When we first think about invasive plants, we often conjure images of plants that are not pretty. I often think of the brambles that Maleficent casts around the castle in Sleeping Beauty. Sharp thorns, jagged edges, overall, a barren landscape. Invasive plants are not new. We know that some thistles, leafy spurge, and palmer amaranth…
Category: Perennial Weeds
Lawn Renovation – First Steps
We’ve been dealing with the “Dog Days of Summer” for a couple of weeks now. One of the things that go with this time of year are bad looking lawns, many of which need lawn renovation. Mid-August is the time for step 1 of that process. Steps 2 to 8 should take place in late…
Yellow Nutsedge
“What is this grass growing in my flower bed?” is a question I hear quite often now. Rolling the stem between my fingers quickly determines this isn’t grass at all but the infamous yellow nutsedge. Sedges are grass-like perennials that have triangular shaped stems. If they grew at the same rate as turfgrass, many lawn…
Weed Musings
In the midst of September, if weed management isn’t on your autumn to-do list, it definitely should be. Fall is the best time to be applying herbicides to perennial weeds. Why is this so? As plants ready for winter, sugars produced in leaves are transported to the roots for storage. With herbicide applications, the plant’s…
Yellow Nutsedge
“What is this grass growing in my flower bed?” is a question I hear quite often now. Rolling the stem between my fingers quickly determines this isn’t grass at all but the infamous yellow nutsedge. Sedges are grass-like perennials that have triangular shaped stems. If they grew at the same rate as turfgrass, many lawn…
Unwanted Grass
Grass is usually a good thing; in lawns that is. However, if you’ve got grass anywhere else – a veggie garden, a flower bed, in groundcovers – then it’s a weed. Grass can get to the unwanted location through bird transfer, through misapplied seedings or through spreading. The rhizomes pictured here show this undesirable…
Managing Weeds in the Garden and Lawn
Weeds may be our least favorite topic but still one of the driving forces behind phone and email questions right now, with “How do I kill…?” leading the discussion. Weed identification may seem immaterial, after all, the consuming focus is to be rid of the pesky plant, but in reality, this should always be the…
Post Frost Weed Control
So, it frosted. In some areas, it was a hard frost with temperatures down in the 26 degree F range, and in others, plus/minus 30 degrees. At this point in October, the question is: Is it a good idea to apply a post emergence herbicide to the lawn, considering the recent frost? The answer? It…