Day 212: Last summer, the invasive plant species Tussilago farfara was discovered at a roadside pullout in the Park. Several theories suggest how it got there; a seed brought in with a load of purportedly "weed-free" road gravel, carried on someone's car bumper or in a piece of mud stuck to the undercarriage, or simply borne on a summer zephyr in some prior year. It has a seed head which resembles that of the common dandelion, little parachutes just waiting to be lifted away to new homes. In any event, several of us who are skilled in plant identification were authorized to monitor the site and to remove it, all but one specimen which our Plant Ecologist wanted as a test subject for chemical control. I had marked the spot with a rock (my companions in Team Biota are now very familiar with "Crow rocks"), but one thing led to another, and before he could treat it, the snows came. I was given permission to remove the plant manually if the site cleared, but the snow persisted for the remainder of the winter. I figured my rock would have been moved by the plow, but day before yesterday, we stopped at the site to check. The rock was still in place, and right beside it, Tussilago was putting up new growth. I lifted it with the dandelion jigger I'd brought along for the express purpose of vegicide and delivered the corpse to Arnie with the phrase, "I have a present for you." I'm watching you, Tussilago.
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