Wednesday’s Photo
A Toxic Beauty
Knapweed is not very popular. It is an invasive plant imported with the first pioneers from Europe. It does not have natural enemies in North America and is toxic. As the poison spreads from its roots, grasses whither, and ranchers hate it. Yet, the purplish flowers are beautiful, and the seedheads impress with their intricate forms.
With this post, I started a new theme for my blog. Just as people often rearrange the furniture to give their homes a new look, I occasionally tinker with the settings and even make a few changes with the help of the optional CCS code in WordPress. The other day, I was looking for an older post and could not find it because my former theme did not come with a search function. So that was the other reason that prompted me to make the changes. Comments are very welcome.
The Peter and Gertrud Klopp Family 
Never heard of knapweed, it is beautiful but sounds so destructive.
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I had to look up knapweed. It seems that there are many different kinds, also the simple cornflower belongs to the family, but I guess they are not toxic. I don’t recall having seen the purple one. It must be a pain to have it on grassland for animals.
Your new theme looks fine to me.
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I first learned about knapweed from other bloggers who lived in Oregon, Michigan, and so on. It is an attractive plant, and looks remarkably like some of our natives, but it’s more than troublesome. I just looked at a page dedicated to it and learned that a single plant can produce a thousand seeds. That certainly helps to explain its spread.
I like your new theme. Pure black backgrounds with white text sometimes are hard for me to read, but this is great: all the advantages of a darker background without any disadvantages.
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A noxious weed but you’re absolutely right, the intricate seed head is fascinating.
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I am unfamiliar with knapweed—I wonder if it grows in New England. I will look it up.
And I don’t notice any obvious difference in the new theme—I guess that’s a good thing!
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I like your new theme, Peter! What is the name of it?
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Thanks for the comment, my loyal follower! The theme is Hemingway Rewritten.
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The seedhead looks so feathery and attractive. Too bad the plant is a noxious weed. Ever since humans started moving across countries and continents, they have imported non-native plants and animals.
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Dear Peter,
fortunately we don’t have this poisonous knapweed here. Sounds horrible to have it in gardens or fields.
Your new theme is clear and beautiful, we like it.
Keep well. All the best to you and your family
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Knapweed (Flockenblumen) waren zu meiner Zeit in Deutschland viel an Eisenbahnstrecken zu sehen. Sie lieben trockenes Land. Vielen Dank! Netter Kommentar!
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Das wußten wir gar nicht. Glücklicher Weise ist es bei uns am Meer zu feucht für dieses Böskraut.
Schönes Wochenende
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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I like the new look of your blog, Peter! Well done!
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Thank you, Ann!
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Peter,
I really need help researching my Pomeranian brick walls. Have you ever used a professional genealogist for the region? I can’t figure out how to find the right person. Any ideas?
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I like your theme. I’m familiar with knapweed or at least with the common type we have here, but did not know it deterred other plants with poison. It’s not as common in the plant world for plants to be protective of their soil. Roses do it, but in general, I like the idea that plants tend to live and let live.
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We could learn a lot from the plant world. They support each other with very few exceptions.
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Flockenblumen – ein willkommener Anblick 🙂
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We have Japanese Knotweed among a couple of others and they are quite invasive and, as you mention, very unpopular.
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I think it is a good idea to tinker with the look and feel occasionally. Like the biggest corporations refresh their brand once every few years.
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