Thank you so much! For the enthusiasm and the link - Lots to read there! I had not heard of it either, before I tried to ID it. Unlikely that the wind blew the seeds this far…no idea how it got here. With its history it’s disappointing to read that it is being sold in garden centers now.
I’ve had a couple of different species of Penstemon spontaneously appear in my garden, and Campanula rotundafolia. I’m guessing that the seeds got tracked in after a hike; both are native, and present in the montane areas that we favor for extended rambles.
The Rudbeckia that volunteered one year was a developed cultivar; just one that I didn’t plant. But the weirdest thing that has spontaneously appeared was the lone tulip in the bed of mixed Convallaria, Hyacinthoides non-scripta, and Viola odorata. It wasn’t any of the Tulipa cultivars that I had planted, and it wasn’t anything planted by any of the neighbors within a square block. I blame a very enthusiastic squirrel.
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It’s definitely accurate, it can leave behind the fine burr-fibers, even if the seed is removed and it has a smaller relative too: Short Sock Destroyer (Torillis nodosa), though I’ve only seen the larger one. A related topic: Tricks to remove hitchhikers?
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Have you added your grden to this project ? https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/home-projects-umbrella
I shouldn’t (and certainly wouldn’t) endorse trespassing or anything else illegal but I’m a real sucker for abandoned places. Ghost towns and abandoned buildings, or ‘bandos’, as the cool kids call them. Some remind me a lot of those post-apocalyptic depictions. There are some really neat things going on in long untouched buildings, especially. It gives a refreshing and new look on nature when you see it infiltrate locations like long abandoned structures and overgrown regions.
I’ve actually spasmodically considered making a project for observations from abandoned places like those I previously mentioned, but don’t want to seem like I am promoting frowned upon behavior. Or incriminate myself or others somehow. I also think I would maybe be the only person participating in a project like that. Though, you can just assume I am a golden boy who would never dare break a rule or law.
Still might do it and just harp on the points made above as to keep my hands clean.
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Our national parks often include former farmhouses. No rules broken, but sad to think of a brutal farming life, finally abandoned. Some of the Afrikaans farm names speak volumes - Moedverloor (abandon hope)
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My wife and I bought our first home about 3 years ago. This happened to coincide with a growing and irresistible curiosity about the plant life around me, and I decided immediately that I wasn’t going to treat, spray, fertilize, irrigate do any of the other things conventional sensibilities dictate are required for proper lawn maintenance.
Because municipal ordinances and neighbors, I mow regularly with a manual reel mower, but that’s about it. I also have a section of my back yard that I mow a quarter of only once every 3 months. Like you, I have a rule that I don’t pull any volunteer/spontaneous plants until I know what it is. Even then, I generally only pull things that are injurious, invasive, or just not quite a good fit – for the front yard, that means things that aren’t quite groundcovery in form; for everywhere else that really just means ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea), because it smothers everything.
When I started out, my yard was a fairly homogeneous swath of Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis) and old turf-type tall fescue (Lolium arundinaceum). Over the course of the last two growing seasons, around 50 species of plants have popped up in my yard.
While I would struggle to pick “the most interesting” plant overall – as the entire experience of witnessing the evolution from manicured lawn to whatever-you-call-this-now, and learning about plants and insects in the process, has been very exciting – the mosses I’ve observed in my yard are currently captivating my interest.
I’d say “the most unusual” would be a farinose little plant that popped up last season and of which I’ve still not been able to determine the identity.
I too have wondered a lot about how these plants make it to my yard – did they come on the wind, did a critter bring them, were they already in the soil seed bank – and how they fit into the ecology of my yard and the larger urban/suburban ecology.
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That reminds me of Greece. Lots of similar spots in Greece. Abandoned and mostly forgotten buildings that were once homes of local government are especially interesting because they are out in big fields with lots of animals wandering around. Those Greeks sure liked to build just what they needed and then stop, so there’s loads of unfinished buildings there that are all really cool.
No real law-breaking with checking those out but America is the place I was thinking of when it comes to breaking rules. But that was a little close-minded since there’s plenty of instances and places where those rules and laws don’t apply or don’t exist.
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Since it is mown it is a polyculture lawn.
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The Dominican Republic is full of ruins.
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I’m a big fan of lost places, too. Empty lots as well – they often host a more diverse and interesting collection of organisms than more managed spaces like parks and it’s so fascinating to see nature “taking back” the places that had been used by humans.
Abandoned buildings tend to be fenced off here due to safety concerns (or they are on private property in any case), but for places that are publicly accessible, I don’t see any reason why there would be a problem creating a project for them. There are a couple such projects for vacant lots in one of the cities near me. So I don’t think you would be the only person interested in or participating in such a project.
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https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/flora-and-fauna-at-the-bandos & https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/ghost-towns were since born.
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