Thistles, Burdock, and Nettles

 

Lucky has been having a pretty good summer except for his problems with thistles, burdocks, and nettles.

"I don't like it, Sam-I-Am...and I don't like the removal of the burrs either. "  

Our biggest challenge is at my mother's house.  Behind the shed there is an area of brush and weeds that no one visits except the bunnies.  That's the problem.  Lucky has discovered they go back there and is always trying to sneak in despite it being fenced off.  And...he often succeeds.  It is nothing for him to surface from there with 40 burs on his face and even more on the rest of his body.

Mom's house has predominately thistles and burdock.  Burdock (above)  starts out with big leaves and then develops burs.

The nettles are a different matter.  We realized that they were very close to the sidewalk on our daily evening walk.  I just can't go that way anymore and that's a shame because we only see those neighbors sitting outside in the summer.  Nettles below:

What's interesting is that some people actually sow these plants.  They all have medicinal benefits and the nettles are actually beneficial to butterflies and moths.

I was wondering this morning why the Scottish national flower is the thistle.  My mom has sooooo much thistle jewelry because of her Scottish roots.  

One of the most interesting anecdotes was the Battle of Largs in the 13th century.  Apparently Norse invaders were hoping to attack sleeping Scottish warriors one evening and even took their shoes off to creep up on the lads.  One Norseman yelped as he stepped on thistles and woke the Scots who won the battle.  Thistles to the rescue...

Flower Friday is coming up and if you have any flowers to share, please email me the photo at allentownquilter@gmail.com

Have a safe and happy day!