Gardens

[fivemack]

The great advantage of the dandelion, as far as its removal from a garden is concerned, is its habit of marking its location with a large orange flower, whereupon you have a week to remove it before it seeds.

I'm not sure how borage spreads, but the leaves are unmistakable and the flowers of a blue as garish as the orange of the dandelion; on the other hand, there's less urgency in the removal, and more disincentive since it's covered with stinging hairs.

Bindweed, however, seems to be a weed for which the term 'extirpate' is perfect; I imagine Victorian household manuals telling of the danger in being too parsimonious with the arsenic, or in allowing the mercury with which you cauterise the roots to drop below a red heat.

On a more cheerful and less destructive note, the vigorous strimming of the garden by the landlord's workmen has not destroyed the bluebells, which are starting to rear up again.

Comments

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

I'm going to test the theory this year that Tagetes discourages bindweed. That is to say, I'm going to spend happy hours winkling out hours of bindweed, and then plant Tagetes in the gap in hope...

[janetmk.livejournal.com]

Your dandelions are orange? The ones I see on this side of the pond are bright golden yellow. I wonder if we have a different variety.

[sparrowsion]

The dandelions in my lawn are bright yellow, and they're about 100yards as the seed drifts from fivemack's. So I don't know what's going on.

I don't appear to have such a bindweed infestation this year. I do, however, have far too much goosegrass, which is about the most annoying thing to pull up that I've ever encountered.