Worst weeds, ranked!

Last volunteer day we did a lot of weeding, and I asked each of our valiant volunteers what was their favorite, or most hated, weed. Well the results are in!

Chris has no fondness for Fumaria capreolata, or White Ramping Fumitory.  This weed is delicate and ferny, but man does it grow quickly! Turn around and it's smothered the plant it "ramps' up onto using it's little tendrils. 

In some ways it's not that bad because it's an annual, and it comes out pretty easily when you pull on the roots. On the other hand, it's awful because it grows and sets seeds so lightning fast that it's impossible to eradicate, and if you grab the stem it's so soft that it breaks off easily.

Jen pulled up this beastly Malva parviflora (read the Weed Profile here) and as you can see this weed is truly awful no thanks to its huge roots. If you don't get the root out, you can expect this one to come right back too. 

Another hateful thing about it is that it seeds quickly and those seeds can sit dormant in the dirt forever. Ugh.

Leslie told me about her most hated weed in the world, but as it turns out we don't have that weed at PG! Miracles. But her second most hated weed is ivy.

Way back when they were building the freeway, ivy was planted at this location on purpose as a ground cover. And I would say it's a great choice - as long as that is the only plant you want. Its ropey vines are impossible to remove completely, so we simply give it a haircut whenever we see it, with no hope of getting rid of it for good.

And John? John's favorite weed is Oxalis (read the Weed Profile here). When I say "favorite" what I mean is he actually likes it. John likes the acid yellow flowers and the cute shamrock leaves I guess? John also likes to pull my leg... so maybe he was kidding...

Oxalis, the bane of many gardens, is impossible to get rid of because it produced millions of tiny bulbs underground... just ugh!