Thursday, July 21, 2011

Tidying up

It took me a couple of hours to reclaim the curb and walkways from the riot of both good plants and weeds. I feel a twinge of guilt ripping out "perfectly good" flowers, but really, I have no shortage of California poppies, bachelor buttons, yarrow, salvia and lamb's ears. And I like being able to get out of the car and up to the sidewalk without having to wade through a jungle.

Just when I was done, it started to rain. You can barely see a rainbow over the top of the house.

The weeds in front consist mainly of whatever comes through the cracks in the flagstones, some persistent grass, and the bane of my gardening existence: bindweed.
Can you spot it here? It's the pretty white flowers, like morning glory and in the same family. Unlike most weeds, it's not content to just grow wherever it can; it has to wrap around and through and over until it has thoroughly strangled all its neighbors.

It's like the kudzu of Colorado.

6 comments:

  1. Beautiful! The lighting on your wonderful house is just perfect. And oh that lush overflowing garden -- you get an A++ for that too.

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  2. Gorgeous! I just wish I could grow all that variety up here in the mountains. I probably have not done all I could, though. So many things don't survive the Winter. I took a leap of faith and planted an Annabelle Hydrangea. We'll see next Summer if it survives.

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  3. Your house is lovely. We also have bindweed in Michigan but I didn't know what it was called.

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  4. You home is amazingly beautiful. What style is it?
    I have bindweed and I just let it grow onto a fence. It's pretty and hardy (aren't all weeds), doesn't require a lot of water and goes with the other flowers I have planted. I just hank out the wayward pieces that spread where I don't want them.

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  5. Your house is gorgeous! I have that wild morning glory here and it drives me crazy. Not quite as bad as the burmuda grass though!!

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  6. Thanks, Pam. We have had more than usual rain this year, so everything is burgeoning.

    Caterina, the bachelor buttons and poppies are annuals and the yarrow is quite hardy, so you might be able to grow those. The ice plant, maybe not. Good luck with the hydrangea; I would think it can do well there.

    Thanks, Richard!

    Farmlady, it is a Queen Anne Victorian, built in 1894. Your bindweed may be a less-invasive variety (there are many). This stuff will smother everything if I don't pull it out every time I see it.

    Julie, we don't have bermuda grass here, which I understand it a very good thing.

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