Weeds

Picking Dandelions: April Garden Colors - Yellow

Details: Category: Weeds; Published on Tuesday, 26 April 2011 19:42; Written by Pretty World; Hits: 451

I pull dandelions (Latin name: Taraxacum officinale) out of my garden but I don't mind the ones that pop up in our gravel driveway. I know they will turn to seed puffs and Spring winds will blow the seeds into my garden. I can live with that, and with the work of weeding them out when they sprout.

I am not yet too grown up to appreciate a nice bouquet of dandelions. They wilt pretty fast but there will be more of them ready to pick tomorrow.

What Exactly Is A Weed?

Details: Category: Weeds; Published on Tuesday, 19 April 2011 16:32; Written by Pretty World; Hits: 586

Many gardening books describe weeds as any plant that happens to be some place you don't want it to be. I guess that's a fair enough description. Some of next year's self sown Forget Me Nots will be welcome new garden plants. Some of them will sow into places that I already have reserved for other plants. Others will sprout up in the tending aisles and be a nuisance. I'm not sure if I'll be able to call them weeds, but I do know that some are going to take a ride in the weed bucket.

Here's two closely related perennial flower plants. Aren't they both beautiful? Can you guess which one is the weed?

That was kind of a trick question. The one on the left is Yellow Archangel (Latin name: Lamium galeobdolon) which is commonly sold as a garden ornamental species - even though it is also listed on the noxious weeds lists in several US states. The one on the right is Purple Deadnettle (Latin name: Lamium purpureum) which is generally considered a wild flower in the US. Both are good examples of pretty plants that may or may not be weeds depending on how much you enjoy having them in your garden.

They are members of the Lamiaceae family (also known as the mint family) and gardeners who are familiar with plant families will expect these to be good growers with pretty flowers. They are plants that will grow nicely in poor soil and will make an attempt to take over sections of the garden if given a chance.

In my garden, the Yellow Archangel is not a weed - yet. Looking at how much it has grown since last year I expect that later this summer I will be chopping off sections to keep it in check. Purple Deadnettle is a weed in my garden unless it happens to be the one individual plant that has the extra bright colored flowers. That one isn't a weed. At least not this year. Other Purple Deadnettles in the garden are weeds and go into the weed bucket. Purple Deadnettles in the bank alongside the driveway are wildflowers and they get to stay.

Common Weeds, Uncommonly Beautiful!

Details: Category: Weeds; Published on Tuesday, 12 April 2011 16:07; Written by Pretty World; Hits: 320

Why do gardeners feel that they need to apologize for having weeds in their garden? Sure, part of gardening is to care for your preferred plants by removing competing weed species - but weeds are a part of garden life. They are going to pop up and eventually be removed by the gardener. In between there will be times when you will probably be able to find a few harmless weeds in a garden.

So yes - my beautiful garden does have weeds, and I'll weed them out soon enough. Then there will be a few more. As they come and go I'm going to enjoy them!