cow parsnip

astonishingly, my editorial in tuesday's sf chronicle failed to ignite the letters to the editor inferno that i was anticipating.

which is funny because when i sent a letter to the editor last month, advising against using invasive Foeniculum vulgare to attract the anise swallowtail butterfly, some dude named Bill Carlin jumped all over my sand hugging ass with the usual "plant nazi" arguments.

as related here at kurttrue.com, Doug Johnson, the executive director of the california exotic pest plant council, then sent the chron' a letter in my defense.

this horticultural dustup even got mentioned on KQED, which happened to have scheduled a discussion of native plants that week on a radio show of theirs called "forum."

well, i told Doug that i would plant a cow parsnip (one of the anise swallowtail's many indigenous host plants) in his honor.

and yesterday evening at the strybing arboretum's annual plant sale, what should i find on the native butterfly plant table amongst the monkeyflowers and milkweed, but a little baby cow parsnip, aka Heracleum lanatum.

i shelled out 6 bucks for it, brought it home, did some research and found out that it's the same stuff that can be found growing in every drainage ditch in el cerrito.

well, Bill Carlin, looks like you got the last laugh.

Kurt "big daddy" True
3 may 2003