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Bull
Thistle is a prickly wildflower with prickles all along
their stems and leaves. The branching stems of the Bull
Thistle are kinda square and four-sided with prickles
everywhere. There is just NOT a good place to grab this
plant when you're trying to pull it. It also has a
monstrous huge tap root.
The
Bull Thistle is a biennial plant, which means it lives
for two years and then dies. The first year it grows a
rosette, a whorl-like cluster of leaves near the ground.
The second year it grows flowers and fruits, spreading
seeds before it dies.
Bull
Thistles are a good food source for many animals and
birds. Rabbits and deer eat the leaves and stems. Flower
nectar is consumed by hummingbirds, bees, and
butterflies. Seeds (called "thistledown") are
popular with many birds, such as American Goldfinches
and Juncos, as well as mice and other small mammals. You
can purchase bags of thistle seed for your birdfeeders.
Bull
Thistles are pollinated by insects and birds gathering
pollen from one plant, and passing it on to the next one
they visit.
Bull
Thistles have purple to pink flowers, one to two inches
wide, which sit on a bulbous (and prickly) bottom. The
leaves are longer at the bottom and can reach lengths of
8-10 inches. Bull Thistles can grow six feet (two
meters) tall. When the blooms are spent, the plant
produces seed that is carried by the wind. Bull Thistle
blooms from July to September.
This
plant, which is in the Sunflower family, can grow in
fields, gardens, and roadsides. It is not a native plant
but seems to grow wherever there is disturbed soil and
can take over a logged-off area (along with
Hound's-tongue Burr). Some gardeners, who plant to
attract wildlife and insects, will place Bull Thistle at
the rear of their planting areas as a pretty backdrop to
lower-growing plants.
I've
often though Bull Thistles would make a great hedge - it
would sure keep anything out that you hadn't invited!
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