Weeds that Get to Stay

  Well, today I have to report a breakdown of the internal systems. I worked on things in the morning and then lost focus and energy. Sigh.

These weeds get to stay in the rock garden until further notice. First up is a Cyperus schweinitzii. MI Flora calls it Rough Sand Sedge. It likes dry and sandy soil rather than wet areas like most Cyperus and Carex. It showed up in my gardens as soon as they were gardens, and because I have an affinity for these brown and green plants, I just like it. It's those long skinny stalks. It's too tall and not very showy. But I still like it.

Here is the seed head. Pretty classy I think. It gets a Coefficient of Conservatism of 5: native, kind of average.

If you look down on the dirt in the first picture, you'll see a low matted plant. That is Spotted Spurge, or Spotted Sand Mat, Euphorbia maculata, yes another Euphorbia! Wikipedia says it is native, MI Flora isn't so sure, saying it could have been introduced very early. However, it assigns it a trash plant value with a Coefficient of Conservatism of 0. Zero. Anyway... It's not too ugly, and it covers up spaces that are bare dirt, and it's easy to rip out when other things fill in.

This is Silvery Cinquefoil, Potentilla argentea, an alien, and fairly aggressive. I do let it stay in a lot of places, though. It has yellow blossoms, but not showy. Mostly the silvery leaves are interesting. Again, it just serves as a temporary filler, and doesn't develop huge root systems that are hard to get out.

You could make a case for the violets also being weeds, but they are nice weeds. I'll see how many bloom next spring. They could be a nice addition, although I tend to think the rock garden is too dry for them. And they get chewed the rest of the season. I think the grazer must be something very small, chipmunk or ground squirrel because I don't think anything bigger got through the fence. If some violets get to stay, I need to choose where.

Maybe tomorrow I'll be back on track.

See Up the Middle