Re: Prize Pest
I so agree re convulvulus. We have so much trouble with it that I cannot
even bear to grow the more decorative - and restrained - varieties. My only
consolation is I read it is a sign of a well-tilled fertle soil. Thank you
to all those gardeners before me who have looked after the garden in our
cottage for 100 plus years. I wish I were a better and more knowledgeable
steward.
----- Original Message -----
From: Bob Beer <sazci@hotmail.com>
To: <gastouri@ker.forthnet.gr>; <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2000 6:26 PM
Subject: Re: Prize Pest
> >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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