Meadow Blazing Star?

Meadow Blazing Star?

At first we thought it to be the dreaded purple loosestrife, scourge of the lakes, pretty to look at, invasive and troublesome. Then we heard it was Meadow Blazing Star, pretty to look at, haven to butterflies, late summer native species. Our attitude changed. Clearly, any action requires more research.
August rains, heat and sunshine turbo-charged native growth (thistles, spurge, wild grape and such) along the margins of the pond. We finally got out there yesterday and reaped a farmer's bounty of green stuff that willingly slipped its grip from the soft, greasy soil, yielding to a gentle tug with little resistance. A notable exception to this was an elephant-eared grouping of massive, tap-rooted opportunists that required a back-breaking yank before their satisfying and unconditional surrender to the sweating gardner.
Mr. H. V. Dang (above) bid adieu to his Minnesota home. He's now back in California, his week of geeky duties complete, leaving us to weed and worry about algae bloom and scum.