Weeds

This is MY Garden

| Flower Roberts

This is MY garden. I choose what grows and what goes.

MY life would be so much easier if I did not have to constantly deal with weeds.

I did not invite these weeds into MY garden. Unwanted forces planted them.

I must be constantly vigilant to prevent the weeds from high-jacking MY garden.

I have limited time, space and resources. These uninvited weeds steal those from MY garden.

I must constantly use Preen as germination prevention. This is MY weed birth control.

I also place cardboard under the mulch so if the seeds of weeds germinate, they cannot grow. MY garden IUD.

If weeds still sneak in when my back is turned, I cut them out with my Hori-hori knife, kill them with chemicals or burn them with a propane torch.

I guess you could call me a baby weed murderer.

It seems strange for a ‘Plant Mama’ who loves plants to spend so much time and effort murdering baby weeds.

If this bothers you, I will save all the baby weeds that I remove from MY garden and you can adopt them.

I have only one garden. I choose what gets to grow and what gets watered, fed and tended. I choose, NOT YOU.

I did not ask for the stray seeds. I do not want all the weeds.

If the unwelcome seeds of the uninvited weeds were never sown, MY life as a gardener would have been much easier all these years.

PLANT MAMA FLOW

Mean Beauty

| Flower Roberts

This is a thistle species, not sure which Cirsium it is.

They are usually purple here in North Carolina.

I had to get a closer look at this  crimson beauty, but don’t touch!

I doubt anything can eat these leaves.

By looking at the seeds flying off the top, there will be more in this field for years to come.

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Mean, but beautiful.

Flow

A Gift from Florence

| Flower Roberts

There’s a new weed in town.

Really it was here before, but Florence has made it flourish.

There had been small spots of Virginia Buttonweed in the lawn

before hurricane Florence brought all the rain.

Now this Diodia virginia has spread into huge mats.

Step one is to pull it up.

Step two will require the bare spots to be treated and reseeded.

This plant reproduces by hairy seeds and pieces of roots and stems.

I was just removing the bulk of the problem.

Then it’s Mr Flower’s job to fix and fill in.

I spent two days scooting across the grass on my sled pulling up clumps of this weed.

I hope Hurricane Michael doesn’t bring any more trouble.

I have bushels of it all ready!

FLO

 

My New Weed

| Flower Roberts

There has been a new invader into my all ready weedy habitat.

Its scientific name is Phyllanthus urinaria.

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Common names include chamber bitter, gripe weed, leaf flower and little mimosa.

I suspect it arrived hidden in a bale of pine needles.  Sneaky little weed.

It looks like tiny mimosa trees. Its little leaflets close when touched.

It has seed pods on the underside of the stems.

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I have been manually removing it until my fingers cramp.

This is what I have been doing instead of watching the constant updates

on hurricane Florence.

I am an ostrich. I can only take so many models and forecasts.

According to the MAN, Florence is tremendously big and tremendously wet.  Hmmmm?

I will wait in the weeds, bitter and griping.

FLO

 

 

Don’t Listen to the Groundhog

| Flower Roberts

Since I have a garden, not a groundhog, I tend to consult it as to when spring will arrive.

The first place I go for this information is the weeds.  Yes, that’s right.  WEEDS.

They know more than the hybrids. Their DNA has not been tampered with.

They use old school, and I do mean old, methods to determine when to start growing.

Well fellow Carolinians, the weeds say get busy.

The mint family(square stems) and dandelions are all ready blooming.

That means if you delay in weeding, you will be weeding mama weeds and baby weeds.  Two generations!   That’s way more than twice as many.

You don’t have weeds, you say?  Lucky you.

Then consult some of your garden favorites.

The BULBS say spring is near.

Tete-a-tetes say yes.

The crocus concur.

The old daffodils on the hill are thrilled.

Bulbs are always ahead of the game you say?

Ask the PERRENIALS.

Foxgloves are growing foliage.

The columbines are coming out.

Perennial poppycock you say?

Then go see a SHRUB.

The Pieris are ringing their spring bells.

The Quince is quite convinced that spring is near.

If you still need to consult a CRITTER, or two.

The bunnies have some spring in their hop.

Get busy people. Being a gardener is like being part of a horse costume.  If you’re not a head, you’re a behind.

I said spring is near NOT here. You crazy people better not set out tomatoes yet. They go out the third week in April.

P.S. I do have a groundhog. But we don’t mention such things around Mr. Flower.

FLING

 

 

 

There’s a New Queen in Town

| Flower Roberts

The results of the Spring Queen Weed contest were quite a surprise.

I never thought I’d see a nettle dethroned of the title.

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This is not an event to be celebrated, however.

The dominant weed this year is a totally new species.

I kept asking myself, “Did you plant these seeds by accident?”

After discovering their presence EVERYWHERE, I concluded that was impossible.

How could thousands of Sweet Pea seeds suddenly appear?

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Well they did.   So without a doubt the 2017 Weed Queen is the Sweet Pea.

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Not so sweet.

WEEDER

Spring Queening

| Flower Roberts

Each spring has its own unique crop of weeds. This spring has an unusually high number of different weeds, due to our mild winter. The volume of weeds this March has been overwhelming.

Even though there were many contestants in the Spring Queen Weed contest, there was a clear winner.

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This weed showed a superior ability to grow along side other weeds.

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This one was firmly rooted wherever it took hold. It clearly dominated the field as a go-getter.

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The lovely little purple blooms atop square stems were quickly recognized as a nettle.

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Its hairy leaves with a blush of purple, arranged oppositely with palmate venation was the sign that this was no regular Henbit.

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I’d like to announce the newly crowned “Spring Queen of the Weeds” is…

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Purple Deadnettle/ Lamium purpureum

She is clearly top of the heap for the 2016 spring season.

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Congratulations Nettie!

Do not expect me to end this post with

“Long live the Queen.”