Jon Crispin's Notebook

“Hey, purple stuff”!  A while back, Cris and I started seeing this plant near wetlands as we were driving around the Northeast.  It was often near highways and at first we really liked seeing it.  At some point I read an article about how it is a very invasive plant called Purple Loosestrife that rapidly spreads and is taking over wetlands at a scary rate.  Cris had a hard time remembering the name, so it became a bit of a joke with us.  We’d be in the car and the first to see it would call out “Hey, Purple Stuff”.  (Akin to our “THERE”S the sewage treatment plant”.)  Anyway, Peter and the Pearl and I were walking today and there was tons of it near the UMASS football field.  It was very windy and beautiful, and I liked how the goldenrod looked next to it.