I have chickens. When I pick bugs, the gals (and a few guys) thank me profusely when I toss those sorts of goodies to them. Trust me......even a tiny insectivorous bird can deal with a hornworm. I was watching out my kitchen window when I saw a catbird tearing into something large under the aristolochia trellis. It dawned on me that a hummer had nested in there and I was watching the catbird tearing off wings. I shot out the door to stop the carnage and scared the bird away and looked down at a body without upper appendages..........sort of like a tiny Venus di Milo, laying on its back kicking. The presence of six legs reassured me it was just a very large cicada. I walked away and the catbird came back and finished dismembering it.

Josh that is a good idea. Maybe I will dig them myself. I juuussst have to find a place to put them. She has them trimmed square. Maybe I can talk her into moving them someplace else in her yard. She has roses and hosta planted between them so I do not think she would trust a stranger not to damage her other plants. Some of them are 4 ft tall and some are 3 feet tall with the sizes alternated. They actually would make a LOVELY hedge if planted closer together.

Going at it chemically, the objective would be to hit it at the time it is storing up energy for winter. This way while it's building starches in the roots for it's next years growth, it mixes in your chemical control and dies instead. Different species of thistles do this at different times of year. Bull thistle is most vulnerable in late fall, Canada Thistles are vulnerable in late spring and early fall. Going at it without chemicals, chopping the plant down before it can get too big consistently forces it to use up it's stored food to try building new leaves. If you take those leaves away before it can actually get a return on investment it eventually starves to death. Oddly, letting it get a little size on it before cutting it down is to your favor. If it loses it's first growth when it's still small, it's only made a small investment. If you chop it when it's four to six inches, that's when it's really invested in the success of those leaves. A slightly more labor intensive option is uprooting. In bull thistles this is a good chance at a kill in one swing, because their taproot is long, but it only has one. Canada Thistle is harder to take on this way, it's root system creeps overground and spreads underground. Trying to rip it up turns one large plant into several small ones. If you're vigilant about cutting back the top growth, this can still work to your benefit, some of the roots won't recover from the trauma. Others will and will send up new shoots, which you can then cut down. If you forget your rounds for a few weeks though, you can end up with several strong plants instead of just one.

"Internet Express is the one I use." Just to be sure, I googled Internet Express and could not find anything with that name that was an email program. Now, the obvious question....did you mean OUTLOOK EXPRESS?