I'm really bad with odd-ball plants... while I find them cool, I'm just not very knowledgeable. This is growing out in my trees thought I'd post it here to see if it looked familiar to anyone, before I spray it down with roundup.

We call those Chenopods!!! In the fall we rip them off the pine trees that they invade and thow the "pods" at each other -- makes for great family fun!!

But seriously they can choke out what ever they attach themselves to so get pulling!!!

thanks Christine, sounds like fun!!
I posted it also on the plant id forum... looks like it is a wild cucumber, but not edible. so yes I will be getting rid of it. The DH has seen it like you describe & kept telling me it was very invasive... but I had to ask..lol thanks for the help.

Any time and now I know what the "real official" name is of it!!

I'd never seen it before but will now be on the look out................Thinking something I do NOT want?

no I don't think you do want this stuff.. I've been watching a lot more closely & by golly this stuff is growing in alot of peoples trees & seems to really bring down the shrubs.. making them look really icky... glad I got rid of it anyhow.

It's a native annual vine, Echinocystis lobata.

Nice to see you, Lori, here at ATP.
I am sure we will all learn from you as I have been doing on other forums.

This Northern Gardening Forum is a little slow over the winter, but picks up nearer to spring.

Caroline, looks like you got dumped on in Calgary, we have 3 or 4 inches of snow and it's -4/24 so that's not too bad.

Hi, Caroline,
Thank you for the warm welcome! I'm sure I'll be learning a lot here. I see a lot of good info posted and have only started browsing around through the site.

Yes, it seems all the gardening forums are pretty slow these days. With our early onset of winter, I'm looking around to get my gardening fix, I guess! Were you able to make it to the CRAGS meeting the other night? I got home rather late and with the snow and roads in bad condition, I dissuaded myself from making the drive. Dang, I was looking forward to that one.

Echinocystis lobata is actually quite fragrant. I try to keep at least one in the yard every summer. They do seed around (with big flat watermelon-like seeds) but are easy to pull up.

Lori, nice to meet you, I'm sure you will love it here at ATP.

Thanks and nice to meet you too, Margaret. I see you are in zone 3 too. So many BC gardeners on the various forums seem to be from the warmest areas (zone 7-8) so it's nice to see that the colder areas are represented here!

Lori: I did not get to the CRAGS meeting.
I joined in the spring and have not made it to any meetings.

Gee, I wouldn't mind having some of that nasty "weed." Looks kind of pretty to me. I wonder if goats can eat it without harm?

Woofie, I don't know.. since I'd seen it that one time, seems now I see it all over the place. Takes over the trees even and strangles out the other plants
I know goats are a hardy animal... but??? gosh I just don't have an answer for ya there hun.

I had a heck of a time trying to keep it under control this last year, there were seedlings of it coming up everywhere. All I can figure is the birds had a good time with transplanting it... keeping me busy