SERICEA LESPEDEZA - Song Page
© words & music by Annie Wilson
from CD Peace on the Prairie
Album Notes: This plant is one of several exotic species seriously threatening the tallgrass prairie ecosystem. Its resistance to fire, unpalatability to cattle, and prodigious seed production make it nearly immortal, outcompeting the native species. Ranching is hard enough anyway. This species is now cursing ranchers with an endless battle - giving many of them the blues!
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LYRICS:
It’s hard enough to say it - Impossible to spell
But once your pasture has it - You’ll think you’ve gone to hell
The cattle they don’t like it - You’ll wonder what you’re gonna do
You’ll wish you never got those - Sericea Lespedeza blues
They brought it in from Asia - They thought it was the best
But now it’s a disaster - A giant eco-mess
They started an invasion - It seems we never will undo
We’ve got the lousy noxious - Sericea Lespedeza blues
When I found it in my pasture - my heart went through the floor
I knew if I had one plant - I’d have a hundred more
It’s crowding out my grasses - I don’t know what I’m gonna do
I wish I never got these - Sericea Lespedeza blues
Burning in the fall - Spot-spraying every plant
Grazing goats and sheep - Might give us a chance
The bugs don’t even like it - It’s resistant to diseases, too
It’s really hard to fight those - Sericea Lespedeza blues
We maybe think we’ve killed one - But it makes a million seeds
So next year we may find - An even bigger patch of weeds
The cattle never graze it - it’s even drought-resistant, too
It’s really tough to have these - Sericea Lespedeza blues
You can’t try to ignore it - Or just leave it alone
Or in a few short years you’ll find - Your pasture’s overgrown
You have to hunt and stop it - If not, it’s certain you will lose
You’ll wish you never heard those - Serecia Lespedeza blues
Maybe someday we will learn - To leave Mother Earth alone
Keep out exotic species - Just let the natives grow
The kind of help we give her - Poor-Mother Nature cannot use
I hope someday we kick these - Sericea Lespedeza blues