A tsunami of Yellow Bastard Cabbage flowers threatens to overwhelm Texas wildflowers
What are those tall plants with yellow flowers in your pictures with Texas Bluebonnets? The invasive species Bastard Cabbage is taking over Texas wildflowers, but there is a way we can fight back. Watch my latest Bastard Cabbage Takes Over Texas Wildflowers YouTube video.
The war rages on. The Texas Bluebonnet, Indian Paintbrush, and other Texas wildflowers are still battling it out with the Bastard Cabbage since I created the Native Plant Avengers YouTube video.
Commander Ben invites you to join the fight against the Bastard Cabbage
There are still a lot Bastard Cabbage invasive plants out there, but the good news is that more people know that the tall plant with yellow flowers is not native to Texas, and they can take steps to stop the spread of the invasive Bastard Cabbage and plant more native Texas wildflowers.
- Learn more about the Bastard Cabbage from the Texas Invasives database
- Bastard Cabbage attacks video from KXAN
Your friend,
Ben
Commander Ben 
Dear Ben,
Thanks for all of your hard work on invasives and for getting the word out there with school-aged kids. Like you, I’ve had my eye on bastard cabbage as well as other Mediterranean annuals. We’ve seen this same trend in CA and it is cause for great concern. I suspect that climate change (combined with atmospheric nitrogen deposition) may be one of the root causes of its spread. Just fyi – I’ve included below a link to a brief essay on my perspective.
Click to access Ecological-Restoration-Brief-No3-Lyons-June-20131.pdf
Keep up the great work. I’m so glad you’re out there!
Kelly
Hi Kelly,
Thank you so much for sharing your newsletter article. I’ll tweet about it on Twitter too.
When I visited California, I saw the Bastard Cabbage growing out there too! If we can stop the plant from reseeding and learn more about its biology, that will also go a long way to helping to helping to curb the spread of this terrible invasive plant.
Your friend,
Ben
I am concerned that the wildflowers stand no chance against the invader that cannot be stopped.
The “Bastard Cabbage” has now overtaken every roadway in major cities, and is only a few more years away from total annihilation of the native flora.
Would it be helpful to publish how to eradicate these weeds instead of just complain?
I was taught by a former member of Native Plant Society of Texas how to merely cut a diagonal slice across the top 2 inches of any weed, severing the top from the tap root. As she explained, the DNA is contained in this segment of the root, and removal of only the top 2 inches of root will cause it to expire and not re grow.
This leaves the remainder of the root to rot and aerate the soil.
I once informed a lawn care person of this fact, and he was very grateful to learn of such a natural, simple way to eliminate many kinds of weeds from his work.
The process with BC is a little more work, as the tap root is quite tough and solid, but it can be done, which is easier than extracting the whole root from usually hard soil it is impacted in.
Hi Amy,
Yes. The Bastard Cabbage is a terrible invasive that is overrunning our native Texas wildflowers.
Thanks so much for sharing this technique for battling the Bastard Cabbage by cutting the top from the tap root. This would be very helpful in areas where it’s too hard to pull up this invasive.
Your friend,
Ben
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