EcoStewardship: Invasive Removal Ole Olson Park

Whew!  The EcoClub worked up a sweat removing wormwood, thistle, and curly dock from the native planting area along the Mississippi at Ole Olson Park in Minneapolis.  The planting area is maintained by Friends of the Mississippi.  The area provides needed habitat in an urban industrial and residential area for wildlife and pollinators.  The deep root systems of the native plants also prevent erosion and filter water headed to the Mississippi so fewer pollutants enter the river.  

 

We cleared several spots and filled many garbage bags of thistle while the compost pile of wormwood was nearly as tall as a person and twice as wide.  

 

Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium - Yes used to make absinthe) looks quite beautiful swaying in the breeze next to the native flowering plants tended by Friends of the Mississippi. It has a sage like smell, pleasing to some, too powerful for others.  And, as we learned from EcoClubber Cassie D., can be used medicinally in a tincture or tea.  But it is a prolific seed producer with up to 50,000 seeds per stem and if unchecked will quickly take over and choke everything else out. 

 

 

EcoClub looking Fierce!