Category Archives: pollinators

Spring Weeds ID

As the weather warms and Spring arrives, green shoots are appearing all over the Lot. Some of the shoots belong to intentionally-placed perennials, while others do not. Trees, birds, and squirrels all have deposited seeds over last season. Weeds gone to seed because of my late-season-gardening “Meh” attitude are now appearing in the cracks between pavers, bare spots in mulch, and borders of beds I still have not formerly edged.

When I first started doing this gardening thing, I was intimidated by this Spring race toward the sunlight. What plants were supposed to be in the garden? Which plants were weeds? Which should I pull? I didn’t want to wait until the plant got too far along and possibly developed enormous taproots making it impossible to remove. Dandelions anyone?

This season I wanted to document some of the first garden weeds out of the gate. These photos were taken back in mid-April. Over the Winter, I purchased flip books from WMMGA through MSUE’s bookstore. An IPM Pocket Guide for Weed Identification in Nurseries and Landscapes by Steven A. Gower and Robert J. Richardson was a helpful guide.

Purple Deadnettle

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This first weed is purple deadnettle (Lamium purpureum L.), belonging to the Lamiaceae, or mint family. Persistence seems to be a family trait. The plant has square stems branching out from a central base with hairy leaves. An distinguishing trait belonging to this specific deadnettle is the blush of purple/red on the triangle-shaped leaves up near the flower.

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The weed is a broadleaf, winter annual. The seeds germinate in the fall in disturbed soil. I often see deadnettle on the Lot growing near the house foundation, near the borders of the still unedged garden beds, and in areas where the lawn is thin. According to the Purdue Extension, cultural control of the weed includes “proper mowing (higher mowing heights), proper fertilization (some rather than none to improve turf density), irrigation to prevent summer dormancy during drought, and aerification of compacted areas to improve turf health.” I usually hand pull it since it is not in an overwhelming quantity on the Lot.

Bitter Cress

This next weed has popped up all over the Lot this Spring. Either I had not noticed last season or I completely failed my Perception check. I don’t remember it running this rampant before.

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041416_weed1Foliage

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Cardamine parviflora (known also as Sand Bittercress, Dry Land Bittercress, and Small-flowered Bittercress) was a bit trickier to identify. I finally found it using the University of Wisconsin Weed ID Tool. Bittercress is also a winter annual. I’m seeing a theme here. However, the elongated seed pods  on this one explode, sending the seeds flying away from the plant. Not only are they in mass quantity on the Lot, but they’re armed! Ugh.

Several sites noted Bittercress preferring more moist conditions where turf is thin and even favoring shade. It is a common weed in nurseries and greenhouses, then traveling home with unknowing gardeners in the containers of purchased plants. Cultural controls to manage this include mowing or hand pulling the plant before it sets seed or even before it flowers.

Shepard’s Purse

Finally, this weed was next to the garage foundation in a new bed created last Fall where there was no mulch.

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041416_weed2Foliage

I identified it as shepherd’s purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris), yet another winter or summer annual usually found in an area of disturbed soil. MSU Extension Turf Weeds website says “Consistent mowing and patience are the key to managing shepherd’s purse.”

Can’t I Just Spray Them?

Using herbicides on unwanted weeds in the garden is a tricky task. In my experience, many home gardeners do not take the time to research the weed to eradicate. That leads to some pretty nasty consequences. In fact, when we first purchased the Lot, the previous homeowner told us a story of trying to spray for weeds in the backyard and how he succeeded in killing the entire lawn.

Yup. Grass is a plant too.

There are many factors to consider:

  • What is the weed?
  • How does it propagate?
  • Where is it in its life cycle?
  • What other plants around it can be affected?
  • How long will the herbicide persist in the soil afterward?

And there are these guys too…

Early Spring Bee Early Spring Bee 2

Here the bittercress is providing a food source for early Spring bees. In gardens with little to no blooms during this time, the weeds are available for the pollinators.

How Important Is “Weed-free?”

The Other Half and I had made the decision awhile ago not to use herbicides and pesticides on the Lot. We are not growing commercial crops. We love our pollinators, birds, toads, etc. We have four-footed garden management whom we do not want to poison. We have no use for a lawn.

In our situation, the only negative effect of these weeds are possible disapproving neighbors. We are lucky enough not to have to deal with the Joneses of suburbia, so I feel our little urban Lot is doing okay in that area as well. I continue to hand pull the weeds in the garden beds and eventually the others will be mowed and shaded out by the incoming lawn.

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – April 2016

Warmer weather has arrived at the time of this Bloom Day, a garden bloggers’ meme where gardeners across the world share what is currently blooming in their gardens. This April on the Lot is dappled in blues, lavenders, and yellows. The snowdrops, tommies, and aconite have faded, but the remaining early spring bulbs are now in bloom.

Early Spring Bulbs Gate Bed

Here is a photo of the soon to be developed, additional backyard bed where we planted a serviceberry shrub last Fall. Glory of the Snow (Chinodoxa luciliae), Blue Squill (Scilla siberica), and Tete-a-tete Daffodil (Narcissus ‘Tete-a-tete’) add little dashes of color around the budding shrub.

Early Spring Bulbs

Also blooming in the backyard are the Ice Stick tulips, which remind me of fried eggs when completely open in full sun.

ice stick tulips

Here is one of the many early pollinators I found around the tulips and other early Spring bulbs when snapping photos for Bloom Day.

bee Ice Stick Tulip

Here is an up close and personal looks at both the Glory of the Snow (with bee) and the Blue Squill.

Bee on Glory of the Snow

Blue Squill

Around front in the South bed, the Lot’s more familiar Spring arrivals are beginning to appear. These daffodils near the front steps always have the prettiest ruffles and frills.

Double Daffodils

And last but not least, our lovely Lenten Rose (Hellebore) in Loki’s bed.

Lenten Rose

There were a few times during the extreme temperature swings this Spring I worried about frost damaging this plant. However, being well established now and the first perennial plant on the Lot every season, it sort of shrugged off the frost each morning and gradually recovered throughout the day. It does a great job brightening up the shade bed where is lives.

lenten Rose Flower

Beyond some cheery violets and violas, that is about it for the Lot this month. To see more beautiful, Spring blooms, check out May Dreams Gardens.

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – March 2016

Spring is on its way to our Zone6a Lot. Bulbs I planted in Fall 2015 have broken through the ground. Birds visiting our feeders only during migration, like junco, bluejay, and black-capped chickadees have been singing. I saw my first robin last Wednesday. I heard the first flock of Canadian geese flew through yesterday… but on to the blooms!

Bloom Day is a meme among garden bloggers around the world. We share photos of what’s blooming in our gardens over at May Dreams Gardens. I agree with the hostess Carol that Spring seems a touch earlier than recent years. Looking back through my photos, March of 2012 was the most recent Spring similar to the behavior of this year.

First on the Lot are the little snowdrops we added after the Other Half took a liking to them. Over the years they have multiplied. I like the look of snowdrops more when they appear in larger groups.

snowdrops in garden bed

And then are the crocus, a floral harbinger of Spring. They always sprout up first on the east side of the house along the foundation. The yellow versions appear, shortly followed by the purple and striped versions.

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Here are the winter aconite planted last Fall. Again, the smaller the bloom, the better they seem to look in larger groups.! I also chose to plant them closer to the walkway where the snow would melt first and we could enjoy them on our way between the garage and house. I love this photo of the delicate flowers pushing up and aside chunks of soil

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I noticed like the crocus, the aconite only open up when they can turn up toward a shining sun.

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While photographing the blooms, I heard an insect buzzing around for pollen. Upon closer inspection I found a fly! I wonder how many other early Spring-blooming plants rely on flies for pollination since the bees have not emerged yet. Here is a photo of it wading around within the bloom. It had pollen stuck all over its body.

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So those are all the blooms for the Lot, but I wanted to make a note of the emerging lenten rose. I’ve trimmed back all the old growth from last season to allow room for this new growth.

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And finally, I snapped this photo as another bookmark on where the Lot is in its growth for this year. Daffodils are the next flower up, and these are well on their way. Collapsed around it are the old seedheads of sedum, one of the last plants to bloom in the Fall.

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