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

[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.