1. Gather plant material for dyeing.
2. To make the dye solution: Chop plant material into small pieces and place in a pot. Double the amount of water to plant material. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about an hour. Strain.
3. Getting the fabric ready for the dye bath: Muslin, cotton and wool work best for natural dyes. You will have to soak the fabric in a color fixative before the dye process. This will make the color set in the fabric.
4. Soak fabric 40 minutes in warm water.
5. Pre-mordant one hour with aluminum potassium sulfate (alum). Divide the weight of the material to dye by four and weigh out that much alum mordant. Add the fabric to the fixative and simmer for an hour (180 - 200 degrees F).
6. Rinse the material and squeeze out excess. Rinse in cool water until water runs clear.
7. Now you can add your fabric to be dyed. Dye one hour (simmer) stirring occasionally for evenness of color.

More information about using plants to make natural dyes can be found here.

Garlic Mustard Patrol

It's almost that time of year...soon garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) plants will be poking their insidious leaves out into the early springtime sun. Show your friends and colleagues that you can pull garlic mustard with the best of them, with this brand new "Garlic Mustard Patrol" T-shirt. Brought to you by the Invasive Species Weblog, this T-shirt joins the baseball cap and mug that are already part of the garlic mustard product line.

Minnesota declares war on Garlic Mustard...again

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has issued a press release again this year, asking the public to report infestations of Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) and remove the species when possible. Unfortunately, they don't include a good link to a page with more information on how to identify the plant or control it; you can go here for more information.

Garlic mustard is a biennial, meaning that it does not flower in the first growing season, making identification more difficult. The leaves do emit a strong odor of garlic when crushed, but after making the mistake of doing this with what turned out to be very early growth of Stinging nettles (Urtica dioica), I recommend you use something besides your hands to crush the leaves. Since Garlic mustard flowers early in the spring, to remove second-year plants before they set seed you'll have to attack within the next few weeks. It's unclear exactly how the seeds are spread, but I suspect humans play some role in their distribution when they tromp through infested areas.

Garlic Mustard Explosion?

Can't find much in the news on invasive species today, so I'm making my own...

In my travels this spring around Quincy, Massachusetts, I've noticed that there seems to have been an massive expansion of Garlic mustard populations (Alliaria petiolata). I have to keep reminding my self that this species is a biennial, so if it's catching my eye everywhere because it's in flower, then the expansion actually occurred last season.