Invasive or hearty perennial

If I have to spend
two years pulling rhizomes
of a beautiful yet
wild sunflower’s cousin
that has taken over
a portion of my yard then
it must be invasive

hard to tell but I’ve already taken two boxes of it out already

I never thought
when I harvested the flower
from the side of the road
that it would turn into
an aggressive hard to eradicate
invasive monster plant

Last year the
beautiful yellow flowers
sprawled all over my bee balm
(which as a mint plant is invasive itself)

such pretty yellow flowers

but whoa, this plant loves my soil
so off the cliff it goes
to battle the poison ivy

I forgot to identify it last year
but searching on the great black hole of
the internet I realize now that I must
have forgotten I planted jerusalem artichokes
Holy artichoke Batman!

look at the bee balm (middle right) struggling to survive

Slap my head in epiphany
That’s super duper invasive
I’m lucky it didn’t take over
my whole front yard and spread
into the grass

It is vigorously growing
under the four foot granite
stepping stones I placed
throughout my yard

I lifted one up to see
the rhizomes underneath
were like linebacker miners
growing under the expanse
of stone and surfacing
stronger and beefier
out the other side

look at them grow toward the light

The Jerusalem Artichoke is
a great plant if you are looking
for a protein iron and
potassium source to grow in
your yard that does not require
gentle treatment
(I could chop it down with a macheté
and it would bounce back stronger next season)

You can plant it in a clay patch and
forget to water it
it still will grow

I could probably brown bag this stuff
and bury it and it would grow happily
seven to eight feet tall
in a hot compost pile

it will not die

This native North American plant
also contains inulin which
can cause painful flatulence
but can be used to make wine or spirits

“Conversely, it is also considered a FODMAP, a class of carbohydrates which are rapidly fermented in the colon producing gas and drawing water into the colon which is a problem for individuals with irritable bowel syndrome. The consumption of large quantities (in particular, by sensitive or unaccustomed individuals) can lead to gas and bloating, and products that contain inulin will sometimes include a warning to add it gradually to one’s diet.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inulin

I grew this plant at my marriage house
in 2004 tried eating it but lost the
will (I was too lazy) to experiment with it

It was gorgeous
I planted it in the ground
it grew to seven plus feet
in the corner of my yard

I had to dig two feet into the soil
two years in a row to get
all of the rhizomes out of the ground
when I discovered that it sends out
growth very far and deep into the soil

the rhizome of Helianthus Tuberosus

the little rhizome that could

This can’t have been the plant I
pulled off the side of the road
I never pulled out any rhizomes

maybe there was a teeny tiny bit of root

Sometimes that’s all it takes

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