# Anyone know this plant?



## tsmullins (Feb 17, 2011)

This plant grows fairly common in our valley area. It is usually about three feet tall and is found in moist areas. The flower is magenta. The bees have been working it for several weeks now. 


http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=233911809983028&set=pu.201155936591949&type=1&theater


Thanks

Shane

PS, I posted a link for a image, I hope it works.


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## Me Beeing Me (May 27, 2011)

No link - but I am guessing Goldenrod


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

FYI:
When you select your image to be posted, check or select the box that has a statement like for posting in forums and then your image should post.
The flower might be fall blooming asters.


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## djei5 (Apr 24, 2011)

Magenta colored Goldenrod?!?!?!?:scratch:


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## tsmullins (Feb 17, 2011)

The link should work now,

The plant could possibly be purple loosestrife. 

Shane


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## djei5 (Apr 24, 2011)

It appears that to view your link one would have to have a Facebook account?! Why not just upload the pic here.......sorry, not a fan of fb.


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## tsmullins (Feb 17, 2011)

djei5 said:


> It appears that to view your link one would have to have a Facebook account?! Why not just upload the pic here.......sorry, not a fan of fb.


Thanks djei,

I tried posting the pic here first, but could not get it to work. You do not have to have a FB account to view that link. 

Shane


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## Ravenseye (Apr 2, 2006)

I was hesitant to go to facebook too but finally did. Looks like Purple Loosestrife. Here's a link that includes a pic. Maybe that helps?

http://www.macalester.edu/environme...l09/InvasiveSpeciesWeb/PurpleLoosestrife.html


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## tsmullins (Feb 17, 2011)

Ravenseye said:


> I was hesitant to go to facebook too but finally did. Looks like Purple Loosestrife. Here's a link that includes a pic. Maybe that helps?
> 
> http://www.macalester.edu/environme...l09/InvasiveSpeciesWeb/PurpleLoosestrife.html


Thanks Ravenseye,

Next time I need to post a pic, I will try to figure out what I was doing wrong. It does seem to be Purple Loosetrife. Real bummer it is an invasive plant, the bees really work it here.

Thanks
Shane


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## TIMER (Apr 17, 2011)

Yes, it is purple loosestrife. The bees love it and the state hates it :scratch:
Invasive yes but our state seems to think spraying, spraying, spraying is the only answer :scratch:


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## Ravenseye (Apr 2, 2006)

I agree that Purple Loosestrife presents a dilemma. We used to get a great fall crop around here, a lot of which came from loosestrife. They've introduced a beetle that is used to control the plant. Less of a honey crop but more bio-diversity in the wetlands. I know beekeepers who loudly protest the disappearance of those flowers and I know duck hunters who can now get into areas that was choked solid just a few years ago. As a beekeeper and a hunter, I can see both sides of this. On another note, I've seen a resurgence of loosestrife in areas that were previously "beetled" so I wonder what the long term impact will be.


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## TIMER (Apr 17, 2011)

I to see both sides and agree. It seems that these types of control methods always backfire, will the beetles decide to eat some other plant when the loosestrife is gone?
Then the state would introduce something to eat the beetles :scratch:
This didn't work so well with the ash tree here in Mi. the state invaded private property to cut down all of the ash trees in certain areas, to save them of course :scratch:
It did not work, but had many landowners pretty upset.


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

Now I can view your image on facebook. The plant must be about 5' tall.
(I get these invitations to fasebook and delete them.)
How did it get introduced to your area? 
Ballast water.


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## ShrekVa (Jan 13, 2011)

shane i cant see the pics but were close in location the only purple weed mine are working now is queen of the meadow


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## tsmullins (Feb 17, 2011)

BEES4U said:


> Now I can view your image on facebook. The plant must be about 5' tall.
> (I get these invitations to fasebook and delete them.)
> How did it get introduced to your area?
> Ballast water.


Hey Ernie,

I don't know how the Purple Loosestrife was introduced. This year was the first year I really noticed it, but it has probably been here longer. I am a first year beekeeper so I pay attention to plants even more than I did in the past. This picture is from an abandoned cow pasture. This pasture has not been used in the ten years I have lived here. This pasture is also directly across the road from a beekeeper who passed away several years ago. Now that I have been noticed the loosestrife, I see it in smaller areas the are near water and not mowed on a regular basis. I have a portion of my yard that is bottom land, I may start some there.

Shane


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## tsmullins (Feb 17, 2011)

ShrekVa said:


> shane i cant see the pics but were close in location the only purple weed mine are working now is queen of the meadow


Hey Shrek,

Nice to hear from you. Let me know if you still can't see the pics. I can email them to you or whatever. If you are on PV road driving towards Norton, the plants are in the field at the bottom of the mountain, just past the little church. 

The bees are covering this 1/4 acre or so of PL.

Shane


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## jtow (Mar 30, 2011)

Another possibility is lavender. Crush the leaves, lavender is strong smelling.


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## forgeblast (Feb 4, 2011)

The purple Loosestrife is on my list of plants to kill on site err sight too. We have an area enrolled in crep/crp conservation reserve enhancement program, and we have a list of weeds/invastives to controll that is top of the list.


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## Scottsman (May 1, 2011)

Send seeds. The state of Georgia, under advice from the University of Georgia, sprays and kills everything that grows on their right of way, except grass and they can't keep it cut. The Sourwood, Sweetgum and Poplar or Tulip Trees are being killed off from the spraying. Our neighboring states of N & S Carolina plant clover in the Median of Interstate 85 and along state roads. Bee Haven. Anyway, I'd love to have a couple hundred pounds of the seed from this to throw in the lake and see how they deal with it. Might get some honey from it before they figure out a way to kill it without harming a Snail Darter.


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## forgeblast (Feb 4, 2011)

Please do not plant it, especially in a wet land. You will kill off the native plants.
Invasion of L. salicaria into a wetland can result in the suppression of the resident plant community and the eventual alteration of the wetland's structure and function. Large monotypic stands of L. salicaria jeopardize various threatened and endangered native wetland plants and wildlife by eliminating natural foods and cover. Dense plant establishments in irrigation systems has impeded the flow of water. 

No effective method is available to control L. salicaria, except where it occurs in small localized stands and can be intensively managed. In such isolated areas, uprooting the plant by hand and ensuring the removal of all vegetative parts can eliminate L. salicaria. Other control techniques include water-level manipulation, mowing or cutting, burning, and herbicide application. These control methods are costly, require continued long-term maintenance and, in the case of herbicides, are non-selective and environmentally degrading.


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## Scottsman (May 1, 2011)

Don't worry bout me planting the stuff, just out of sorts with our Stupid Government Programs to spray their right of Way. The only thing I can grow is Rocks, about 100 bushels to the acre in a average year.
Do you think this plant would crowd out the Kudzu that's killing the trees on the lot next to me before it encroaches on my property. You can actually measure the daily growth, in feet not inches on a good hot humid day. A product of the great government plan to solve erosion in the great Southern States.
My point is that the State has killed everything growing on the right of way on State Funded Highways. They can't kill the kudzu but it has zero value, at least this stuff, L. Salicaria, benefits the bees.


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## forgeblast (Feb 4, 2011)

I Feel you pain on growing things, I am pretty good at building stone walls due to my rock growing ablility. Any time I sink a fence post in I take a digging bar and two old jackhammer bits to help me get somewhere near where I need to be. 
There are groups that do http://www.guerrillagardening.org/ where they will plant and make areas look nice. I would think that a sell on state highways would be wildflowers that didnt have to be mowed. Or only mowed every so many years. I am trying to get some of the pipeline companies up our way to use native grasses and flowers as sanctuarys. Only mowing after certain dates to allow wildlife to use the areas. 
Invasives are something I have to control on my crep land(conservation reserve enhancement program). I have to do extra work with some of the plants that have been cropping up.


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