Or bitterweeds, Tom. I don't know what else they are called but they are short with bright yellow blooms and lurk along roadsides. Once they get in the pasture and the cows eat them the milk is so bitter you cannot drink it. Curses on the Bitterweed!

Barbara,
I did battle nutgrass at my second house.. I was in my 30's and bound and determined to get it all, and I did! I just had a small patch in the front..maybe 3-4' in diameter... It took me awhile to chase down every root, but I did...

Oh gosh.. When I was just learning to garden at my first house, there was some wild garlic blooming out in the pasture behind our house. I thought it was charming, dug some up and planted it in the garden. I think one of my more knowledgeable friends gasped in horror when I proudly told her about my incredible find. Needless to say, I got rid of it tout suite! I've got some here on the down slope to the creek.... but I've got bigger battles to fight, so I let it be.

The woman from whom we bought our house gave up on gardening after her DH passed away. The backyard was nothing but weeds and the occasional grape hyacinth and red and yellow tulips. Everything else had gone to rack and ruin. We had the scrub it all and start over.

The worst of the weeds was bindweed. Ugh! That stuff was everywhere! After 11 years, I have finally got it eradicated in most places. I still have 2 spots I'm battling. But I'm winning! I have done nothing but hand pull it as I will not use chemicals unless I have to and I haven't yet. I worked too long and too hard to get the good bugs, the honey bees and hummingbirds to come here.

If you have bindweed in an open area, you might try soil solarization.

I tried that in a couple places and all it did was laugh at me. It traveled as much as 8' to pop up elsewhere. Hand pulling had gotten to be very zen for me. Lol I very much enjoy ripping the devils from the ground. Bwa ha ha ha ha!

So another is wild mint, but it smells wonderful when mowing the lawn!

Oh Celia, I feel your pain with bindweed, OMG, that stuff is terrible! Some had been growing in a spot next to the house where it is shady and I hadn't installed any garden plants. Nearby, I had grown some Japanese morning glories, and didn't realize the bindweed had crept in among them. After that, the gardens suffered a couple of years of neglect, and during that time the bindweed exploded and took over 3 beds. Back when I still used chemicals, I had tried round up on it, and it only burns the leaves- they come right back. So for the last 2 years I have been diligent in pulling every sprout I see. That's really about all you can do, but eventually it does work. By the end of last summer, sprouts were less frequent, and very small and weak.

The roots of bindweed travel everywhere, and they're brittle, so each little piece that breaks off starts a new plant. I found it impossible to get the roots out. I read an article about bindweed that said you have to pull out sprouts every 2 weeks for 2 years to get a handle on it- and that sounds about right.

Why is it that the things we do not want growing are tenacious and super vigorous and the things we buy and plant just seem to languish.

Mother Nature and I have different design ideas sometimes, although I'm always sure she'll love it when she sees it!

LOL Neal!

I agree, Neal. I just keep denying it chlorophyll and eventually it dies.

'Design ideas...'

grannysgarden said:Why is it that the things we do not want growing are tenacious and super vigorous and the things we buy and plant just seem to languish.

Kinda sounds like healthy food vs junk food.
Barbara

I have some "Mint" that has been hard to get rid of. It's really good at come backs!

Mints are tough. I like keeping mints around because they deter rodents, but its not easy to contain. Been working on ridding one bed of pineapple mint for years now.

Poison Ivy is also something I have been struggling with the last three years. It does not help that I am allergic to it.

Most people are allergic to P.I. I think we can all do without that one. It was coming up in the middle of a clump of a Siberian iris last spring. John dug it out, but the iris didn't bloom.

The PI I have is in well established Rhododrendons. I am going to have to remove everything in order to finally remove the PI! Bummer.

Greg, how do you remove PI? Are you thinking the rhodies will have to come out? I have resorted to roundup from time to time, but now I just protect myself as much as possible and dig it out. There are several mature blue spruces here, and when I moved in most had poison ivy growing underneath and up the trunks. Had to remove some bottom limbs from some of them to access the PI and honeysuckles underneath.

Neal,

That is my plan. They (Rhodos) are very mature, but I think it will the best way. I get to make sure I get it all of the PI out as well as three or four Maple sapplings and as an added benefit, I get to paint the two gararge windows that badly need some TLC.

I would replace with a different variety of Rhodos. This would give me the sneaky option of "filling in the space" with irises (temporarily of course) until the rhodos mature.

Crafty, Greg!!

Poison Ivy is one of the plants that I will use Round-Up on. Don't have to use much -- cut a large plastic bag open and use it to cover the plant you want to protect, exposing only one leaf of the poison ivy. You don't have to spray it -- you can dab a little bit on a poison ivy leaf with a Q-tip.