Hawkweed Research Paper
Alaska continually amazes with its breathtaking scenery, diverse wildlife, and remarkable people. Alaskans have a wonderful knack for wanting to cherish and preserve the land they call home. Unfortunately, as invasive species have slowly started edging their way into our rivers, fields, and forests, many citizens are lacking the knowledge on how to properly combat this incursion and protect the state they reside in. Hieracium aurantiacum, also known as hawkweed, is one of the most difficult species to remove, and many gardeners often grow frustrated since they are unable to effectively eradicate the plant. Due to the laxed efforts of many citizens hawkweed has been able to tighten its grasp on local environments.
While playing in the Alaskan wilderness I saw hawkweed amongst the fragrant wildflowers, thick groves of spruce, and along the banks of the Kenai. As a young child, I was naive to the harm that this “pretty flower” could bring to Homer, and due to this I treated it no different than the native flora that sprung up at the edge of my road. Thankfully my grandmother, a horticulturist, invested her time in teaching me how to properly identify vegetation. Through this I also learned how to distinguish what was a weed and what was not. Hawkweed was one of my grandmother’s primary concerns because of how …show more content…
I was prompted to investigate solutions on how to remove the plant by my discovery of just how detrimental this plant could be. One such effort was when my family and I spent hours trying to dig up this tenacious plant. Despite our continuous attempts the weed only seemed to return with more vigor, spreading instead of diminishing. Through continued research I realized that incomplete removal of the root system causes hawkweed to only return stronger. Upon doing more research I found that there was more than one way to expel this plant from our
While playing in the Alaskan wilderness I saw hawkweed amongst the fragrant wildflowers, thick groves of spruce, and along the banks of the Kenai. As a young child, I was naive to the harm that this “pretty flower” could bring to Homer, and due to this I treated it no different than the native flora that sprung up at the edge of my road. Thankfully my grandmother, a horticulturist, invested her time in teaching me how to properly identify vegetation. Through this I also learned how to distinguish what was a weed and what was not. Hawkweed was one of my grandmother’s primary concerns because of how …show more content…
I was prompted to investigate solutions on how to remove the plant by my discovery of just how detrimental this plant could be. One such effort was when my family and I spent hours trying to dig up this tenacious plant. Despite our continuous attempts the weed only seemed to return with more vigor, spreading instead of diminishing. Through continued research I realized that incomplete removal of the root system causes hawkweed to only return stronger. Upon doing more research I found that there was more than one way to expel this plant from our