To keep or not to keep, that is the question! This is often muttered by gardeners especially when looking at something they know they did not plant. Determining a good plant for the garden is an important skill of effective gardening. Back in the beginning of spring, I noticed a plant popping up in our wildflower garden. We had not sown any new seeds yet and it was too early for perennials to be showing themselves. But this guy was growing up loud and proud.
To me it looked like something from a sci-fi movie with all the spiky thorns and huge buds resembling a human devouring Venus Flytrap. I determined it was not a keeper. However, James knew better. He identified it as a type of thistle that could be beneficial to our gardens, the bees and butterflies and even us! Read on to see how he was very much correct about our thorny garden friend.
Benefits of Thistles
Turns out thistles are very beneficial for bees and butterflies providing them with a wonderful source of nectar. Are you a fan of hummingbirds? Find love for the thistle then. Hummingbirds love their rich nectar. Thistles can also serve as a good home for caterpillars that later become the beautiful butterflies we enjoy.
Yum!
For people, particular types of thistles, such as milk thistle can be beneficial as well. Studies have shown milk thistle can be helpful with liver health, diabetes management and bone health. But as with any supplement, you should check with your health care provider before consuming.
One Quick Way to Determine a Good Plant for the Garden
If you have years of gardening experience like James has, you can more easily identify the beneficial plants, such as a thistle. But if you are like me, still very much a rookie, there is help! There are multiple apps available for plant identification. I chose PlantNet to test because it had good reviews and is free with limited ads. It’s fairly easy to use. Snap a picture and then choose what part of the plant you want the app to use for identification – leaf, flower, fruit, bark, etc. It will provide a list of possibilities with a percentage of accuracy for each. Once you hit confirm, it’ll give you the option of learning more about the plant in question including seeing pictures other garden enthusiasts have shared to compare yours with theirs.
Final Determination – Is this Thistle Good or Bad for Our Garden?
So, while James did correctly identify this plant as a thistle, he wasn’t sure what type of thistle. PlantNet returned a 71% chance it is a musk thistle. Unfortunately, this type of thistle isn’t quite as beneficial to human health as some others, and it can be invasive. So, we’ll keep it for the bees, butterflies and hummingbirds to enjoy and get rid of any others we see. If you’ve had a good experience with an app or other source for plant identification jump over to one of our social media pages and share it with us. We’d love to learn about what has worked for other gardeners too!
