Noxious Weed - Level B

As of December 31, 2009, butterfly bush are only allowed to be sold by a few licensed nurseries in Oregon. Existing plants, both at nurseries and in home gardens, must be dead-headed so they can't go to seed.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture has classified the butterfly bush as a Level B noxious weed because:

"This plant is a pioneering species that dominates open habitats. It poses an ecological threat to dry-land meadows, open slopes and dunes, dominating these sites as much as Scotch broom has historically. It also invades reforested sites, resulting in a loss of forest productivity."

Today I dead-headed the one butterfly bush I have on my sidewalk strip, placing the seed heads into my worm bin where they will be obliterated by hungry red wigglers.

ODA Plant Division. Noxious Weed Control

Tasks - 10/7/09

Today:

* Dead-headed butterfly bush on sidewalk strip.

* Continued pruning overgrown eucalyptus in back yard.

Tasks - 10/06/09

Today:

* Weeded and tidied the herb bed, removed the volunteer pumpkin since its fruits kept withering.

* Finished gathering seeds, and storing them.

* Removed last tomatoes, will cook&freeze what I can, compost the rest. Cut some greenery & composted it.

* Moved small cold compost from tumbler to next to the herb bed, within easy reach of the worm bins.

* Trimmed overgrown eucalyptus in back yard.

* Made the woodpile smaller and more tidy.

* Removed goldenrod from back yard garage strip.

Bugs!

Something new this year was the plethora of beneficial insects in my garden. It's true I added the ladybugs early, but they liked the party and hung around all season. I saw about 5 different kinds of bees, including the teeny green jewel-like mason bees. Butterflies! Dragonflies!

And then the supremely creepy but very useful preying mantis made an appearance among the coconut lime echinacea. Not sure how I spotted it while I was watering, but lo!

I must have been doing something right to attract all these good bugs! This made me do my happy dance.