Innisfail has a weed problem – namely with a nasty daisy many people mistake as the traditionally revered heartwarming flower.
And Veronica Shaver, the town's weed inspector, has been tasked this summer to weed them out.
She said the problem many flower-loving folks are having is that the true flower, the shasta daisy, is often confused with weeds ox-eye daisy and scentless chamomile, both of which look remarkably like the shasta flower.
Shaver said the heads on all three plants look similar and are almost impossible to tell apart. However, the appearance of the leaves is what sets them apart. The leaves on ox-eye daisy become thinner the closer they are to the stem and are more jagged. The ones on the scentless chamomile are finely divided while those on the shasta daisy are more spoon-shaped and rounded.
“Shasta is the one I want people to plant. People can grow it and are allowed to have it in their yards,” said Shaver. “The ox-eye and chamomile have to be taken out. It is illegal under the province's Alberta Weed Act. Both are noxious and need to be controlled and eradicated, and both are just as bad.”
She said while the problem with the two weeds has always been a seasonal issue in town it is especially bad this year. “It seems that in the residential areas it is pretty bad this year. They have an ox-eye daisy problem for sure,” said Shaver. “People are growing ox-eye daisy in their flower beds. It seems like every other house I went to it was that way.”
She said each one of the weeds can drop thousands of seeds and are viable in the soil for up to five years.
“If it is not controlled in one year the root system will creep out anywhere it wants and it will take over the lawn and choke out everything,” said Shaver, adding the ox-eye is the culprit that is mostly seen on residential lawns while the chamomile is more prevalent in back alleys.
Shaver said this summer she has been tasked to approach residential homeowners if a problem is apparent. She then generates a report and attempts to talk to citizens about the problem they may or not know they have.
“I hope they understand. I educate them and then they take measures to control them, pull them out or do what they have to do. If not, I leave a door hanger, like a pamphlet and that has the report in it,” said Shaver. “Hopefully they get the report at some point and I keep following up until I can touch base with them.
“When it is a huge infestation we will control it and give (citizens) a bill for it,” she added. “It is illegal by the Government of Alberta.”
