The American goldfinch loves to eat thistle seeds. Thistle seeds found at garden centers for birds are sterile and are not the invasive thistles that will take over gardens and lawns. (Submitted photo ...

Thistles are a marvelous group of plants. Botanists place them all as members of the sunflower (or aster) family, which is a truly gargantuan group with over 20,000 species. The thistles are always ...

Knowing how to attract goldfinches to your backyard is about more than setting up any old bird feeder. These gorgeous songbirds have specific eating and nesting preferences. We talked to the experts ...

If attracting birds to your landscape is an important part of your gardening activities, this is an exciting time in most neighborhoods. Leaves are starting to fall from some deciduous species of ...

“Asters, Groundsels, and especially Thistles, afford most familiar examples of a hairy or downy pappus; those of thistles, &c. in autumn sailing about in every breeze.” — Asa Gray, “How Plants Grow,” ...