With A Wooden Stake and Verbena...

Thanks to Kathleen and Crane who recognized the Mystery Plant as a verbena.  Kathleen narrowed it down to Verbena bonariensis, or Brazilian vervain.  Looking closely at the plant, and at its picture and description, it sure looks like Kathleen made the right call.

I immediately googled it and my interest was piqued to find  that this particular verbena is on the watch list as an invasive species in our state.  I called the office directed with protecting us from alien plants and got back a message that satisfied my curiosity, if not my hankering for drama.

According to Wendy Dustkamp in Olympia, right now the state is just keeping an eye out, as being on a ‘watch list’ implies, to see if V. bonariensis begins to spread beyond urban gardens and seed itself in natural areas.

I called our Edmonds Parks to see if I could stir up a little controversy (just kidding...mostly), but had to leave a message asking what they knew about the possibly rogue verbena.  I'll report back tomorrow if I hear anything from them.

I also wanted to verify with our parks people the identity of another flower, which doesn’t qualify as a mystery because I think I’ve solved it.  Take another look at the picture above and see what you think.  

What gave it away for me was the shape of the flower clusters, and the feathery, and many tiny-branched leaves.  

Spoiler Alert:  I’m almost certain it’s another yarrow.  I think this one is truly Achillea millefolium. The other, yellow one is, I think, an A. filipendulina, which, in addition to being a great name, can also take the place of hops in making beer.  

Finally, getting back to vervain or verbena, here’s an interesting tidbit:  According to the “Vampire Diaries” website, vervain is the vampire’s most well-known (aside from wooden stakes, I guess) weakness.  For the sake of our protection from the dark forces, let’s hope the state doesn’t decide to eradicate it, but I do think it could be better placed.