Teasel - Me

My backyard neighbor (yes, that one) really dislikes my natural habitat in the back corner of our yard. It's really the last place I consider when graced with a fresh flat of perennials. It has become more of the "oh crap, where should I put this overgrown plant - oh yes, the back corner" corner.

While the boys were out playing tonight, I did some cleanup around the yard, ridding it of overgrown or not-supposed-to-have-grown dried stems from last fall. Ending up in the backyard to attempt to take down a gnome forest of seedlings from out other neighbors tree, I spotted these guys.

Photos!

Who am I to not grab my camera?

Attempts at creative styling didn't result in THE photo, so I continued. Rock. Nah. Grass. Nah. Bunch. Nah. Sky. YEAH!


After I snagged my number one shot (the one at the top, of course), I realized I didn't know what this weed was. It is the number one google result to "prickly plant". This is Teasel. Further surfing resulted in this:

• Historically, domestic Teasel (D. sylvestris) was not particularly popular as a medicine plant, it was however valued in the textile industry. The name Teasel comes from its use for teasing wool; it was cultivated for such a purpose at least as far back as Roman times. It was bred specifically to produce hooked bracts on the dried flower heads for more efficiency in the production of woolens. It fell out of fashion with manufacturers after machines were invented to do the same thing, but the mechanically produced cloth could never match the smooth quality of wool finished with Teasel.

Um...do you all get the irony? How can a woman that works in wool not love a plant that aides with wool fabrication?

Sorry nice backyard neighbor lady...this one is staying!