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Notes: Eloise Butler had catalogued three thistles in her plant index as present in the Garden area. Field Thistle was one of them. It was listed on Martha Crone's 1951 inventory of plants in the Garden at that time. It is native to Minnesota in a band of counties running from the SE corner to the NW, plus Lake County. In a few states, such as Iowa, it is classified as a noxious weed. Canada Thistle: By the time Martha Crone made her 1951 Garden census, Canada Thistle was present. While not native to the state, it is found in 90% of Minnesota's counties. Noxious: Minnesota lists Canada Thistle on the "Prohibited noxious weeds list" and in similar such restrictive lists in 43 States. Eradication can be done by repeated pulling but late spring burns are most effective. Chemically, a spot application of glyphosate works.
Eloise Butler wrote about Thistles: "The Scotch made no mistake in selecting the thistle for their national flower. Bristling with needle-like prickles, a type of stern independence, it does not admit of close intimacy. But we are captivated by its reddish purple blooms, fragrant as roses and brimmed with sweetness. Economical and thrifty, the thistle can wrest a living from the scantiest means; but “ower canny” as it is, it sends out myriads of plumy seeds, by which it will establish itself in richer soil whenever the opportunity offers. The voracious caterpillar crawls by it to plants with unarmed herbage; the thistle is browsed only be underfed donkeys. It is often decked with winged visitants of black and gold, the thistle birds or goldfinches, surrounded by drifting clouds of silvery plumes, as they lightly swing on the matured flower heads and eagerly break them apart to obtain their favorite food. The buds, the beautiful flower clusters, the feathery balls of fruit, and the deeply lobed leaves with ruffled margins of the thistle, all readily lend themselves to designs for ornament."
"The Field Thistle, Cirsium discolor, is particularly lovely by reason of its pale pink, or sometimes white flowers, and long, drooping leaves. The bull thistle [Cirsium vulgare] has larger heads and still more formidable prickles; while the tall swamp thistle is less stout and spiny. [C. muticum Michx.]. These species are not undesirable for a garden, if one has space enough to keep them at arm’s length. But no good word can be said for the Canada Thistle, an emigrant from Europe that multiplies apace, although allowed no rights of citizenship. It seems useless to legislate against it; for it has a running root stock that spreads while we sleep, and the seeds fly over the country to sow discomfort everywhere. It is a pest because it is so difficult to keep within bounds. If you wish to know just how Theophilus Thistlewaite thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb (too low an estimate by far!), clear by hand a plot of land that has been overrun by Canada Thistles." Published August 27, 1911, Minneapolis Sunday Tribune
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