Who Doesn't Like Violets?

Who doesn't like violets?

Me, that's who.

Oh, sure, they are very cute. They look nice in the spring perennial beds.

But when I find them in the garden, I pull them out like weeds. I'd really rather not have to do this, but violets cannot be trained. If only they would stay in the garden, I'd let them live in the garden. But they don't.

violet seedlings everywhere!

Violets have an evil plot to take over the world. Give them and inch, and they take over ...

My lawn.

ok, it's not like my lawn is very healthy anyway.  violets are one of the nicer offenders here.

 

My vegetable garden.



Violets invading the pea patch

My patio.

time to unleash the crack weeder

My steps.


My patio furniture.

So those cute little violets have to go!

April Foliage

The day started out gray and dreary. Then the rains came. Then the wind and storms. I've been inside being lazy all day. It has been so dark I've had to have a light on the whole time.

It is Spring; I want to be outside! I want to look at the trees putting forth their new leaves. I want to watch plants emerging from last year's debris. And I want to show them off for today's Foliage Follow-Up.

I'll just have to content myself with looking at pictures from earlier in the week, like these:

Soft leaves are beginning to show themselves on the weeping Japanese maple.

I didn't have my camera with me when I first spotted these. They looked just like asparagus to me. By the time I remembered to take a picture, they had started to leaf out some. You don't get the whole asparagus effect, here, but maybe you can imagine:

They are really not asparagus, but balloon flowers.

Yesterday I showed off the Pasque Flower. Nearby is this similar plant, the native Anemone patens. I've had it for several years now. I do love the foliage, but it has yet to flower.

I also showed my white bleeding heart yesterday. In the background was this:

Mertensia virginica, Virginia bluebells. If these were going to flower they would be doing so now. But this plant has had a very hard life, and I'm just really happy to see it return at all. We can wait another year for flowers.

And here's something I was not at all happy to see. Several years ago I had a horrible tree-of-heaven taken down. Why is it so horrible? It grows super-fast and procreates like crazy. The entire root of the young plants must be removed, or the trees just grow back. Like this one:

Because it is buried in my out-of-control rosemary, the original seedling got a really good toehold in that spot before I pulled it out. I go most of it, but apparently not all, because it is back again this year. And once again it's had a chance to spread its roots before I noticed it in there. I'm hoping today's rains make the ground nice and soft so I can pull it out tomorrow.

Go see Pam at Digging for links to some more great foliage!

The Scariest Weed I Ever Did See

It's a warm, dry weekend, so I've started cleaning up some of the garden beds. Winter weeds are appearing. I try to get them before they go to seed, and I'm making progress on reducing their numbers. But this year they are blooming early! I don't think I'll get through the garden before they start setting seeds.

This is the most prevalent winter weed.



I learned its name once, but I've long since forgotten. I just call it The Spitter, because it spits its seeds several feet away when disturbed. I have to wear safety glasses if I don't pull it up before it sets seed. Fortunately it hoes up easily.  (Update:  this is hairy bittercress. I knew I'd remember the name eventually.)

Here's another one:

I don't know what it is, but those pretty blue flowers are its best defense. How can I destroy something so pretty?

This afternoon I was clearing leaves out of the path in the upper garden. I brushed aside some leaves, and saw The Scariest Weed I Ever Did See. Seriously. This is an attack weed of the most vicious kind.

Here is probably a good place for a confession: I'm an herbiphobe. (OK, not the proper term: I made it up. But it fits) That's right. I'm scared of plants. Not all plants, just the scary ones. Mom blames it on me watching Little Shop of Horrors as a kid. She might not be wrong.

But hey, if you saw this in your path, wouldn't you be scared, too?


Yes, those are big, scary thorns. On the leaves. Here's a closeup of those thorns:



Those suckers are sharp, too!

Now, the old me would have dropped everything and run far away. But Garden Therapy has been good for me, and I'm learning to face my fears. I pulled on some heavy-duty gloves and grabbed my trowel. I would beat this thing. Out it came.



Uh-oh, this thing has a tap root. And it broke off. Time to go digging further. I don't want it to regrow.

Success!



I don't know what it was, but I hope I never see it again. STAY AWAY, killer weed!

Update:  I'm told the scary weed is a thistle.  It helps to have a name.

Spring!

Hooray for Spring!

Lots of plants seem to know just when it is spring. While I had yellow daffs a few days ago, today the white ones opened, too:


I have a single bloom on my moss phlox:


Even the weeds know it is spring. My first dandelion (of many, I'm sure:


Now, I'm probably the only person on the planet that can kill mint. But I do have a history of doing just that. I acquired more last year (people are always willing to give it away!), and put it in a pot in case I didn't kill it, to keep it from spreading. But the summer heat kinda fried it, so I wasn't sure if it would come back. I checked yesterday and there were no signs of life. But today, sprouts galore! One more plant that knows it is spring: