Hairy Bittercress

The annual deep purple bloom of Purple Deadnettle and Henbit in Ohio farm fields and a purple haze rising over lawns may conjure a nostalgic pop culture smash-up. These non-native showy weeds belong to the mint family, Lamiaceae, as evidenced by their square stems which is a family trait.

As I was outside soaking up the glorious October warmth and sunshine, I suddenly noticed little flecks of green scattered out in the landscape beds.  Intrigued and forever curious, I wandered over, saw what was growing and I got a twitch in my eye.  I remembered receiving an email from a reader telling me that I should remind everyone about seasonal timing and control of this despicable landscape curse.  I wrote this Spring (April 23, 2021) in an attempt to stem the tide of the prolific green horde of wicked plants taking over the garden world...but of course, they have...

How many of us have gone outside to smugly look at our gardens that looked pristine and in excellent shape heading into the winter?  Then in the Spring, as we emerge from our winter hibernation to survey our domain… We are shocked!  What the heck happened out there because there are tufts of green weeds everywhere!  A gardening friend asked me what this green thing was, because he had already pulled or dug up two wheelbarrow loads of them!  The prolific green demon belongs to the mustard family (Brassicaceae) and is known as Hairy Bittercress (HB) or Cardamine hirsuta...

Many among us have found ourselves confined to quarters over the last few weeks.  During times like these, I find I have more time to be observant in my yard and garden, resulting in the inevitable shout of, "WHAT IS THAT????"   Perhaps some of you too are noticing new plants or critters as you soak up the sun on days like today!  While out walking my cat, Mew Mew, (a superstar plant-lover in her own right) we got ourselves tangled up in some winter annual weeds, Hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) and  Catchweed Bedstraw (Galium aparine).  

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