I’m not talking about purslane, or quack grass, or thistles – things that most of us would agree are weeds. I’m talking about the stuff that others might like, but for you, it’s an unwanted plant, and thus a weed.
For me, the main one is violets – they are all over the effin’ place, and there are more of them with every passing year. I pull 'em out by the roots, for all the good it does me – does hoeing work, or does it just multiply them?
On the other hand, I consider Johnny-jump-up (a type of viola, and thus closely related to violets) a plant (albeit a strictly volunteer one in my garden) – whenever some of that pops up, I gently dig it up and put it with its brethren.
Another weed for me is trumpet vine – the previous owners planted it up the back fence, and it covers the fence nicely (and even, as promised, attracts the occasional hummingbird) – but I spend the entire summer cutting it back and trying to kill the strands that emerge Audrey-like elsewhere in the garden.
Blackberries. Evil, ropy, thorny, blackberries. If you don’t live in the Pacific Northwest you’ll probably wonder what the problem is - mmmm blackberries and all.
If you do live here you’ll understand. They are everywhere, choke out everything else you plant, hardly ever produce enough for a pie and rip the skin from your bones when you try to dislodge them (which is impossible because the root systems are miles long).
Catnip - I started two plants from seed eight years ago and now it’s everywhere!
Margurite daisy - horrible reseeders
Purple Coneflowers - ditto on the reseeding
Echinops - ditto
Snow on the Mountain (goutweed) Aegopodium. Big mistake the day I planted it - it takes over everything. I cringe whenever I’m at a nursery and see it for sale.
Violets can be a problem.
From my experience in my backyard, they’re invasive where the soil is clay almost to the surface. But in those sections where I’ve tilled & composted, they don’t show up at all.
Do you have any idea how long I’ve tried to get a pot of violets to grow? I even named my cat Violet, I love them so. They are invasive, so I guess I’d be singing another tune if I were in your place.
Well, around here we have oleanders every damned where. It cracks me up to see little bushes offered in fancy gardening catalogs for major cash. A snowbird from Canada once stopped at our house and asked if she could have a sprig. We told her she could have the whole row of the greedy weedy things.
Poplar/cottonwood trees, feh, and double ptui on palm trees. Jacaranda trees tend to sprout everywhere and need major weeding. Bermuda grass is the devil’s choice for lawns in hell. Alyssum has spread all over town, looking scraggy and sad.
Commelina cyanea is the only thing in my garden that I consider a pest. It’s a native Wandering Jew and it looks pretty when it’s flowering, but it’s so damned invasive.
My SO has finally moved the damn sedums. And I hope they die. I hate the sedums.
The sodbastard bluebells have at last been ousted to their rightful place in the garden - right at the back, just in front of the hedge. They were popping up everywhere and getting all up in the face of the nice plants.
Nope, they’re worst in the side yard, which is the most cultivated part of my garden – it’s the section you see as you come in from the street, so I put most of the annuals in there, for the reliable color. Thus it’s dug up (and compost added) every year.
Another pain in the neck – lilies of the valley. I’ve managed to eradicate two patches of them, but the third continues in around the stems of three roses, making me reluctant to dig in too deep when I’m taking them out – so I beat them back bigtime every few years, then they spread out again through that bed, then I go after them again. Yeah, dainty, sweet, pretty – eff 'em, they’re weeds.
