In The Garden: 2 weeds in Vancouver balcony pots

Discussion in 'Plants: Identification' started by Grooonx7, Jun 15, 2013.

  1. Grooonx7

    Grooonx7 Active Member

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    I hate killing things, but I have pulled these two plants up by the roots. They were growing vigorously amongst my fuschias, which are limited enough by the small size of the balcony planters. The fuschias are enjoyed by several Anna's and Rufous Hummingbirds here in Vancouver's West End, so I decided to intervene this time.

    —And very ignorantly, at that: I don't know what these two "weeds" are. The skinny one is unbelievably sticky, clutching one's hand tenaciously. And some of this plant which I'd added into an all-dark compost a couple of weeks ago was still green and seemingly healthy when I opened the compost container today.

    Does anybody know the names of these two uninvited guests? Thank you.
     

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  2. Silver surfer

    Silver surfer Generous Contributor 10 Years

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  3. saltcedar

    saltcedar Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    Galinsoga for the first?
     
  4. Grooonx7

    Grooonx7 Active Member

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    Well, thank you both very much. Following up your IDs, I'm sure you are both correct.

    From what I read, the Galinsoga was possibly a good one to remove. It seems it might well have outcompeted the fuchsias in the limited capacity of their too-small container on the balcony railing. The Galinsoga was growing remarkably fast, and I thought its roots were likely doing the same.

    However, the Galium aparine should maybe have simply been transplanted. It apparently is favoured by people and wild creatures alike. I may see about repotting some that I put in the compost.

    Thanks again.
     
    Last edited: Jun 16, 2013
  5. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Cleavers is quite a nuisance in gardens here.
     
  6. Grooonx7

    Grooonx7 Active Member

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    So I shouldn't rush to repot it? I was quite startled by its "stickiness" when I first felt it. It is "sticky" like Velcro—only a super Velcro. The stems seem to veritably reach out and clutch one's wrist. (Here is material for a Hollywood C-movie of the 1950's: The Cleaver Horror.)

    I didn't feel any leftover tinglings from having touched the plant.

    But you think its sticky clutchiness might be disliked by other plants sharing the immediate surroundings? That was my first concern.
     
  7. Silver surfer

    Silver surfer Generous Contributor 10 Years

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  8. Andrey Zharkikh

    Andrey Zharkikh Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    It is annual, but it will efficiently reproduce itself with the seeds.
     
  9. Grooonx7

    Grooonx7 Active Member

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    Well, this is a most remarkable plant. Of course, most of nature is quite fantastic and wonderful, in the true sense of the words. I am just quite impressed with Galium aparine's hitch-hiking mechanism.

    (I wonder if we should copy it for cars and spacecraft. We would simply attach our ball-like super-Velcro space capsules to passing comets, for example. Thereby relying mostly on the goodness of strangers, as Galium does, we would cleave our way about the galaxy. Of course, we would have no idea of our destination, but we generally really don't.)

    Thanks, everyone, for sharing your info about this super-Velcro plant.
     
  10. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    When I looked it up, one of the google suggestions of what I might have been searching for was "Galium aparine rash". There seems to be plenty written on that, as well as on how difficult it is to get at all the roots and how difficult it is to eliminate. Well, keeping it in a pot will solve that problem for you, but not for your neighbours when it arrives in their yards. You did mention that they were growing vigorously amongst your fuchsias.

    It has several great synonyms, my favourite of which is "Tongebledes". I think the common name of "Everlasting friendship" is meant ironically.
     
  11. Silver surfer

    Silver surfer Generous Contributor 10 Years

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    The common name here is Sticky Willy.

    Scientific name: Galium aparine L. Common name(s): cleavers, clivers, goosegrass, kisses, stickyweed, stickybud, sticky willy;

    Masses of top growth lead down to the soil, where it has a single very fine stalk, leading to a root that pulls out with great ease... very satisfying.
     
  12. Grooonx7

    Grooonx7 Active Member

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    not to worry, Wendy; I decided to just leave things be. Which is to say, in the compost. I'm not repotting the plants.

    Not that the neighbours would mind. We are 8 storeys up, overlooking a parking lot and an alleyway and, way down there, ever so many dumpsters. It's not a pretty sight. In fact, I designed our trellis last winter largely as a way of screening out the ugly vista. And it is working quite well; we still see through the balcony trellis, but clematis and climbing Nasturtiums are gradually creating a very pretty outdoor-drapery for us.

    (See attached photos. The two similar ones show the leaf growth in the past two weeks. The trellis itself—completely removable—is made of twigs sold commercially for such purposes; ours were leftovers discarded by a local b&b.)

    House Finches provide music, and our two species of hummingbirds have given our fuchsias their approval. Plus one or two flickers enjoy visiting the upside-down suet holder and expressing their loud satisfaction.

    The only problem is, I am often reluctant to sit out there and enjoy our teensy Eden, as I seem to be disturbing the House Finches. They have important things to do, such as feeding their youngsters; whilst I am just this one big in-the-way mammal, as intrusive as I am ungainly. I'm not bright red and I don't sing. So I'm a little shy of just being in the way.

    Our tiny balcony garden and its plants would be a mere nothing compared with so many gardens owned by folks here on the forums. Plus ours is merely rented; not owned. But, as I am not personally capable of going downstairs to a workbench and creating, from scratch, a singing House Finch; and as I am just as incapable of building a fuschia flower or a bamboo cane—I regard myself as a very wealthy and fortunate man, in a very privileged position. And you good folks on these forums have nudged away a bit of my ignorance, in providing some names for these beautiful sugar-machines in my care; for which I am grateful.

    :-)

    Edit: oops! some spelling mistakes, brought to my attention, have now been corrected.

    — Plus: the twig trellis nicely keeps Rock Pigeons out. Rock Pigeons were introduced by people, and, like starlings and House Sparrows, are ecologically intrusive here in western Canada. The Eurasian Starling plague that has devastated our native bird populations was a disaster carefully nurtured by misguided souls who wished to inflict every bird species in Shakespearean literature, upon North American populations: an example of extreme stupidity.

    House Finches, on the other hand, are a native species with far more right to live here than my own race of Homo sapiens and all our attendant concrete and noise pollution. In my own lifetime, we 7 billion humans have reduced the forests on this planet by more than half—that is, the forest biomass when I was born was more than double what it is today. As we continue to suicidally and selfishly destroy our own planet, I have no wish to play God against House Finches in this single square mile we call the West End, with its human population in excess of 50,000 people. (Yes; in one square mile.)

    It is a moot point, however. House Finches would never choose to nest on our balcony. Everything here is way too small. So nobody need worry that there will be an extra nest of native birds here amid the concrete, above the dumpsters and underneath the helicopters, where only two centuries ago the Douglas-firs reached up to 300 feet in height. No; we will not be inflicting such harm upon the harmonious tranquility of human society.
     

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    Last edited: Jun 16, 2013
  13. maf

    maf Generous Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    We call it Bobby buttons here; the other common names just don't sound right when you have known it as that. When the seeds are deeply embedded in a cat's fur they feel just like buttons on a furry coat.
     
  14. stone

    stone Active Member

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    Everybody is talking about the bedstraw, and I can't tell that anyone has offered any suggestions for the first plant.

    I'm thinking it's a sunflower, probably from the birdfeeder.
     
  15. saltcedar

    saltcedar Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    Asked and answered. Galinsoga.
     
  16. stone

    stone Active Member

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    oops....
    thanks
     
  17. Chris Green

    Chris Green Member

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    The cleavers plant, Galium aparine, has been widely used as an edible plant, and it appears to have some documented medicinal value as well. Apparently they should be harvested before the fruit starts growing, or before the silics builds up and makes them tough.... Distantly related to coffee.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galium_aparine

    "Botanically Galium aparine means milk seizer. Juice from another member of the genus, Gallium verum, was used to curdle milk for cheese making. Galium comes from the Greek word γάλα (GAH-la) meaning milk. Aparine is from the Greek verb απράζω (ap-RAH-zoh) meaning to seize. Greek shepherds would use Goosegrass as a strainer for milk and other things. As a strainer you can bunch it up or make crosshatching layers."

    http://www.eattheweeds.com/galium-aparine-goosegrass-on-the-loose-2/


    Some Galinsoga (or Gallant-, or Shaggy-, Soldiers) are also edible, and are a widely used potherb in the Orient. However, one has to be sure one is harvesting the right types, Galinsoga ciliata or G. parvifolia. (The G. parvifolia, however, can be toxic to goats...) And you need to be able to distinguish it from Tridex procumbers, which is potentially medicinal, but not an edible plant, according to:

    http://www.eattheweeds.com/galinsoga-ciliata-quickweed-is-fast-food-2/
    Not much here:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galinsoga
     

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