A Year of Epic Weeds

Somehow it is looking like August out there, I think in part due to the roadside weeds that are at least a foot taller now than they usually are in July, undoubtedly due to the rain.

Queen Anne’s lace, chicory, and I-am-not-sure-what—which is pretty common around here. Photographed on July 20, 2019.

The disquieting part, to me at least, is that the Queen Anne’s lace has already started to set seed. The seed are maturing inside the cup formed by the curled-up and spent umbral in the photograph below.

Queen Anne’s lace. The top umbral is flowering, while the bottom one has already gone to seed. Photographed on July 20, 2019.

The weeds are robust this year. I was taking a walk this morning and found an annual grassy weed, green foxtail, growing right out of a wall. The small patch of lawn below was all foxtail.

Green foxtail, with rapidly maturing seedheads. Photographed on July 23, 2019.

My worries in May, a wet and cool month, of a July drought were apparently unfounded. The May rain brought on a huge cohort of elm seedlings by June.

There are three plants here: flopping into the top of the photograph, daylilies; round-leaved and occupying most of the main area, elm seedlings; and wispy and grassy in the triangle point towards the bottom lefthand corner, blue-eyed grass. The elm seedlings are the weeds in this bed. Photographed on June 14, 2019.

Even though it’s late July, elm seedlings are still appearing, as are pawpaw seedlings and probably root clones as well. There is no shortage of weeding to be done, but not tonight. It is raining again.