Originally I was going to title this little essay “The Changing Garden”, but decided to switch the title. The reason for this is that it's not really my GARDEN that changed so much as the succession of weeds that have populated it!
We were the first owners of “Casa de Buxton” or “Weedy Acres” as I usually refer to it. The rest of you folks who have purchased a spanking new home remember what you got: a house w/ perhaps an already put in front yard full of nondescript ‘foundation' plants (usually Heavenly Bamboo with a couple of privets) marching across the front of the house and a lot of lawn patiently awaiting a mowing. In the back yard – NOTHING but emptiness waiting for someone to start planting something . . . anything!
In our backyard, though, we had large fluffy-looking “plant balls” about 3 feet in diameter! You see, this house had been constructed the previous year and no one else had qualified for a loan on the place; therefore, the developer took care of the front – all neat and tidy and BORING, but didn't bother about the back! Those “fluffy” balls were actually Russian thistles or tumbleweeds! They were the first act of evolving weed cycles to come . . .
After 2 years of spraying (yes, spraying), those Russian thistles were gone and the next weeds to appear were Bristly Ox Tongue! A lovely member of the Aster family with none of good or pretty attributes of garden Asters. Those noxious weeds took over the entire yard and grew into behemoths which grew 6 FEET tall and as wide. Trying to stay on top of the monstrous growth while working in San Francisco was a job and half for me; I tried to keep them down, but every time I wanted to spray the wind came up with a vengeance! Ok, I'll cut you down, I thought; turns out I'm sensitive to them and got severe dermatitis for my toiling! Ok then, I'll put on long sleeves, leather gloves and THEN cut you down! A word of caution here – members of the Aster family continue the growing and seed development after being cut down; where I laid my piles had magnificent stands of this weed the following year! If you cut the plants, toss the pieces into the dumpster immediately if not sooner! Lesson learned and we went on to the next weed invasion . . .
Next up were the Oyster Salsify whose seeds are blown up Lawler Ranch Parkway until they get to my street where they signal for their turn and then are blown into my yard! Lovely things with massive taproots that are supposed to taste like oysters (you eat them, not me!-never eat a plant that has not 100% been positively identified) and are impossible to pull up unless the soil is good and wet! Three years of pulling and many garbage cans full and now I'm down to approximately 8 plants per years to get rid of. The neighbors no longer look out on rainy days to see me pulling the things out like carrots and wonder if they should call the protective services out on the weird lady working outside in the rain.
The following years were the invasion of Annual Rye Grass which grows from ½ inch to 10 inches overnight. Cutting, use of the weed eater, and pulling finally got rid of that grass and allowed the Wild Oats to take over – nature truly abhors a vacuum! The wild oats during their reign rose to a wonderful 6 FEET tall with ¼ inch thick stems! By this time, I was going just a little nuts! Why didn't I put down a pre-emergent herbicide you ask? I'm married to someone who believes that Nature should provide the 1 inch of water needed, so it was always too late to make a difference! He wanted to do the work when it was raining and if you recall, we were in a drought! Put down pre-emergent herbicide down in October for winter weeds and again in February for the summer weeds.
Now, the weeds coming round around are the really nasty ones such as the Sticky Catch Weed and the Field Bindweed. Those are tricky as the Bindweed laughs off most herbicides but I'm giving it a run for its money! The Sticky Catch Weed (or Sticky Bed Straw as I was taught) seems to just love growing snugly among my wanted perennials so it's mostly pulling out. The problem is that this weed is notorious for having a weak stem connecting root to stem so that the root rarely comes up with the stem. But I KNOW that I beat this one too!
As I've pointed out to you all, the garden does changes over time and not necessarily the way you thought it would!