…for
discerning weeders
A Newsletter of the Okaloosa County Master Gardeners Association –– September 2010
MG Education Seminar, Encore Azaleas, Sept 18th, 10a-1p (Fairgrounds) Living with Weeds! If you don"t have weeds in your lawn and flower beds, you are probably living on another planet or at least not in the State of Florida. We have weeds in abundance that are not found in the rest of the country. Your lawn weeds are small potatoes compared to the weeds that bedevil the commercial growers in Florida. Larry Williams often tells home owners to lower their expectations of what to expect in the turf grasses available to us. The sweep of gorgeous green is reminiscent of a class of people who also had live-in help and a cadre of gardeners and gofers to care for a view that did not also have sheep and cows grazing on it. You had arrived when you could have grass no cows were supposed to eat. Still, the weeds are among us. We have weeds in lawns, ponds and pastures; there are weeds that are edible, some that are harmful, or pretty
Lynn Fabian
and even native. Some are invading native habitats which gets the attention of various governmental and special interest groups. There are weeds we grow as ornamentals and others that are now resistant to the methods used to destroy them in the past. Some weeds are more persistent than others: biennials or perennials stay around longer. Annuals spend one season growing and producing next year"s seeds to begin the cycle all over again. Your annuals may thrive in winter or summer but you can count on them returning next year if you do not interrupt the cycle. Weeds may be broadleaf plants or grass plants; live in soil or thrive in wet areas. They love open ground and seem to know just where we don"t want them to grow. Welcome to the wonderful world of weeds.
But a weed is simply a plant that wants to grow where people want something else.! In blaming nature, people mistake the culprit.! Weeds are people's idea, not nature's. ~Author Unknown © Okaloosa County Master Gardeners!