Beautiful Weeds: day 18

Upon first inspection of our rental house, I was sitting on the back porch, trying to imagine us living here.  I scanned the yard, and noticed to my delight, a lovely perennial garden.  Smiling at the slender, feathery plants, I felt so happy knowing there would be flowers to enjoy. 

We sure did enjoy them, just in a different way than I had initially thought we would.  I expected to stroll leisurely through the garden, breathe deeply of the fresh flowers, and perhaps snip a few blooms for an indoor centerpiece.  Instead, the boys and I spent an entertaining afternoon pulling as many out by the roots as we could before a thunderstorm hit.  By then, they were half again as tall as you see them here.  They were no longer "slender and feathery", but thick-stalked and haggard.  They were weeds, you see.

Coming to a completely different climate than I have ever lived, I have been clueless as to what are actually weeds around here.  Things grow incredibly fast and so freakishly large.  Take this one, for instance.

Not the kid, although he too has been sprouting at a shocking pace these days.  I'm actually, though, referring to the tree-like plant behind him.  Isn't it lovely?  It looks like something I would buy at Home Depot for my living room to help get me through a long winter.  That thing sprouted and grew to that size in about two weeks.  I enjoyed watching it grow, and if I hadn't been so busy settling into life here in the South, I probably would've been watering it.  Apparently it didn't need my babying, however, because when the rose bush began to look unhappy and crowded, I realized this bugger was actually a weed.  No problem, I would just pull it out, right?  So I tried, but it wouldn't budge.  I put all my weight into it, but still it wouldn't budge.  And it's a good thing, actually, because with how far I was leaning back, I totally would've wiped out had it given loose!  I wound up needing to ask my knight in shining armor to pull it.  He actually had to dig it out.  Check out the tap root! 

Our 11-year-old hauled it away on his bike, tap root trailing behind.  With the mammoth weed gone, the rose bush bounced back and continued to thrive. In fact, it's still blooming today on October the 18th, which incidentally, is also something for Alaska Girls to love about the South. 

For more posts in this series, click here.