Instrument of Grace

Hairy Bittercress - One Pesky Weed

When we moved to our current home in 2003, we moved one county to the west. It was about a 20 minute drive from our old home to our new one.  Most of the same weeds grew in our new yard, but there was one I'd never seen before.  I tried to research it online, but I never found it.  I searched through every weed database I could find, but it wasn't there.

One day, in my online searches, I came across the Maryland Cooperative Extension Service/University of Maryland Home and Garden Information Center.  I was able to "ask the expert" and I found out my weed, which was all over the place, was hairy bittercress. Once I had the name, I had a wealth of information at my fingertips.

Here's what it looks like:

It's a winter annual that starts showing up in very late fall or early winter.  By the time the warm days of spring roll around, it's already throwing seed all over the place.  And yes, I said throwing because the seed capsules literally explode. You do not want this weed in your garden, so if it shows up, get rid of it early.

Here's some information about this pest.

Scientific name:  Cardamine hirsuta

It's a member of the brassica family and it has a tangy flavor.  When eradicating it from your yard, pull it up and add the leaves to your salad.  Rosettes range in size from 2 to 6 inches across. Stem fragments can root and grow, so make sure you get the whole thing when you pull it up.

Although most of what I've read says it's common to dry, sunny places, I have this weed all over my yard. It grows in the sun and in the shade, and it seems more common in areas that are slightly moist.

It grows in much of the United States except the central and upper midwest.  It's also found in the far eastern and western provinces of Canada. Some information I've read indicates this weed is not native to the US, and it likely originated in Europe or the UK.

If this pesky weed is showing up in your garden now, don't wait for spring. Put that hoe to good use and get rid of it before it starts tossing seed.

Here are some links for additional information.

UK's Garden Organic information

Additional information from a UK site

Virginia Tech's page

Longing . . . .

Every year, just after the holidays, I start wishing for Spring. Some days I don't notice it, and other days it's almost unbearable. On days when it's bitter cold, there's a fire in the stove and the snow is gently sifting through the bare tree branches to blanket everything with a fresh coat of white, I'm content.  It's those sunny days, or even cloudy ones, where the temperature gets near 40 degrees, that I start to get antsy. Usually a cold day with ice or snow will come along to get me back in winter mode, but it gets harder as the days tick away and we move ever closer to the spring equinox.

On the days when the longing is surfacing, I can usually distract myself with some hobby or chore. And then those colorful, wonderful, unbelievable (dratted, insidious, far-too-early) plant catalogs begin to arrive. When the first one hits my mailbox, I'm a goner.  Yesterday, it was White Flower Farm.  Today, Lord help me.

Years ago, the White Flower Farm catalog's arrival was like receiving a free encyclopedia in the mail.  I read it cover to cover, and I learned a lot in the process. These days, I don't read it like I used to - it's too hard to read and turn the pages once the drooling has started.  I don't order from White Flower Farm very often because their prices are quite high and because I try to buy as much locally as I can. But that doesn't stop me from looking at the photos and longing . . . .

Yesterday's arrival proved no different. I turned the pages and I wanted. But something else happened, too.  As I turned the pages, I recognized plants I'd introduced to our garden just last year, most of them bought as babies and all bought late in the season. I didn't have much of a chance to see these plants grow and bloom before they faded in the fall, and now they are just dry sticks in the sleeping perennial border. Seeing photos of those plants in full bloom made me remember. Hey! We have THAT one! And now I'm longing for something different. I'm longing to see those new old plants emerge in the spring, grow and flower for the first time in my garden.

One of the plants was a pass-along Baptisia I received as a pot of seedlings. Will they bloom this year? And the coneflowers! I can't wait for the Double Delight and Coconut Lime. The Eupatoriums, the Anemones, the Lobelia, Aesclepias, Agastache and Monarda. The Crocosmia and all the bulbs.  I hardly had time to know them before winter arrived, and now I'm longing to see them again.  Oh, yes, there's still the longing for new acquisitions, but I'm out of room. For now, I'll have to be content with the plants I have. But I'm longing . . . . longing to see them all again. 

More Green Than I Expected

Gail of Clay and Limestone had an interesting post about there being too much brown in her landscape. Her post made me think about my own landscape and whether or not it was too brown. After reading her post, I walked out back and looked around. I was surprised at what I found. There is a lot of green still showing in my garden which contradicts my belief that winter is brown and white.  Here is some green showing in our yard and garden.

In the way way back corner, there is a columnar blue cedar, Cedrus atlantica 'Argentea Fastigiata,' and an American holly, Ilex opaca.  You can barely see the holly, it's just visible in the left side of the photo, partially hidden behind a naughty, falling over Buddleia and some Boxwoods of unknown variety, but the cedar stands out well. They are near the edge of the drainage swale that separates us from the neighbors.

Up in the little kitchen garden just off the deck, three little dwarf boxwoods, Buxus sempervirens, sit in the middle of the bed keeping some Parsley company. While our garden designer insisted we needed evergreens there, we are reworking the kitchen garden in the spring, and they will be moved elsewhere.  We'll likely also move the dwarf Mugho pine, Pinus mugho, although it seems to finally have settled in, and I hate to disturb it. You can't see the pine in this photo, but you can see all the "leftovers" from our perennial bed redo. I watered and checked them Saturday, and all seemed to have survived the 12 degree temperatures of last week.  Unfortunately, all the Hairy Bittercress survived and is green, too. Pesky weed!

Looking over toward the top of the swale, you can see how green much of the grass still is and the little Skip Laurels, Prunus laurocerasus 'Schipkaensis.'  We planted the laurels two years ago, and they've doubled in size with most of the growth occurring this past summer. I love their glossy green leaves.

Finally, looking straight out back to our back border, you see a lot of green.  There's a background of yews in the neighbor's yard.  In front of that, from the left, we've planted aucuba (Aucuba japonica), dwarf Skimmia (Skimmia japonica), pyramidal yews (Taxus cuspidata 'Capitata'), mongrel Nandina (two passalongs that don't appear to be the same variety and one seedling), another Aucuba and three Sweetbox (Sarcococca ruscifolia).  Just above that last Sarcococca, you can see one of our two Mahonia bealei. Can you tell which yews were planted this year and which were planted last year?

Not included in these photos of the back, we also have a tiny Cryptomeria, a struggling Hemlock I've been nursing, four Pieris japonica (two Purity and two Mountain Fire), two beautiful blue-green leaved hollies that were here when we arrived, and a Viburnum rhytidophylloides 'Allegheny.'

On the other side and out front, we have six Rhododendron yakushimanum 'Yaku Princess,' three Ilex crenata 'Sky Pencil,' four Juniperus chinensis 'Pfitzeriana Aurea Old Gold,' several variegated Euonymous (variety unknown), some Liriope and a columnar yew, Taxus x media 'Hicksii.'  And I can't forget the bulbs who have already poked their green heads above ground.

Even though we're well into winter, there is a lot of green out there. Just stopping to look and seeing all that green lifted my spirits.  How much green do you still have in your landscape?

But Wait, There's MORE!

I usually throw periodical solicitations right in the trash.  I subscribe to what some would consider an unusual mix of magazines.  I have a couple of hobby magazines which I will not renew when their subscriptions run out.  I also subscribe to Southern Living, Archaeology, Science Illustrated and Fine Gardening (a gift).  I get solicitations for new subscriptions in the mail all the time, and I rarely give them a second glance.  One exception was Science Illustrated. They suckered me in, and our whole family has enjoyed the result. A lot.  As long as they produce a fun-to-read, informative magazine, we'll keep subscribing. But they are the exception.

A couple of days ago, I got a solicitation that made me take a second look. I know that was the intent, but I don't think the sender wanted that second look for the reason they got it.  As I sifted through the various leaflets and cards in the solicitation, I felt like I was listening to a Ronco or Popeil commercial.  Remember those?  Veg-o-matic ring any bells?  I had a good laugh, but maybe the laugh was on me.

Come along with me for a moment and immerse yourself in the latest solicitation by Horticulture magazine.  Yes, I said Horticulture.  And for the record, I used to subscribe many years ago. I enjoyed the magazine, but I thought it was a bit pricey. Being pricey is OK if I'm getting equal value from the magazine. I wasn't with Horticulture - I wasn't quite "evolved" enough as a gardener at that point.

The main letter/leaflet in the packet was a lovely green. It started with these words, "If you think you know Horticulture, think again."  It goes on to say, "Because the "new" Horticulture is the magazine of gardening that you've been waiting for. Eye-catching and energized, it's focused on imaginative, practical, "real world" solutions to your gardening challenges."  And guess what?  You get two years for the price of one! 

If you weren't swayed by the two-for-one bargain, how could you resist the claim the magazine's been rethought for a whole new generation of gardeners?  It's more pictorial.  FAR (their emphasis) more pictorial. It's more helpful.  It's for all regions. (What?)  It's MUCH more accessible, more opinionated, as authoritative as ever.  Still not convinced?

There's MORE!

If you subscribe now, you get two free gifts!  These two free gifts are Designing with Perennials and Designing for Shade, which appear to be publications of Horticulture.  Are you hooked yet?  Come on!  Two years for the price of one, two free gifts and all the incredible promises?  How can you resist?  You are seriously going to walk away?

Then wait! There's even even MORE!

If you respond within 10 days, you will get a third bonus gift.  That's right! A third gift.  Admit it, most of you struggle with container planting.  I know I did until I read The Renegade Gardener's helpful post on container planting.  But you don't need the internet.  You can have your very own copy of Designing with Containers from Horticulture.  A full year free and THREE free gifts? 

I wasn't convinced.  Then I picked up the last leaflet.  Right there on the cover, it says Horticulture understands why I garden.  I'm almost there. And then, on the next to last page of the leaflet, there it was.  "HOW to finally beat the weeds . . . . " 

Take out that red stamp pad and the big "S" stamp.  Smack that red impression on my forehead. SUCKER.  Yeah, I'm subscribing.  For scientific research purposes. To see if their claims are true. Yeah, that's it.  I'll let you know what I find . . . . . . . . .

A Happy New Year - NOT

Not that we had any great plans for New Year's Eve that would be ruined. Still, one of the last things I expected at 10 a.m. Wednesday morning (December 31) was a call to my office from Garden Punk.  "Mom, the power is out.  I've called Dad and he's on his way home to fire up the generator." 

OK. We did have a wind warning, and were supposed to get high winds until about 10 p.m. that night.  We used to have a real problem with the power going out when the wind blew, but that was a several years ago, when we moved into the house.  The power company seemed to have solved the problem.  And those outages we'd get seldom lasted for more than a few hours.  This time, the winds were supposed to gust up to 60 mph.

I fully expected when I got home from the office and dentist at 3 pm that the power would be back on. Not a chance.  My expectations lessened as I drove home, because I saw limbs and even entire trees down on the way home.  Garden Man had a good fire going in the stove, so the house was tolerable.  Thinking we might have to make do a little longer without power, I gathered up candles and flashlights so we'd be ready when it got dark.  Thank goodness we'd planned our traditional New Year's Eve dinner of fruits, cheeses, crackers and smoked salmon. No cooking required!  We ate by lamplight, powered by the generator (which we ran every other hour or so to keep the freezer and fridge cold).

After dinner, we sat in the family room illuminated by the fire and the glow of a few candles.  I sort of liked it - no TV, just us sitting and talking.  But after a few hours, I began to get noddy. I suppose a full stomach and the dark will do that to you. Even Garden Man looked sleepy, so we decided to turn in for the evening.  I know I was hoping the power would come on during the night, but I didn't expect it with the way the wind was howling. At times, it even felt like something was actually hitting the house.

Garden Man thought it best that he sleep on the sleeper sofa in the family room so he could keep the fire going and run the generator on and off through the night.  Garden Punk thought that sounded cool, like camping, so he thought he'd sleep on the sleeper, too.  We made up the bed and they tucked in.  Our dog decided she'd sleep with them, so I headed upstairs to bed.  Even though the upstairs was cold, I was toasty warm snuggled under my down blanket.  After about an hour, Garden Punk decided it was too warm by the fire, so he headed upstairs to his down comforter, too. 

Poor Garden Man was up most of the night, stoking the fire every hour or so and running the generator.  When I got up around 6 am, he'd made coffee, so I sat by the fire with my coffee, wondering just how long this adventure was going to last.  We were OK, but the novelty had certainly worn off. I was thinking a shower would really be nice . . . .

The power came back on at 3 pm, so we were without power for 29 hours. Luckily we didn't lose any trees, but I can't say the same for our neighbors.  Although Garden Man and Garden Punk were seriously mourning the lack of bowl games, I suppose we were none the worse for wear.  But it wasn't fun, and I don't want to do it again. New Year's Eve 2009 is not one we're likely to forget soon.