Re: polygonum-like weed

In a message dated 6/6/02 9:26:50 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
cherylisaak@adelphia.net writes:

<< 
 horsetail - looks like a holdover from the dinosaurs?  We have 
 something locally that we call glass plant - no true leaves but 
 segmented scales. Very painful to weed out.
 Cheryl >>

Horsetail looks like a small white pine, long pine needle like leaves.  It is 
supposedly used by campers to clean pots (called scouring rush) although I 
have never tried it. It is Equisetum hyemale and has some relatives sold to 
put in garden ponds.  You can never get rid of it and it is hell in a sandy 
garden.  That Brit article in the BBC magazine does say that with many of 
these immortals that hoeing and digging and chopping off only makes more 
plants so spraying with sodium glysophate is the only other answer.  If you 
have a well as we do, the spraying is not something you want to do a lot.

Before that, I guess a British gardener of some status would have a small 
army of garden boys (Gertrude Jekyll) to run about and do these chores. Or, 
like the rest of us, you just chop it off when you see one and understand the 
world (garden) will not be perfect.

BTW, there is a Pennsylvania horticulturist who is doing a show on Gertrude 
Jekyll, an impersonation and readings. Maybe she will turn up at someone's 
show or exposition.  There is a whole new career, impersonating a garden 
personality and hiring oneself out to flower shows.

Claire Peplowski
NYS z4

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index