weed id, how many do you have in your yard/gardens?

[flowerbug]

I was not dismissing your desire to learn all about them. I am just dyslexic in name retention.

i really understand that... i'm horrible at memorization too. that's why i like having a list to consult with pictures. if i repeat it enough times it will eventually stick. the thyme-leaved spurge is one that we've had here all along and so i keep saying i should look it up to make sure of the name and finally i am able to remember it, but the more times i type it the better that it will stick.

i am somewhat dyslexic too. some days i can hardly type and my handwritting is attrocious. when i write on paper i write sentences in bits leaving gaps for words that i have to go back to fill in. Mom can hardly spell anything at all. and don't get me started on math/formulas and what i went through in college to get through... ugh...

when i write posts here, some i have to edit a few times before they settle down and behave properly. sometimes i swear there are gremlins retyping things, as i do know how to spell most words and then i read back later and they're missing words or letters...

 

[Carol Dee]

i went to the pharmacy and asked for a big hypodermic needle the biggest they had,then double gloved i let the stems have a nice dose of roundup. works like a charm even on blackberries.

Annette

Gonna have to try that! We have some blackberries we call Devil Thorns. They came up throughout the garden! The the process of trying to rid them DH killed off the good one

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Over the years I have accidentally ADDED to the weeds in our yard . That is, some of the things we I have thrown out as junk seed for the animals to eat they have passed on (or have not gotten there in time) and have germinated. And while none of those have gone full term and reproduced (or more accurately, the one that does I collect the seed from) seed of both can stay dormant in the ground for YEARS, so a few stragglers (or a lot) usually pop up each spring to get into things.

One is rice beans (that's the one I collect since any rice bean that can go full term here is of interest to me). That's not too much trouble in that it's easy to pull, is a legume (so it keeps the soil good) and can be sort of pretty if it flowers. But it gets everywhere (mostly due to squirrels chipmunks and birds picking up seeds when I throw them and burying them elsewhere in the yard). Plus since I am usually GROWING (different) rice beans, it makes it hard to keep my growing space pure. (which is what I need for good data on crossing).

The other is Senna. That's a bit more of a problem since, while also a legume, it also has a nasty smell when cut or bruised. And the seed lasts nearly forever. so every year, my back yard is filled with little four leafleted sprouts. (plus successive generations are getting farther and farter along before the frost so eventually, it may go full term here and I will then NEVER get rid of it.)

One thing, I am glad DIDN'T establish itself was the year I grew the plant I nicknamed "Hellweed" (don't know it's real name, it grows in Asia probably) This plant LOOKS nice, with silvery leaves and bright pink flower/seed heads (I think it's somewhere in the amaranth family) but those seeds are razor sharp, and a prick I got from one left me with a bad infection and a permanent scar on my finger. Luckily, I managed to get all of it removed before it spread.

Grasp vine, is another nasty one (think of a bindweed, but hairy, with odd hand shaped leaves, and the ability to make seed without obvious flowers. But again, not winter hardy, so ends itself before getting out of control (though it has made a little seed one or two times.)

 

[digitS']

There are multiple weeds in the garden but here at home in the lawn - yes, multiple.

You don't have salsify (Tragopogon dubius), flowerbug? It shows up in "the hell strip" (parking strip, other side of the sidewalk. It hardly warrants the name - lawn. There's black medic and knot weed in there with the salsify and dandelions. Of course, if you don't pronounce the "k" in knot weed ........

I don't fret much about the hell strip. It's a watering problem.

In the lawn, there are violets in the shade and Dutch clover in the sunshine. In 25 years, I have never used a lawn herbicide. So ... there are broad-leaf plantain down near the garage and dandelions here and there, especially in the spring.

Alpine strawberry escaped from pots into the lawn years ago. It was a mistake all the way around. Too tiny to bother with the fruit. It seems to be spreading in the grass. In fact, I'm sure it is. One has to stop and really look closely at it to distinguish from the clover. That is, unless the tiny yellow flowers are blooming. I appreciate the clover and okay with the strawberries .

And, some creeping charlie. It's only right around the concrete at the foot of the backsteps. I've watched it suspiciously for years. I don't hear of that weed being much of a problem here but I was prepared with a weedkiller. It has such a bad reputation, elsewhere. Doesn't seem to be spreading.

Oh, and there is one place, and only one place, where there has always been quack grass. Why it is there, I don't know. It isn't much of a traffic area, doesn't look bad from a distance, and would be a real bother to take out.

Steve

 

[Pulsegleaner]

If the flowers are yellow, that's Indian Strawberry, not alpine. No point in eating those.

 

[flowerbug]

...
You don't have salsify (Tragopogon dubius), flowerbug? It shows up in "the hell strip" (parking strip, other side of the sidewalk. It hardly warrants the name - lawn. There's black medic and knot weed in there with the salsify and dandelions. Of course, if you don't pronounce the "k" in knot weed ........
...

we don't have it in the yard here, but it used to be out along road at the corner and bloomed every year, but in recent years it has been mowed down and i've not seen it blooming. at one time i did try to get some of the seeds and get some growing in a garden but i don't think they ever grew that i could tell.

we also have other weeds that i like so i don't consider them weeds. things like pinks wander around the yard. the annual poppies Mom has been pulling out ever since she saw chipmunks and deer were eating them. etc. there's a lot of etc. here...

 

[digitS']

I still feel guilty about teasing @Hattie the Hen.

She deliberately grew salsify. For the table ...

I can't figure out where one could find something to eat on the skinny plants. What I suspect might be true is that it grows much larger in the UK.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

I still feel guilty about teasing @Hattie the Hen.

She deliberately grew salsify. For the table ...

I can't figure out where one could find something to eat on the skinny plants. What I suspect might be true is that it grows much larger in the UK.

Steve

i was reading up on it and saw that it can grow for several years before flowering. so perhaps that was how to make it a bigger plant? to me it looked like a giant dandelion flower and i really liked how showy it was blooming along the road so i did try to get some seeds to grow but they didn't take.

 

[Zeedman]

I love the site link you posted. WOW my yard has MOST of the those weeds. IF we ever manage to get rid of all of them there would be no green in the yard! LOL Creeping Charlie is the #1 most common. Pulls easily, but speeds fast from anything left behind. I would hazard a guess that 1/4 t0 1/3 my yard is Creeping Charlie!

Creeping Charlie surrounds one of my home gardens; I kill everything within the fence line every year, but it just creeps in again from the outside. Violets & crabgrass are the other persistent weeds at home... and maple seedlings from the neighbor's tree. He planted one just after I had cut mine down. It has helped that whenever I have a kettle of hot water left over from cooking veggies, I take it outside & dump it along the fence line wherever the weeds are encroaching.

In the rural garden, I've had almost everything in the link & then some. Persistent tilling has kept the perennial weeds under control, the only survivor this year was Creeping Jenny... and very little of that. Annual weeds are the biggest issue now, especially ragweed, purslane, knotweed, and crabgrass. After last year's record rainfall kept me out of the garden, a lot of weeds went to seed. I'm essentially trying to reclaim the garden from them, a labor-intensive battle which will no doubt continue for several years.

 

[Zeedman]

i went to the pharmacy and asked for a big hypodermic needle the biggest they had,then double gloved i let the stems have a nice dose of roundup. works like a charm even on blackberries.

Annette

That is a really good idea. It beats spraying, when the weeds are embedded in other plants. Normally, I would just pull those plants out... but some of the worst weeds in the flower beds are tree seedlings.