Field of Science

Nasty imported soil yields new weeds

Mrs. Phactor is death on weeds, and she knows the worst ones by name, reputation, and depth  of rooting.  An interesting thing happened as a result of refurbishing our lily pond.  A load of topsoil was imported to landscape the cascade, and it came with its own population of weed seeds.  Naturally a fine crop of weeds popped up on this massive disturbance, and as we slowly get this area tamed, the weeds have to go.  Oh, but Mrs. Phactor got quite a surprise because alien topsoil brought in some new species of weeds, ones not already in our estate, unfamiliar to her, and very, very unfortunately one of them happened to be Urtica dioica, stinging nettle.  Now she actually knows this plant, but was not expecting to see very juvenile seedlings, which are still quite capable of giving you a nasty surprise, and pulling them by hand, without gloves, well, you know what happened.  Do not bet on the nettles; Mrs. Phactor will extract her revenge upon them. 

1 comment:

Eric said...

I had Urtica pop up in the middle of a newly planted Baptisia straight from a good nursery, an import for sure since it has never been around here. Handsome plant, but it had to go. They say revenge served cold tastes best. I had other ideas. I carefully wrapped the wanted plant in newspaper, making it look as though it were ready for mummification, and then sprayed glyphosphate on our stinging friend. The Baptisia and I lived happily ever after. Revenge served hot is still pretty tasty.