The wonderful vista.
Common Ragwort.
Common Ragwort - 1st year growth.
Common Ragwort.
Oxford Ragwort.
Oxford Ragwort.
Our session today brings the Pesky Plant Pulling for 2018 to a grand finale. Being up on the Downs, this time we were tacking the dreaded Ragwort which is described below....
The daisy-like, yellow flower heads of Common Ragwort may be pretty enough to the casual observer, but they belie the poisonous nature of this plant. Renowned as a weed of paddocks and pastures, where it can be harmful to livestock, it is not usually such an issue in gardens or on waste ground. In fact, it is the foodplant of the black-and-red Cinnabar moth: sometimes its black-and yellow-barred caterpillars cover the plant, totally stripping the leaves. Common Ragwort is a biennial, flowering in its second year from June to November.
The problem we have on the Downs is that there are two different types of Ragwort growing in close proximity and at this time of the year, as the plants are going to seed, it is quite difficult to pick out the poisonous one. Undeterred, Team GG were soon spread out across the top of the Down hunting down every last pesky plant (well, almost EVERY last one!) and loading them in the trailer for careful disposal. Although not as hot as recent sessions, it was a pleasant, somewhat cloudy day and was well attended. Perhaps everyone turned up to take in the wonderful views across the Island..?
Many thanks to Mark for the photographs this week.
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