Spotted Knapweed - blech!

[jwg]

Spotted Knapweed (Centaurea maculosa) is an invasive weed that has been pretty successful in its establishment on our front lawn/meadow. Once there was just one of them and I kind of liked its flowers and appearance - big mistake! I've been at war with it this spring/summer digging it up.

It looks like this now except that it is embedded in the grass.

Sometimes it just pulls up but usually I need an asparagus knife to dig it up since it's root is pretty solid. This tool is supposedly used to scrape asparagus stems, however I suspect that it is only used as a weeder - and a good one at that. I also used it to dig up some plantains and dandelions today.

Comments

[vasilatos]

I used to use one of those exact things on dandelions!

[rsc.livejournal.com]

By the way, the plantain referred to here is not the Common or Broadleaf Plantain (Plantago major) -- of which we also have a fair amount -- but its larger cousin the English or Buckhorn Plantain (P. lanceolata), which is a relatively recent addition to our long list of plague plants. I earnestly hope that jwg got all of it.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Spotted Knapweed (Centaurea maculosa)

...or possibly Brown (C. jacea) or Black (C. nigra) Knapweed, it's hard to tell for sure.

[wrholt.livejournal.com]

That stuff! I found it in our yard a few weeks ago, too, and spent a couple of evenings pulling it up...