I found my first wild patch of Mexican sunflower (tithonia diversifolia) last week. I noticed the flowers but I couldn't see the leaves from the car.
Today I went back with some secateurs and took some cuttings. Enough for 50 plants.
They're in a local council gravel depot beside the road.
These kinds of things excite me more than Bitcoin pumping these days.
The flowers smelt so good!
Our statists considered mexican sunflower an invasive weed here so it's almost impossible to buy. I've never seen it growing wild here before, despite it being a weed. Yes I scan beside the road for interesting plants (among other things) all the time.
It's a soil builder & pioneer species, the comfrey of the subtopics. It grows easily in most soils & produces tonnes of bio mass for mulch.
Just shove a stick in the soil & keep it moist.
You just have to manage it to stop it getting big & woody (TWSS). That hedge was well over 3 meters high in places. Completely undamaged & yet beautiful.
The sticks fall over or get broken off, they then tend to take root wherever they touch soil. If you hack it back without taking care of the stems, you can end up spreading it.
Apparently goats love it too nostr:nprofile1qqsdqg87dc3t8t9f74upw2sntcja0d5juea496tlmnj4gvgj04mzdtcpzpmhxue69uhkummnw3ezumt0d5hszrnhwden5te0dehhxtnvdakz7qgawaehxw309ahx7um5wghxy6t5vdhkjmn9wgh8xmmrd9skctc0s27wl
Noice 💛🌻🌟
