As a horticulturist who gives advice on weed control, I probably shouldn't admit to having weeds in my yard, but the fact is, I could write a book on weed identification and probably take a picture of every one of them in my yard!
Just like with flowers, we have annual and perennial weeds, and we have cool season ones and warm season ones. Right now, the cool season weeds are getting near the end of their growing season so they are blooming their hearts out to set even more weed seeds for next year. Perennials are tougher to control than annuals, but both can be a pain. Some weeds I tolerate better than others.
Spring beauty is one of them.
I have a lot of them, but they give me a wildflower feel to my lawn in the spring, and as a spring ephemeral they are gone for most of the growing season, so I ignore them. I did mow earlier this week, but they have already rebounded and are blooming again. Another that some gardeners like, but I detest is wild violets.
I know they are a host plant for our state butterfly the Diana Fritillary butterfly, but they are too invasive and hard to kill with an underground bulb-like structure called a corm. Each year they get worse in both my flower beds and the lawn.
Some annuals that I pulled easily are purple deadnettle,
corn speedwell
and chickweed.
Another horrible perennial that seems to have taken up residence in the last few years is woodrush a grass-like member of the rush family.
Field woodrush has fibrous roots and creeping stolons that enables the plant to spread and reproduce These seed spikes were the main reason I mowed because they were quite visible in the lawn. They bloom now through April. It is usually an indication that your soil is acidic, so I suppose I should test my soil.
A few weeds I seem to have eradicated are wild onions/garlic
and dandelions.
Both perennials, with tough roots, I got a weed tool one year that my kids thought was fun, so they eradicated most of them. It involved centering the tool over the weed stepping down on the tool and then pulling the weed up, roots and all.
Getting to your weeds before they bloom and set seeds, and/or pulling them out roots and all is the best way to eradicate them. If you have a yard full of weeds that may be easier said than done. You also need to be able to identify the weeds from your flowers. A good example is Carolina geranium weed
which is an annual weed, but is closely related to Cranesbill geranium
which is a loved perennial in the shade garden. The foliage is pretty similar. My desirable perennial has its first bloom today.
Weeds are a fact of life in the garden, but since we have the time, now would be a good time to pull or hoe these winter weeds. Just in time for the summer weeds to get started!
