Spanish Needles

Spanish needles, Aster family

Hated by hikers and gardeners, beloved by butterflies

Right now these scruffy wildflowers (or weeds) are growing and blooming like crazy. The butterflies are feasting! They’re also setting seed, those troublesome little slivers with hooks on the end that hitchhike onto our sneakers, socks, cuffs, and pets. I read that one plant can produce 1250 of these seeds!

Once one plant gets a foothold in your garden, it seems they show up forever after. They’re still attractive to me; they are survivors and cheery-looking, and anything that attracts so many butterflies can’t be all bad!