5-16-2025

Red Stemmed Filaree or Storks Beak (Erodium cicutarium), is non native, but I found it in the Park lawn, surrounded by sporadic dandelions, so I didnt bother pulling it. It’s a attractive little plant, which I can appreciate, which is why it was used in landscaping around here in the first place, historically. Saying it is non native and doesnt belong, is not a value judgement, it’s not a bad plant, just out of the ecosystem to which it evolved. Here it lacks natural checks and relationships to contribute to the health of the greater habitat, and occupies a space that could better be utilized by a plant that did evolve to fit in here, particularly in light of the unprecedentedly increasing pressures this, and all ecosystems are being subjected to by climate change. This is just botany, it’s how things are. Having a garden is great, but it needs bounds. Mostly I pick weeds around human development in an effort to keep them from spreading into the surrounding wilds. Filarees dont seem prone to spreading here in Tahoe (unlike those pesky Dandelions). This Filaree’s progenitors could have been planted here over a hundred years ago. Here at the lawns I just try to work at the margins, trying to keep the non-natives back away from the trail heads that lead into the woods.