Monday, June 23, 2008

The Good, the Bad and the Pretty

Oxeye daisies and birdsfoot trefoil are cheerful escapees found in many EG meadows and roadside ditches. Whether they are wildflowers or weeds depends on whom you ask. If you ask ME, I say they’re wildflowers, although I want neither in my gardens. ;-)
Early European settlers brought oxeye daisies to North America. They've quickly spread throughout the continent and are now considered a pest by dairy farmers because they make milk taste sour.

Oxeye daisies are not the same as ornamental Shasta daisies. But you are forgiven if you think they look alike. Shasta daisies are close relatives, hybrids of oxeye and three other kinds of daisies.
Birdsfoot trefoil is a leafy, fine-stemmed legume often grown for pasture forage, producing beefier cattle. Canada geese, deer and elk graze on it too. Because birdsfoot trefoil has deep roots, it’s drought tolerant.

The plant gets its name from its seed pod clusters, which resemble -- you guessed it -- birds’ feet.

9 comments:

Small City Scenes said...

I call them wildflowers too. The Daisies look like clouds of white as they float in an abandoned meadow. Although one year they visited with a vengenance in one of my pastures and I pulled the whole pasture by hand.

I posted pics of Salmonberry on my day4plus blog. MB

Darla said...

The daisys I know but the bridsfoot trefoil is new to me. I love the buttery yellow color.

BTW, I changed you link on my blogroll to this site. Love the pics.

Darla

Naturegirl said...

I see them when I take my walk in the woods and oh how they dress up the forest floor!

Rose said...

I am sort of ho-hum about daisies, though I do see pictures of them that I just love and they make me see them in a whole new light...like I really like your photo of the mix.

But now that birdsfoot trefoil, I would love to have! It is sure a beauty in my book, any time, any place.

dot said...

I call them wildflowers. The daisies are here but I've never seen the other. They both make good pictures!

Tom said...

Neat info here.. the 'Birdsfoot' info as come in very handy as I took pictures lst week and did not know what it was..

Kerri Farley said...

Lovely pictures of the wildflowers! I am a big fan of daisies!

Willard said...

A good accurate post with excellent photographs. The Daisies are one of my favorite flowers. As is often the case, some of most photogenic wildflowers are not compatible with agriculture or gardening.

I also liked your post and photographs on the cobblestone house.
Great job!

Reader Wil said...

Thanks for your informative posts. The flowers are beautiful in its simplicity.

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East Gwillimbury is a rural town less than an hour north of Toronto, Canada's largest city. My family calls me CameraGirl because I take my camera with me wherever I go.