YES I DO get the urge to pull other people's weeds, but I don't. It seems rude to me. Like they aren't doing a good job. I'm sure there are plenty of people who visit my home that would like to grab a cloth and dust my blinds "for me", but they wouldn't dream of doing it because it would be discourteous and insulting too! I think the same "code" of manners applies to people's yards.
I suppose I'd feel differently if it were a public place.

But it is hard to resist that urge!!!
Patti

Yes me also!! I have to fidget with my hands to keep them off of those weeds. Even riding down the road in the car, my DH gets somewhat annoyed with me I think, I am always commenting on weedy yards. Can not help it. I guess its in our blood! :)

Jackie

My very dear New England mother-in-law, now deceased, was old school. If you saw a job that needed doing, you did it. You didn't expect pay or thanks. So, during her walks or errands along public sidewalks, she deadheaded, weeded, picked up trash, whatever.

I remember once we all went out to dinner and had to wait for her because she deadheaded the restaurant's two huge containers of geraniums before she would go in! Too funny.

If she saw self-sown seedlings along the sidewalk, she would also bring them home, pot them up and distribute them to all of us newlyweds in the family. She made me a gardener and how I miss her!

I always want to weed, deadhead, and clip dead leaves at any place where plants are sold. But I don't. Wouldn't mind if that was my part-time paid job, though!
In my own garden, I don't want anyone to touch what they might THINK was a weed, because I am letting both dill and purple Oxalis seed itself around (I know, I might regret this...) and I also have several less common plants that look rather like weeds when they are little, such as annual butterfly weed and Crocosmia.
On the other hand, my garden club was just touring my garden, and this morning I discovered that a unknown but attractive plant was a huge weed and no one told me!

I'm definitely a public deadheader and weeder. Not that I would cross someone's lawn to attack their garden, but at our beach club, or the supermarket (they plant every spring and it looks great...and then that's it!) or "curbside" if I'm out walking. Actually, it's part of that dang OCD thing... ;)

Rarely, but I do sometimes wish the owners had more "urge." Then again, I seldom know their circumstances ( we're all very spread out on acreage ) so I just hope for a prettier site in the future.

I saw a cute sign yesterday that read:

You can pick your friends
You can pick your flowers
But don't pick
Your friend's flowers

I think weeds could be substituted for flowers, too. : ) I have weeded the planters at a local diner. We know the owners and they really appreciate it. Plus, they know I know the difference between a purposely planted flower and a weed. And sometimes there is a half hour wait - there's no way I can sit still that long without doing something! lol!

Diana

How funny and timely. I was standing outside an antique shop waiting for my sister yesterday and I started deadheading some coreopsis in a wisky barrel. I didn't even realize I was doing it until I realized I didn't have anything to put the deadheaded flowers in. Oops! This am I slapped my own hand to keep from deadheading at a resturant. Good to know it's not just me! LOL

Just to let y'all know - you're welcome to come and weed in my garden anytime. Just let me know you're here and I'll make some fresh iced tea! :)

Woo-Hoo! Me too! C'mon over!

...add some lemonade to make it a half'n'half, and I'll be right there! ;)

LOL....guess I'm not as anal-retentive as I thought. Yes, I pull weeds when out walking.....not all the time, but if I see something particularly heinous, then out it goes. I tried pulling a thick, tall weed the other day while walking with my neighbor....and got a sticker splinter for my trouble....perhaps I should carry a pair of gloves?

I get the urge, too, but DH has forbidden me! I weeded a bed of impatiens once at a Cracker Barrel restaurant while we were on vacation (there was a 20 minute wait--what else was I supposed to do when they were looking so overgrown and I was missing my gardens so badly!?) and it embarassed the kids so much that I had to promise to restrain myself from ever doing so again!! I knew the things I pulled were weeds, and I would never dream of just attacking a private bed without permission!

omg!!!!! Yessss!!! I actually only ever DO IT at a friend's house. In return, she berates my house-keeping skills!!!! lol.

I do it, any time and any where. Sometimes I will go visit a neighbor -- walking the dog or just to visit a friend, and while we are talking, I will weed anything that's close. Lots of time I will sort of direct them over to another area one I finish one and plop on the ground and weed while we are talking. Sometimes I hand them the leash so they can hold the dog. LOL!

I also direct them on what they can do to get rid of the weeds that you can't pull -- thistle or something. I give them the brand name, how to apply it, and the cheapest place to buy it (that I know of)!

I also quote the old addage: "Never let a weed go to seed."

Soon, I will do my next door neighbor's mulched area that has little baby box elder tree seedlings in it. If I don't, it will be harder when they get big and he gets around to it. OR if he never gets around to it, I'll have a forest of box elders shading my sun -- can't have that!

I also can pull poison ivy with my barehands and I pull it, too.

I didn't even think it was rude. Didn't even consider the possibility. I do it at my sister's houses, friends, other gardeners, and public places, too. Not that I am out on the highway or anything, but I will stop and pick up trash, weeds, whatever while I am out.

More New England ancestry coming out -- "Idle hands are the devil's plaything" and all that.

Doubt I'll stop myself, but I guess now that you brought it up, I shall have to apologize while I'm doing it. LOL!

Lime

P.S. I have stopped short of sending letters out to people who let grass grow in the seam between the asphalt road and the cement curb, but I have called the city to take care of it many, many times. They take forever to get to it, and that's why I would like to write the homeowners, but I don't.

Actually, no. I find a lot of weeds look great in the right setting - and where do you draw the line between weed or not? I grow comfrey, nettles and various 'weeds' as herbs and salad leaves. And I'd be mortified if some stranger started pulling up my plants.

Melanie

The thing about NOT pulling weeds that I see is that I just cringe because I'm afraid that when it goes to seed, the seeds will blow to MY garden or maybe it's descendant's seeds will make it to my garden...especially the tall roadside weeds.

Theresa

I have to restrain myself, too but quite frankly I'm not always sure what I think are weeds...are really weeds.

I know for a fact that I have pulled up seedlings in my own garden thinking they were weeds.

Ever notice how much a poppy resembles a dandelion when it first emerges? Let me just say that my display of poppies were not quite as lush as they should have been! :-)

Marilyn

I thought I was the only one!! I pulled some out at my brother-in-laws's house, but usually I control myself. I ALWAYS dead-head geanium's though-it's an addiction.

I am a neighborhood weed picker. Really only my neighbors across the street and next door. Next door gets a lot of volunteer seedlings that probably come from my yard and if I see them I pull them. Usually right in front of him though, I'm not hiding anything. Just that he probably missed it while he was cutting.

My neighbors across the street love pretty plantings but don't love planting them or caring for them. It is my hobby and habit. They call me their weed slave. We hang out, drink wine after the kids go to bed and I just talk and pull weeds and have even been known to grab the shovel and edge their non-edge when it gets overgrown. They love the look and I love the work. It works for all of us.

This is a topic I love to talk about. For years, I've been wanting to have a weed party. Do I send out invites ? I talked to my family about this and they just didn't seem too thrilled about the idea. (too much work, you think ?) I said I"d go last. For instance, my sister-in-law is having a birthday party for her grandson(my great nephew) from 2-4pm, and I suggested that we get there at 12pm to weed out her flowerbeds. Then do someone elses next weekend. There was alot of silence. Do I take that as a "I don't want to" ? Will I be the only one there ?
When I go to peoples houses, I pull weeds. I love it.
"All the weeds you want"
"Free weeds, you pull"
In exchange for pulling weeds, I usally come home with flowers I don't have yet. Just the other day, I got Sea Holly ! and Chives ! So far, I've got thank-you's. I hope they feel that way in private and not insulted. Alot of people don't have the time to pull weeds.
I live in Toledo,Ohio. If you need weeding and live close, let me know ! e-mail me with address and I will come.
miner@buckeye-access.com
Marlo

I have sat down and weeded the library's flower beds. It killed me to walk past their beds week after week and see those horrible weeds. One day I finally plopped my behind down and weeded a section. I figured I was saving myself a few tax dollars :) Someone must have noticed, I saw fresh layer of mulch the next time I came by.

I have also pulled dead daylily stems from a restaurant's flower bed. I was on vacation even! I made a comment to my family about not being able to stop myself and someone who was walking in behind us started laughing and offered to let me come weed his yard!

On the other hand, a gardening friend of mine came over a week or so ago and as I was giving her a tour she bent down and pulled a weed. She told me she couldn't stop herself. I laughed and said, "go for it."

Lisa

I only go after weeds when I know the people wouldn't object (usually while I am standing in their yards talking, my second-favorite outdoor recreation!).

If I see something on the invasive/noxious lists, though, I'll talk to the owner and explain what they are and what to do. Most people don't mind the info, because they just didn't realize. I've stopped an invasion of purple loosestrife in our neighborhood wetland (all our backyards) and am working now on common buckthorne.

OTOH, I was digging out some giant burdock along the back of my garden-in-progress, and before I knew it, I was two lots over! I swear I don't know how that happened! Got some great roots (they are good to eat-same thing as gobo), and kept the stuff from taking over. I don't mind letting a few plants grow, but my garden doesn't have much room. And my neighbors appreciated the fact that I got them out before they bloomed. Flowers aren't bad, but the burrs are wicked.

Dayle Ann

Hahah- great thread. I have to stop myself from soing these thigns when i am at friend's BBQ's and such. Ofcourse if the friend is a new gardener and doenst knwo any better and takes interest, i will show them how to do it.. Or if I know they woudl do it but didnt get to it- i pull it. But I went to a neighbor's BBQ and her rose bush was covered with dried up brown blooms and not a single new one coming. I wanted to pull them off an dDH wouldnt let me. hhaha

I'm always pulling weeds between the fence to my neighbors yard. They're NOT gardeners in any way, shape, or form. If I don't yank the clover, the seed will shoot into my beds. I have enough clover of my own, thankyouverymuch. They don't mind; they actually thank me when they get back from vacation to find their weeds miraculously disappeared. Luckily, they don't have much of a garden to weed, so it doesn't bother me, but you'd think they'd put in some kind of effort, grrrrrrrr.

Don't even get me started on their unpruned reseeder from hell, a Rose of Sharon. I'm sooooooooo tired of yanking hundreds of seedlings.

Oh, and they just left on vacation...

Hi. Haven't posted in over a year and usually at GJ, but this thread struck me as funny. Yes, I sometimes want to pull weeds out of others gardens and have been known to "fix" public container plantings. It's almost embarrassing! My gardens are not exactly weed free however, so it's not a huge urge.

One experience taught me to respect others gardens, though. When I had a seed company, I often had customers come to purchase seeds and they would tour the gardens. We garden organically and at the time my kids were small, so we spent a lot of time "learning" in the gardens. One day a gentleman customer took it upon himself to "rid" one of our apple trees of a large cocoon that was hanging on a branch before I could say a word. He said, "You sure don't want that hanging around in your garden." Problem was, we DID want it hanging around. The kids and I had been monitoring it for weeks and were anxious to see what type of moth or butterfly would eventually hatch out of it. Needless to say, we were sad. I didn't tell him the difference because he was a customer and because he crushed our insect experiment and wiped it on the grass. I'm very careful now to remember that everything is not as it appears and sometimes beauty really isn't in the eye of the beholder.

balsam - that is a good point. My friend who berates me for my house cleaning skills also pulls out half of the plants I bring to her, because she can't tell a weed from a flower. My dumb a@@ neighbour actually pulled out all of MY hollyhocks, near the property line because she THOUGHT they were weeds......sigh.

ntaylor - a "friend" shouldn't be berating you for your housecleaning skills. Sometimes friends have a little too much opinion - I guess we all have sometimes ;o)

Luckily, I don't have neighbours whose yards border on mine (rural woodland) so I don't have to worry about them pulling my plants out!

I responded about my weeding my neighbors but I guess I should clarify that I pull grass where there shouldn't be grass and petunias from the middle of the yard where there shouldn't be petunias. I did offer him to replant them in his landscape but he doesn't plant flowers. I would be hostile if somebody yanked a plant for me but not an obvious patch of crabgrass. At the same time if I'm pulling weeds I'm always the one to say, "I don't know what this is, want to just leave it and see what it does?". He always says yes. LOL.