Knowing nothing about tumbleweed makes sense up here in Niagara. The new hybrid tumbleweed is Salsola ryanii. It is twice the size of past tumbleweeds so can reach 6 feet tall. It can weigh 13 pounds. And the biggest tumbleweed on record was 38 feet in diameter.
So that makes headlines like this: "A car-sized tumbleweed made quite a scene on a California highway" - that was in November where the story said this: "it has gathered a number of fans who have compared it to a giant hairball, belly lint gone wild, and the critters from the eponymously named 1986 sci-fi horror movie."
This larger tumbleweed can travel further distances and can hop fences and farm equipment. One plant traveled over 2.5 miles in six weeks. Do they tag the tumbleweed to determine this?
We in the north shouldn't be so amused or feel so secure: tumbleweeds do occur in Ontario. There is a youtube video of a motorcyclist's encounter with a large tumbleweed on Highway 401. Here it is if you are inclined - a bit silly.
And when tumbleweeds gather into those huge piles? They call them "tumblegeddon". Consider this: State troopers in Washington state spent 10 hours digging motorists out of tumbleweeds that were 20 to 30 feet high on the roadway. If the traffic slows down, then the tumbleweeds accumulate. That would be regular QEW and 401 nightmares if there were big ones here in Ontario.
Monday is the day when the garden centre Sunshine Express opens up. Here's the sort of thing you will see - spring flowers forever.
An invasive species is a plant that is non-native to an area, but does very well in its new surroundings and proliferates. It overruns every other plant in sight.
But the Youtube news is about towns in utah that have been overtaken by tumbleweed. Homes are surrounded by piles as high as three meters.
There are dozens of videos of brown, dried tumbleweeds taking over, engulfing cars and the fronts of homes. Here's a video - I hope it works - they cycle through so many different stories:
