Weeds

The weather was lovely this evening. A lovely evening to kill plants.

I have let the back yard just make its own mistakes all this summer, and I learned these two things:

1. Chameleon plant will take over everything if I pull up the Creeping Charlie.

2. If there are decorative cement block stepping stones embedded with art glass impeding the growth of the Chameleon plant, another new evil plant will come up through the weed-blocking landscape cloth under the stones and grow taller than you. 

 

One lays dead on the patio. Spunky for scale.

Evidently it is the plant of the year. Horseweed. Never had it before, but it seems it is what you get when landscape cloth decomposes after twenty years.

It is almost a pleasure to pull up. Just a little ball of roots. I'm sure it would have been more difficult had I pulled it up when I first noticed it in the spring.

Not as fun as my favorite weed, Spurge:

 

That weed has such an extensive reach compared to its pitiful little root system. One little pluck pulls up a great expanse.

I didn't know that was called spurge until I was researching the horseweed on the weed ID Guide from this site. Some search I did there revealed a five-to-seven leaved plant called "Marijuana" is a weed found in Missouri. I have often suspected some suspicious-looking ivy out front.

 

Really, the guide said it might have five leaves, and when it isn't limp, the leaves fold in, and with the serrated leaves it looks pretty pot-like.

======================

Not pot. Virginia creeper. Good to know.

Comments

[Faythe]

We have Virginia Creeper that is growing along our 6 foot wood fence. In fall it turns beautiful shades of orange and red. So pretty. But it grows like crazy!

[TheQueen]

Faythe - same with the chameleon plant. Invasive bastard.

[Chuck]

is Virginia creepers poisonous like poison ivy or oak

[TheQueen]

Chuck - This sent me to wikipeida.Evidently it just looks like poison ivy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_ivy#Similar-looking_plants