They're growing along the fence in my mother's yard. Very large - 2-3 feet and deep roots.

I believe this is the plant that was everywhere we went along the North Shore from Duluth to Grand Marais. It has a definite odor at this time of year (September)

Saw this species along the woodline and bike trail near Blackduck, MN.

This species is plentiful up here.

The farm I moved to is full of tansey! It loves my vegtable garden...Help!How do you get rid of it? I have pulled it up, when young, but established plants have an incredible root system. The problem after digging or pulling it up....then what? It does not seem to die, burning adult flowering plants seems to spread the seed! I do not like to use chemical herbicides in my garden but, that has not even killed it!!!!

Virtually all disturbed sites particularly roadsides and old fields. This should be on the noxious weed list. It spreads by seed and rhizome making dense mats in old fields. I am personally aware that it is widespread from Duluth westward to include Beltrami, Clearwater, Pennington, Marshall, Roseau, Kittson,Red lake, and Polk Counties and probably most counties. The comment about the smell is correct it STINKS.

Yes, this is EVERYWHERE in Two Harbors around Agate Bay and all around Lighthouse point. I do hate the smell.

I saw on Craigslist just today people either selling this or listing it for free.

Went to a trip to Duluth and the N. Shore this week and was appalled at the amount of Tansy that has over run the entire area. It seems to be totally out of control. I cannot imagine how to eliminate it from the environment up there. Please: someone try to organize an effort to eradicate this stuff. It is over-running all the native wild flowers

Pat, you should direct your ire at the MN Department of Agriculture. They are the regulatory agency in MN that allows this kind of thing to happen. Tansy is on a "control" weed list for MN, which means there are supposed to be programs to control its spread, but there are in fact none for the out-of-control populations (of it or any other weed) in NE Minnesota. It breaks my heart every time I go to the North Shore. There are so many rare species up there that don't stand a chance against the tansy onslaught. :-(

Thank you Ms chayka for the reference back to the Mn Dept Ag. I went to their web site and found this under Noxious weeds. "the Noxious & Invasive Weed Unit is currently researching the potential for developing a biological control program for common tansy, an invasive weed of upland terrestrial landscapes. This project is an international effort driven by a consortium of US and Canadian agencies and organizations. This work is in the initial stage and will require a significant partnership among the U.S. and Canadian parties to secure resources for overseas exploration and host-specificity testing of potential biological control agents."

How long(years) do you suppose this is going to take before anything is actively done? There needs to be a focus on spraying herbicide in Spring along all the roadsides now, not years later.

Pat, I wouldn't count on a bio control wiping out the populations, they don't typically work that well and they aren't intended to be the only means of control. Regardless, it will take many years of research before a reliable bio agent is found. Too long to save NE MN, I fear.

I personally love the Tansy. The smell to me is wonderful when dried.

My daughter spotted this one and asked if I wanted to see the "bee eggs." I said sure! Took a photo and someone identified it as tansy.

I bought tansy at a nursery around 1994. It was, at the time labeled as a mn wildflower. I still have the plant. It has not taken over garden. I often pull it when it spreads. I like to dry it for its color and scent. Is it better for the community if I destroy it?

Mary, there are tansy cultivars that are less prone to invasion than the straight species. A neighbor down the street has one and I have not seen it escape down the road in the 20 years I've lived here. Having said that, seed spreads by wind, water and critters and may travel great distances, especially by birds. Just because you haven't had much trouble in your backyard garden doesn't mean it hasn't made its way into the wild. And tansy is on the MN "control" weed list, meaning landowners are required to manage it. Perhaps you are, in your way, but it's still a nasty plant. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I don't find any beauty in it, myself.

Another comment from me: I see that it has now taken over the roadsides on county road 12, the bypass around Crosby-Ironton-Deerwood from Brainerd. The farmers there are going to have a hard time controlling this in their fields.

I have this by my barn and in another place. Thought it was petty.

Ed, tansy is highly invasive and aggressive so you'll have it absolutely everywhere if you don't do something to get rid of it. Your neighbors will thank you for it, too.

There is a clump off pilot knob between McAndrews and diamond Lake road that just came into full bloom.

Bio control can be extremely effective. There is a reason why garlic mustard is not out of control in its native territory and it's an extreme problem here. The reason is the lack of bio control here. No one has to "manage" garlic mustard where it's native. It's that simple. The other thing is that the USDA's TAG group has stonewalled bio control agents that would have very high success. For example, there are two weevils, C. scrobicollis and C. constrictus, that were found in research to control >90% of the garlic mustard. But the TAG group blocks and blocks and blocks introduction of these weevils. Scrobicollis is monophagous so there is zero reason to block it. The lack of success of bio control is because of the chemical lobby, I'll wager.

Richard, a bio control agent for tansy has been in development since 2006, but is not yet ready for release. The MN Dept. of Ag has been an active player in this ongoing research. See CABI for more info. Note that a bio agent requires intensive testing to ensure it won't negatively impact species other than the target, tansy in this case. It's a long process.

CABI also has info on the garlic mustard biocontrol, which was very recently approved and first released in Canada in 2018. I have it on very good authority from someone at the University of Minnesota, who has been involved from the beginning, that TAG approved it in 2017 and it's now going through an APHIS and USFWS assessment, which can take years more. They also assured me that there is NO interference from the chemical industry but there is some degree of politics involved.

We discovered the plant some years back on vacant farmland that we purchased , I tried round up , mowing and tilling to control the spread . MSM60 does the job call me for info

Observed in Foreston (Mille Lacs Co.), at the edge of the cemetery there, in early October 2019.

we are fighting to keep this out of our land---it isn't easy because it is moving along with the all of the ATVs and Snowmobiles. we really need help with this one--- while there be some kind of biological control??? please let me know

Julie, I'm afraid there isn't much hope for eradicating this pest. It is too easily spread along roadsides and trails, as you have discovered. There are currently no biological controls for it, though rumor has it that grazing by sheep or goats might keep it in check.

I have had reasonable success controlling this but it takes a LOT OF TIME AND WORK. For fields that had it I cloud and disc it, then disc it whenever anything started growing after any would first sprout for two full years, never otherwise leveling the ground between discing. As far as anything else not near trees I chemically dealt with it with repeated treatment every time they started to grow back for the last two years. Anything near trees I manually dug the entire plant and soil around it then burned the plant and soil in an outdoor stove whenever I found one. I also have neighbors watching for and eradicating anything they may see. I don't think I can call them destroyed entirely yet but I think it's mostly under control now.

Do not let the blooms form and mature. Pull the early growth in your landscape. I had blank dirt brought in and it was seed laden but I am staying ahead of any plants that might otherwise flower. Dirt was top soil for mound septic install.

Tansy is a very useful plant, it keeps bugs away. But if you're determined to get rid of it, Make sure you've identified that it is actually the invasive non native variety. There are native Tansy varieties such as Lake Huron Tansy, Camphor Dune Tansy, and Douglas' Tansy, as well as non native but non invasive ones such as Isla Gold and Crispum Tansy. They are all slightly different, and the native ones are great choices for rock gardens. Also, all varieties including the common Tansy are great for the look of ferns where you can't have them - in full sun!

Dile, the three natives you mention are all considered the same species, Tanacetum bipinnatum, which is rare in Wisconsin and northern Michigan and would not behave like this non-native invasive species. Regardless, any small benefit there might possibly be for "keeping bugs away" is far outweighed by the destruction this weed causes to local ecosystems. It's a bad, bad plant, plain and simple. If you want fern-like leaves in full sun, numerous natives fit that bill including lady fern, sensitive fern, yarrow, prairie mimosa and wild senna, all of which are available from native plant nurseries.

My understanding is tansy is toxic to "livestock" with no specifications on cattle, hogs, birds, sheep or goats, et Petra. Your website suggests livestock can graze on it. Please clarify.

J Miller, we only mention sheep and goats, not livestock in general. Numerous references, including a USDA fact sheet, say sheep and goats suffer no ill effects from grazing on tansy.

We bought a house last year and just realized recently that our property (.6 acres) is absolutely infested with this stuff. We are trying to deal with it as best we can so it doesn't flower again this year, but the sheer amount is horrifying. There are some plants in the uncleared portion of our land that are the size of very large bushes, way way too big to pull. We are hoping we can get through and at least chop off the majority of the plants so they can't flower and pull any smaller ones that we can. Is there any native species we could put down to try to choke some of it out? We do naturally have a lot of goldenrod, bee balm, and wild strawberries growing.

Max, I don't know of any native plant that can naturally help you be rid of the tansy, but you might try checking with your county's Soil and Water Conservation District. It's possible they could offer some assistance or guidance.