How to track a wild weed

Do any of you have any recommendations for a weed reference -- either print or online? I've gotten quite curious about the various things in my garden that I am assuming are weeds -- basically anything I didn't plant myself this past year. I suspect that a few things might have escaped the purge of landscaping that we did last summer, which means I might be ruthlessly exterminating some plants I might actually keep in the yard.

I did that once with Forget-Me-Nots, when they took over a small area of the yard some years back. This year I wound up buying some to populate a shady strip, and I'm loving the bright little splash of blue they provide.

I'd like to know which plants are weeds (those nasty little invaders) versus which plants might be left over from the untended mess that used to be our yard. Any thoughts?

My favorite link is to the University of British Columbia. Let me see if I can give you the website...http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/weedguid/weedindx.htm

I 'm interested in weeds also - have tons of them at my lot in Mason County. Susan

I do google search, browse the DG forums, or reference my little pocket-size book called "Backyard Guide to Selected Obnoxious Weeds" (Second Edition, 2002) that is published by the Pierce County Noxious Weed Control Board.

I picked the book up at last year's spring garden show in Puyallup. There's a number on the front -- 253-798-7263 -- I bet they'd probably pop one in the mail to you. It's pretty helpful; has photos of the plants, along with common and latin names, descriptions, and what herbicide or mechanical method to use for control. It has a lot of weeds that are common to our area (e.g., chickweed, buttercup, broad-leaved plantain, horsetail).

When doing google search, I generally search on the common name plus "invasive" to learn about the plant (e.g., "california poppy invasive"). [Years ago a household 1 block away planted California poppies and the following year, everyone on the block had them popping up in their yards!] I try to stick with plants that are either easy to control via mechanical methods (pulling) or seeds seem to stay within the yard rather than blowing abundantly about the neighborhood. ;-) Gotta say I love the forget-me-nots and pansies, however, and they both like to self-sow.

I wish the nurseries and seed companies would do a better job of indicating "invasiveness" on the plant/seed labels. Two years ago I picked up some cute little four-leafed clover plants (oxalis) only to check them out later on DG and learn that they're quite invasive. As a result, those little guys came right out of the ground and got put in the composter. At least I got them out before they took over! ;-)

Photo: Pacific Science Center's Butterfly Room :-)

This message was edited Apr 1, 2007 7:30 PM