Meet your darkest enemy. This plant is the end of any grassland it gets a hold in. Pretty soon, huge areas of grass are useless for anything, even to walk through.

The Asian Steppes Invade

Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, and the stink, whew! No wonder Attila the one kept moving West. Austria looked great compared to this.

Well, then humans kept moving West, and brought their old friend, Knapweed the Devil, along with them, and it took over, and yuck.

Environmental Control as a Form of Bankruptcy

When a development company goes bankrupt, what do they do with their vineyards? They just leave them piled up and unplanted in the gravel. Soon the knapweed moves in, because it loves bankruptcy, oh it so does, and here in North America it has no predators, so… lot’s of fun!

But there’s a hero in this tale. To the rescue, comes…

A Knight in Dullish Armour. Ta Da!

Ummm, can you see him there? He’s not very big. Here’s a closer look …

Knapweed Root Weevil

Introduced into the Okanagan, all the way from Central Asia, he’s wading into the field of slaughter.

And here he is, silhouetted against the sky, like a billboard advertising the end of chemical and mechanical control (doesn’t work), and a return to working with the earth …

There must be a million zillion acres of this stuff, ripe for a bit of weevily attention. I wish him well!