| Brad Bluemer explains that we are in Hope, Idaho on the North end of Pend Oreille Lake looking at the Scotch Broom weed. He notes that this is a really beautiful plant this time of the year and people like to transplant this weed especially when it is beautiful like this. The flowers look like a snapdragon and some varieties have a reddish or pink coloring on the inside of the flower. He also notes that if you look really close there is a little pea pod starting to form which will grow to about four inches long and curl and turn brown. When water hits them they will pop open and can shoot a seed 20 to 25 feet. That is how they normally spread. Rodents and birds also like to eat the seeds and use the pods to build nests, so animals transport the seeds as well.
However, Brad notes that people are by far the worst transporters of Scotch Broom because they think they are attractive ornamental shrub plants. This weed gets really thick dominating all of the vegetation in an area and consumes all of the water as well. Brad also explains that Idaho has very little of this weed and they hope to control it to the best of their ability.
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