The tumbleweeds we ship are grown organically.  No pesticides, or chemicals, or fertilizers, or even tractors are ever used.  These are 100% Real Tumbleweeds from the Southwest States of North America.  Our tumbleweeds are naturally harvested from the earth between Tucson, and Phoenix Arizona.  These are TRUE desert tumbleweeds from the heart of the American Southwest.  You can't find a more authentic southwest cowboy style tumbleweed anywhere on earth!   These are the same tumble weeds that are direct descendants from those unruly tumble weeds seen in the cowboy movies and still photos of days gone past.  When you think of an old wild west town with gun slinging cowboys riding into town on horseback you're sure to conjure up images of tumbleweeds rolling past.  Or you may refer to them, as my young 3 year old little girl did, while driving into Phoenix, Arizona as we saw a massive tumbleweed roll into downtown she shouted "LOOK!  It's a Hay Ball!"  Oh yes it was perhaps the biggest "hay ball", or tumbleweed, or Russian Thistle (depending on your preference) any of us had ever seen.  It was large enough for us to stop and let it decide where it wanted to go.  It was, for a fleeting moment, in charge of the road, and in charge of us, while it eagerly looked for places to dispense its 2000+ seeds. 

In the old days boys were known to tie a light string to a tumbleweed and fly it like a kite, or hitch up 2, 4 or 6 tumbleweeds and drive them with the wind like a horse. I've never tried that but look forward to giving it a shot some day.  In southern Russia, tumbleweed was referred to as "Tartar Thistle."  It was supposedly introduced to Bon Homme County in South Dakota by Russian immigrants around the year 1877.  The tumbleweed seed probably had been accidentally mixed in with imported flax seed.  Within 20 years it covered more than a dozen states.   A Legislator from North Dakota proposed that a wire fence should be built around the whole state, to stop the advance of the tumbleweed, which actually drove some farmers from their homes.  If you've ever lived in the SW United States you possibly experienced a tumbleweed storm.  When the winds blow and the tumble weeds start rolling into town, and across desert highways, driving can get a bit crazy.  It is possible to see literally thousands of tumbleweeds rolling across the ground if you get caught in a windstorm in the desert southwest.  If you happen to have a fence or building in the way during one of these storms, you could be the proud owner of many new tumbleweeds when the tumbleweed storm is over!  Tumbleweed is very dry, so it burns easily, and can be considered a fire hazard.  Tumbleweed can easily cross fire breaks on a windy day due to its light weight, setting buildings and crops on fire.  Imagine if there was a raging fire when this picture from a tumbleweed storm was taken!  It could have been much worse! 

Throughout the United States tumbleweeds followed farmers.  If tall prairie grasses were left in place the tumbleweed could not have survived it's rampant spread.  However as farmers plowed fields for grain, the tumbleweed seed had an easy shot at the soil and the tumbleweed could not be stopped once the tall grass was removed.  Scientists at Utah State University discovered that tumbleweed actually improves the soil by adding chemicals to the soil that turns into nutrients in the soil and helps other plants grow.

Young tumbleweeds start out green, and as they dry they uproot from the soil and blow throughout the SW region of the United States during windstorms.   Tumbleweeds grow in dry regions generally where grain is grown.  Tumbleweed is also known as Russian Thistle, and is a member of the goose foot family.

Tumbleweeds are round, bushy, and have many branches which start out green and eventually dry out to a light tan color.  Tumbleweeds grow from 1 to 4 feet high.  The branches are slender and soft when young, however as they mature they turn woody and stiff.  The flowers are small, greenish white or light pink in color.  The seeds are tiny and shaped like a cone.  The flowering tumbleweed below is greatly magnified.  The tumbleweed flowers are tiny.