Let the Weed Wars Begin

[F, Calla & Luca]

This time of year I can't go collecting poop without ending up pulling weeds. I used to be more meticulous about getting roots and all but, although I still try I kind of enjoy imagining the weeds trying to survive with little or no foliage. Eventually they will be discouraged and give up. I'm a great believer, as I'm sure I've said before, of the encourage, discourage school of gardening.

I have a love hate relationship with weeds. Some like dandelions I can't abide. I also hate wild onions and bindweed. These white ones multiply like rabbits. Luckily they are easy to pull.

Some weeds like violets, above, and Golden Rod I encourage.

And Queen Anne's Lace

Some of my flowers spread, some reseed. I've even bought "weeds", since they are after all only plants you don't want where they are and I did want them : )

So tell us your weeds favorites and enemies.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I had to look up malva as I wasn't familiar with it. It's very pretty!

I feel this way about black-eyed Susans. They have invaded every part of my perennial flower bed and are crowding out the other flowers. Their saving grace is that they are in flower when almost nothing else is, in late summer, but right now they're just jagged green leaves everywhere.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Belladonna is another pest. It is a pretty vine but it is poisonous.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I do grow monkshood. There was a PBS Brother Cadfael mystery involving them.

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

I have whole bunch of "free" violets that came in with some dirt in my backyard.  I love them.  They are tidy, a great ground cover and help prevent other weed growth.  Oxalis, both green and "black" has been declared a desirable ground cover in my yard.  It is just impossible to get rid of. 

The plants around here that drive me crazy are nicotania, it selfsows everywhere, but is at least easy to pull.  Not so with Chinese Pin Oak, and a small palm of unknown (to me) name.  The both have at least 1 billion seeds (plus or minus 10)  every year and 90% germinate.  They put down a root halfway to Spain before they appear on the top and are impossible to eradicate.  They fall into F's discourage/encourage category.  I hate them.

Then there are the nuisance vines - which number into the thousands here.  I think the only one we don't have is kudzu.  We do have creeping fig, so pretty and cute when it is small and so difficult to keep that way.  We also have your everyday evergreen ivy - everywhere, also honeysuckle, trumpet vine and on and on. 

 In addition there is non clumping bamboo.  My neighbor planted it two years ago, even though I begged him not to.  It was right next to our joint cinderblock fence which on my side is my nice maintenance free easy turf dog run.  Bamboo is quite capable of turning the block fence to ruins in under ten years to say nothing of ripping up all the easy turf and turning that side of yard into a bamboo jungle.  Gratefully, my neighbor removed the bamboo in less than two years as it was near to taking down his baby fruit trees.

I am guilty of loving perennials and shove them in everywhere.  The next owner of this house may curse me, but I probably won't know it.  My favorites right now are the new strains of large flowered penstemon and what I call west coast milkweed.  It does have the pods that break open and have the sticky white strands with seeds, but other than that it doesn't look much like regular old midwest milkweed.  Its best feature is that it comes in several colors, will bloom in the heat, the cold and in between.  When it gets to big you just cut it down and let it start over.

 

 

[F, Calla & Luca]

I guess we all fight some tough invaders : ) Just before I was pulling goldenrod, which I encouraged and like. But it has spread to places I don't want it and it's too gangly for the front of beds. I have to check out your large flowered penstemon and could you post a picture or link to your "west coast" milkweed.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Another hateful weed is burgeoning  as the season progresses. Plaintain, prominent on the left:

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yes, I hate those!

[Louise Cyr]

Yes, I too have fought creeping Charlie , phlox, bind weed, chickweed, but this year it's choke cherries. I have a water garden which attracts myriad birds, who I assume love choke cherries. I have them by the thousands in all the beds. I'm dealing with the second round of germination now. I'm loosing the battle!