Velvet grass, a highly invasive species, has killed dogs and cats, and contains enough cyanide that it has even killed goats who ate too much. A turf grass that not only chokes out other species, it is allopathic and poisons its neighbors, and can inhibit tree growth. Introduced to my watershed in the form of two grass hay bales, spread on a small landslide in the winter of 2017.
My watershed is a rarity having high densities of healthy intact CA native prairie. In a few short years this shit has moved throughout the watershed. I spent 80 hrs in 2018 pulling velvet grass from ground zero, but unfortunately it escaped off site, and is colonizing the watershed at an alarming pace, spread by heavy equipment, car tires and the wind.
I just pulled every velvet grass seedling, before it set seed, on both sides of a four mile stretch of road. Im tired, heartbroken, and very angry.
My advice from doing decades of watershed restoration .......never, ever, ever, use any bales except rice straw as mulch.
Photos, Before and after weeding velvet grass (holcus lantanus) out of the ditch.
A lovely green and purple, low growing bed of Self-Heal ( prunella vulgaris) emerges. Self-Heal is both edible and medicinal.
#PrunellaVulgaris
#SelfHeal
#InvasivePlants
#VelvetGrass
#HolcusLantanus