Teasel is common here too but not very aggressive. I don't have any at the farm but if I did I'd probably harvest the heads and give them away as flower-arranging material. They are popular as "everlastings".
Paulien, 3rd row 3rd column, is that Anchusa? Something in the Borage family I would reckon.
2nd row 3rd column, I have a different species on my farm but Wild Balsam is what I named my farm for.
No Dutch roots. I first visited the Netherlands in 1985 and always enjoy going back. I really like the country and the people, aside from the time I almost got arrested at the Peace Palace.
In 1985 I was with a tour group that stopped in front of the Peace Palace to take photos. As you probably know there's a huge fence out front with guards at the gates. I wanted to ask a guard if I could step inside the gate to take a photo without the gate being in the way. He wouldn't talk to me because he was flirting with some female tourist (not from our group). So I just walked through the gate and wandered inside the grounds where I was taking photos for at least 5 minutes before he noticed that I was there. When he did, he came running at me, yelling and screaming. He asked me what I was doing and threatened me with jail. I pointed to the girl he had been talking to and said I tried to talk to him but he was too busy flirting with the girl. His English was not real good but he understood what I was saying and backed off. Afer that I was determined to learn more of the Dutch language.