Bartlebee Brands: Wildflower Seed Mix
Although the concept of franchising had long since been established as early as the 1850s, Bartlebee Brands attempt at creating franchise locations of their own was not only one of the most disastrous endeavors in the history of franchising, but in the environmental landscape of the United States.
A packet of wildflower seeds distributed to Bartlebee Brand partners. The art on the packet features various yellow flowers like buttercups, dogbane, spiderweed, and false spirea. The text reads: “Bartlebee Brands Tested Seeds, Wild Flower seed mix”
Implemented in 1950 by Bartlebee Brands, the partnership program allowed bee keepers around the country to set up stores under the Bartlebee Brand alias in return for a large portion of their sales going back to the main company. This program was both ill planned and costly, in total only around fifty to sixty locations were established across the United States, and as stated above the high cut taken by Bartlebee Brands made the entire program very low profit (if profitable at all) for the beekeepers who signed on. It did not help that the franchise buildings were not constructed with care, and only the bare minimum was sent to get the program off the ground. Much like Bartlebee's failed live action movie, it is like they built the program just so they could watch it plunge into the ground. Communication between the company and locations was very poor, except when it came time to collect profit, and training was not a priority which caused many locations to fumble and die early on into the program's lifespan.
All in all the program was a complete waste of resources, the franchise locations shut down within five years with the last one closing in 1955. However long after their closure they have left behind a blight that continues to plague the US. For all the poor training and lack of resources Bartlebee Brands was consistent about one thing: the types of plants to be used by Beekeepers. Franchise owners were sent several packets, within them being seeds for: Aconite Adenium, Buttercup, Smell Fox (anemonoides nemorosa), Kudzu, Dogbane, Cape dandelion, Dragon Herb, Knotweed, False Spirea, Spiderweed/Bee Plant, Yellow Star Thistle, and Hemlock.
A beekeeper, wearing business casual clothing, pulling a shelve out of a beekeeping box. In the background are more of these units that rest in overgrown grass surrounded by trees.
An old photo of a garden shed repurposed by one of the franchise programs members. The shed is resting in the middle of an overgrown garden, plants tower into the air.
Of course if you know anything about bees, and Bartlebee Brands certainly did not, this was a useless guideline as bees tend to fly miles away from their hive to gather nectar and pollen, something which the higher ups were repeatedly told however this information went ignored. I think in the grand scheme of things it is interesting to see where everything went wrong. In our history article we discussed how Aaron Fulch did not come from any sort of beekeeping or agricultural background, he pretty much stole the small company from its creators (who had experience in all he was lacking,) which led to many many mishaps like these mandated flowers. Funnily enough when asking former worker Jack Young about the internal company standards for honey production, he said the usage of these flowers was not required. I’m a bit confused as to why it would be so different for franchise members, but if I had to guess it was an attempt to build on Bartlebee Brands aesthetic? There is no information on who exactly put these guidelines into motion.
Getting back to the main point of the article, many of these flowers seem innocuous enough. Amongst them however, almost maliciously, are several that have plagued the States after their introduction. Yellow star thistle, kudzu, knotwood - all plants that produce beautiful flowers, and all plants that are horribly invasive and destructive to the environment. This is actually the moment that introduced all three into the US and within years they had overtaken great chunks of the American wilderness.
To get more into the impact these plants had I think it would be best to go over each one individually.
Yellow star thistle
Perhaps the most brutal plant in this lineup, Yellow Star Thistle has become infamous amongst farmers. Growing into a long taproot plant, the star thistle survives in arid dry conditions that see other plants withering up and dying. As such it is able to quickly overtake large swathes of land, crowding out other plants and diminishing the natural diversity. Yellow star thistle is most well known for its toxicity to horses, when ingested the plant renders the animals lips and tongue paralyzed. The animal is no longer able to eat, exhibits depressive behaviors and keeps its head hung low. Most startlingly is the telltale way in which affected horses show their upper teeth due to increased muscle tone on the upper face muscles. This eventually culminates in the animal dying from starvation. For these reasons the symptoms in horses afflicted by star thistle have become known as “chewing disease”. Besides their toxicity to horses, star thistle is known to damage the eyes and mouths of grazing cattle and other animals that make contact with the plants thistles. As I said at the start, this is a very brutal plant.
A field of yellow star thistles covering eroded barren brown dirt. There are no other plants in sight.
An individual Yellow Star thistle, it has a wiry green stalk that ends in a green bulb with yellow thorns. From the tip sprouts a yellow flower with petals that resemble a dandelions.
Flowering body of the kudzu plant, it is a flower with large violet petals near the bottom that taper upwards into smaller petals of a deeper purple.
Kudzu
Also known as the vine that ate the south, this plant is probably the most well known on this short list. Famed for its relentless growth and propensity for spreading, this plant has been the bane of many, disrupting agriculture and growing so thickly that it easily chokes life out of natural habitats. The vine often grows on railroads and it can sometimes get to the point that the plants actually destroy the tracks with their constricting grip. Kudzu can grow up to a foot a day and mature vines can reach up to one hundred feet in length. Kudzu grows on everything - the ground, the trees, power lines, anything it can get a grip on; and areas infested with the invasive species resemble green bumpy mounds, the plant obstructing everything beneath from view. Additionally due to the rate at which it grows, the vine easily outpaces attempts to get it under control with herbicides and mowing. It is still a massive problem to this day. Initially the spread of this plant (following its propagation from Bartlebee franchise locations) was encouraged due to the fact it smells pleasantly like grape candy and for the way in which it prevented soil erosion. People would use the plant as an ornamental vine or to shade their homes, only too late did people realize just how destructive this plant could be.
An area overrun by the Kudzu vine, the grass, trees, logs, are all covered in the plant blocking all else from sight.
Closeup photo of knotweed flowers, they are small white flowers that grow in bundles.
Knotweed
Growing up to 4 inches every day this plant has become notorious for its unique way of spreading. Although knotweed is able to produce seeds, their preferred method of reproduction is through touch; the crown of a knotweed plant, if moved or dug up, can begin rooting itself into the ground the moment it makes contact again. It is resistant to drying and composting and as will be seen attempts to remove the plant are just as likely to spread it elsewhere. The Rhizome of the plant (shown below) can be cut up and broken to pieces only for the smallest chunk to remain capable of propagating the plant when it next makes contact with soil. Small pieces of the plant often get distributed across large distances by animals, such as birds that have dug up the plant to feed on it. Knotweed can spread by being picked up on the bottom of shoes or even car tires. It is no surprise that with this method of replication the plant soon became a blight on the country following its introduction. Knotweed is an aggressive plant that can grow anywhere from eight to ten feet tall, and where it grows it quickly outcompetes and kills off native plants. The plant's dense growths can also destabilize soil causing intense erosion.
Body of the knotweed plant, green leaved stalks rest in a clearing and from them thin flowers grow upwards.
The Rhizome of a knotweed plant, in the photo you can see the white tendrils of the lower plant structure wrapping around pebble filled dirt.
It is astounding just how much damage occurred from only fifty to sixty locations planting these on their property. Keep in mind that these plants might have been spread elsewhere as gifts to family or people collecting the trimmings from the owners property, and in the case of knotweed many people unwittingly carried pieces of it to other locations on their clothing and shoes. At the time many people simply thought them to be pretty plants and had no idea the kind of damage they were capable of.
Celia Karstens groundbreaking environmental conservation novel, Overabundance, detailed the consequences of Bartlebee Brands imported plants. The cover illustration is that of many thorny flowering vines overtaking the cover.
In response to these events the US government cracked down on the import of potentially invasive plants; Bartlebee Brands was hit with heavy fines, though besides that saw very little real consequences. If you’ve read our article on Bartlebee Brands Halloween candy you’ll probably notice a running theme with this company causing irreparable damage and then walking off with merely a slap on the wrist. It is always something that could have been prevented with a little more oversight. This lack of care and attention would later come back to haunt the company with the events of the Botanical Garden grand opening.