Blog Archives

Channeling My Inner Lizard

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Camp chairs among the sagebrush

Last weekend Brian and I headed over the mountains for a belated camping trip to Seep Lakes Wildlife Area, just south of Potholes Reservoir and between Moses Lake and Othello. This was our fourth time camping there, but a month later than in previous years because of travel restrictions due to covid-19. For the fourth year in a row we essentially had a lake to ourselves.

What’s the attraction to camping in a place with no facilities, no shade, and a habitat degraded by masses of cheat grass and other weeds? After a long, cool spring we were ready to soak up some heat. It was over 90° when we arrived and set up camp. We also like getting outdoors under a big wide-open sky with no one else around. We like wearing as little as possible, sometimes just sunscreen, sandals, and a hat. And we like hearing the cacaphony of birds down by the lakes. Continue reading →

Dancing Dainties in the Weedpatch

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English Plantain

English plantain (Plantago lanceolata) is a common weed throughout North America. Also known as buck plantain, narrowleaf plantain, or ribwort plantain, it’s one of the plants I learned to recognize and name when I was just a kid.

Easy to recognize, and not a horrid weed as these things go, English plantain is just coming into bloom along our neighborhood roadsides. Continue reading →

Stinky Bob

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Herb Robert

One of our common garden and woodland weeds here in the Pacific Northwest is a cute little geranium known variously as stinky Bob, herb Robert, red robin, death come quickly, storksbill, fox geranium, or Geranium robertianum. I usually call it herb Robert, but I hear a lot of people around here calling it stinky Bob because of the strong fragrance of the foliage. Whatever you call it, this is an introduced invasive thug — an unwelcome weed in my garden and woods. Continue reading →

A Weedy Afternoon

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Dove's Foot Geranium

I spent my afternoon yesterday among the weeds. I didn’t have to go far. This cute little flower, Dove’s Foot Geranium (Geranium molle), was growing at the edge of our front garden bed, just a few feet back from the shoulder of the road. The flower is only about one-half inch across but that bright pink is hard to miss. Continue reading →

Something Old, Something New

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Ground-ivy

This pretty little garden weed, which goes by the names Ground-ivy, Gill-over-the-ground, Creeping Charlie, or Field Balm (Glechoma hederacea) is one of the first plants I learned the name of when I was a kid. It grew at the edges of my dad’s garden in West Virginia … and it grows today in our garden in Bellingham on the other side of the continent. The name I use most often is Gill-over-the-ground because that’s how I first learned it, but out here in the west I don’t hear many people using that name.

Ground-ivy isn’t native to either the Appalachians or the Pacific Northwest; it’s another of many plant introductions from Eurasia. Continue reading →

What’s That Ferny Weed?

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Poison-hemlock spring foliage

A couple of weeds with “ferny” foliage are coming up in our neighborhood now and it’s important to know the difference. Poison-hemlock, Conium maculatum, as the name suggests is poisonous. That’s the plant pictured above. ALL parts of this plant are toxic to humans and animals, particularly if eaten. Don’t touch this plant and then get your hands near your face. Wear gloves and other protective gear to dig, pull, or otherwise remove it. The King County Noxious Weeds website has further information about poison-hemlock.

Positively identifying this plant isn’t as easy as one might wish. The best diagnostic when the plants are small is to look for purple spots on the stem and the leaf petioles. The spots were just barely visible on the plants I photographed up the road from our house, but I know from observing the site over the years that there’s a big patch of this nasty stuff growing there. The purple spots on the stem persist throughout the growing season so that’s your best clue later in the season, too. Continue reading →

Shotweed

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Garden weeds

Our garden has lots of early-season weeds, just waiting to be pulled. One that’s important to get out quickly is Shotweed, aka Hairy Bittercress or Cardamine hirsuta. This winter annual is in full bloom right now and getting ready to shoot its seeds all over the place. In the photo above it’s the plant with the white flowers, growing mixed up with Henbit, Creeping Buttercups, and Common Groundsel. Continue reading →

Henbit

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Henbit blossoms

Henbit, also known as Purple Dead-nettle or Red Dead-nettle and in Latin as Lamium purpureum, is a unibiquitous garden weed in much of North America. It’s one of the first plants I learned as a child in my dad’s garden in West Virginia. Dead-nettle refers to the foliage vaguely resembling stinging nettle leaves, but dead-nettle doesn’t have any stiff stinging hairs. In fact, the foliage is soft and fuzzy to the touch.

It’s an easy plant to identify and a rather pretty weed. Look for the somewhat velvety, triangular shaped leaves surrounding the square stem (characteristic of members of the mint family). Small pinkish flowers are nestled among the foliage at the tip of the stem. The upper leaves are usually reddish-purple while the lower leaves tend to be more green. Continue reading →