Re: Prize Pest
- To: g*@ker.forthnet.gr, m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Re: Prize Pest
- From: B* B*
- Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2000 10:26:09 PST
>Oxalis pes-caprae is undeniably indestructible but somehow seems too
>humble and too benign an opponent, spreading soft tender and lemony >at our
>feet in great swaths of winter brightness.
This is how I feel - though I can see that it might be a problem with
emerging seedlings, it's not a really destructive or pain-inflicting plant
like some. For Seattle (which, though often referred to as a maritime
climate, is really more of a cool mediterranean climate), I'd have to say
the worst is Convolvulus sepium, aka "morning glory" aka "devil's guts".
It's a perennial plant with a large white morning glory-like flower. It
spreads by very quick-growing brittle white runners. Once it has invaded a
bed, there really is no way to completely eradicate it short of digging up
the bed; a tiny piece of it left among the roots of a peony will give rise
to a whole new colony, and by the time you notice its searching shoots
popping above the foliage, it's already taken off in a new direction. The
problem is compounded by the fact that many non-gardeners think it's pretty
(well, it is), and allow it to grow, run, and seed. I have incursions of it
from three sides of my yard and have pretty much resigned myself to the idea
that I'll never be free of it - I just keep pulling.
Himalayan blackberry (Rubus discolor) is a close second in the Northwest -
it takes over whole vacant lots (where it dukes it out with the morning
glory and eventually wins somehow). I've seen it in immense stands in N.
California too.
>(Besides, Janet, it adds a delectable "tang" to the greens of our winter
>pittas here in the North of Greece)
"Oxalidopitta"? ;)
Bob
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