Hunting for Wild Color

Today I took a drive on some of the small roads near my home. I live in the middle of farm country, so much of the land near me is used for crop production. Farmers are pretty diligent about controlling weeds in their field. Especially those on the Minnesota Department of Ag Noxious Weed list. The ditches and railroad beds are still good hunting grounds. I have spotted several plants that are identified as dye plants, and several that, although not listed, seem like they may have something to offer. Can't hurt to try, right?

Leafy Spurge is one of those weeds that appears on the noxious weed list. This means that it is so invasive it risks taking over native species, or that it is harmful to livestock.  Leafy spurge is a lovely plant. Many gardeners have put it into their gardens. It does, however spred through seeds, in the air, and water and is extremely invasive. Gardeners can control their patches by digging unwanted plants, but it is harder to control in natural settings.

Leafy Spurge has yellow green flowers on green foliage. Not vibrant color, pale compared to a lot of wildflowers and weeds, (which is mostly a matter of where they are and if you want them there). I'd does make a wonderful dye plant. For dyeing, I cut the plant leaves and stems. I did not try using the root, which could give a very different color. I used my standard recipe: 1:1 wool to dye stuff; alum mordant at one tenth of that amount. I mordanted the wool by heating it with the alum in water to simmer for about one hour and then let it cool. I squeezed the liquid out of the wool and rinsed it. I simmered the Leafy Spurge in water for about an hour and let it steep for two days, strained it and put the wetted wool in. Simmered for an hour and let it steep until cold.

This is what the yarn turned out like! Beautiful color. I never would have thought there would be that much color.  This is definitely a plant I will use again.

A couple other plants I gathered were Showy Milkweed and Northern Bedstraw, a relative of Lady's Bedstraw. I have found stands of Winter Cress, Goat's Beard, Bindweed, Indian Hemp, and several thistles, wild roses and more that I will get another day. I am looking forward to trying a lot of new plants this summer.