I recently stumbled upon a seed giveaway held by the Master Gardener program at the University of Illinois McHenry County Extension Office. Like the proverbial kid in the candy store, I started voraciously pawing through the alphabetically arranged seed packets, grabbing as much as I could without looking like a complete jerk. I snagged all of the varieties of chili peppers, along with a few other random selections. One of those randoms was a packet of mullein seeds. I'm not sure if I meant to take it or if it just got swept it up in the frenzy. Regardless, I didn't know much about the plant so I did a little research when I got home. 

Photo: National Park Service. Forest & Kim Starr, US Geological Survey, HI

To my dismay, I learned that common mullein (Verbascum thapsus), which was the plant in this seed packet, is an invasive weed in Illinois. What disturbed me was not the fact there there is yet another invasive plant out there, but that the Master Gardener program was giving away the seeds. I'm not trying to call out the Master Gardener program; this plant is a medicinal herb that has been cultivated in Eurasia for ages, and I imagine that with very careful seed collection it could be responsibly grown in an herb garden. Moreover, all of the seed packets in the giveaway had a sell-by date of 2006, so it was clear that the program was just trying to kindly offload some inventory. But this experience raises a good point: no matter the source, learn about what you plant in your garden. This seed packet came from a local office of reliable experts, and it was an organic Seeds of Change product. I am relieved that two of my failings—greed and ignorance—resulted in this seed packet falling into my hands, and eventually making its way to my garbage can instead of my garden. We teach our kids "Don't Know, Don't Go," so that they don't walk off with strangers. Perhaps we should adopt the motto "Don't Know, Don't Grow" so that we can be sure that what we plant won't do any unintended harm.

— Rose Rankin