Fireweed.

You're not talking about the wild geranium are you? Do the leaves have a real strong soapy smell to them when you pull them up?

A......

Here is a link that might be useful: Herb Robert

It MIGHT be fireweed, the only thing that's different is the flowers do not shoot up in a spike-like form, they are small little pink flowers that appear at the top of the plant but hang over the sides. But the leaves do look similar, except they are reddish from the seedling and the leaves are smooth on the outside.

Ok, after doing an extensive search online for the Fireweed, I found out that fireweed is part of the Epilobium family. The one in my yard is the Epilobium hornemannii, common name "Hornemann willowherb" and it's different than the Fireweed.

Okay, now that I know what it is...HOW DO I GET RID OF IT??? Really, it's taking over my property!!

I'm an organic grower, so I would have to say pull them all before they go to seed, mow them down, or put down something they can't grow through. They are a minor but persistent problem in my yard, preferable to thistles, blackberries, dock, and 20 kinds of wild grasses, some with obnoxious seeds with needle-like ends and backward facing spines to keep you from pulling them out. Not to mention stinging nettle, horsetail reeds, and long festoons of cleavers....:-)

I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN!!! I have so many weeds in my yard that there really isn't that much I can do except pull them. They all grow throughout my beds and pathways. My landscaped area is surrounded by woodlands and I get invaded by blackberries, shot weed, alders, this Hornemann willowherb and many, many more. I try to weed a little every day, but I have other projects and I can't just dedicate myself to weeding!!! I wish I could just get a robot to do the weeding for me! :o) :o)

Is it really that bad? I just asked about it in another post. I'm trying to hide an ugly wall of sprayed blackberry. Neighbor's don't control it, so we are forced to spray every year. I thought Fireweed would look good in front of it. Any other suggestions for something else that I won't have to take care of. I did plant a few Rugosas this year there.

Pacnwgrdngirl- Have you considered bamboo? I have P. nuda but there are lots more. It is gorgeous, evergreen in winter, in fact the leaves kind of shine in the sun and look so nice when everything else is bare or dull. It's very useful, in a few years you can start cutting canes for tying up tomatoes, etc. I'm not intimidated by running bamboo because you can cut off the canes or dig them but many people don't want to grow them. There's always the possibilty of using a barrier. Also, if you want fruit I'm crazy about Aronia. It is a very handsome but deciduous shrub and bears lots of berries. They are extremely high in anti-oxidants, taste good cooked (but not raw) and are so easy to harvest as they are in nice clusters from one point and all ripen at the same time so it's easy to break the clusters off and strip them later into ziplocks in the house. No picking off ripe berries one by one like with blueberries, raspberries, and black currants.

Judysgardens- About the willowherb, do you remove it after pulling it? Some plants can keep ripening seeds after being pulled. I have bags and bags of weeds that are going in the trash to try to prevent re-seeding. I sympathize, the weeds are really getting me down too. I'm out trying to get one bed done a day now that I have the vegetables in. Describe your layout and where you have the weeds. I have long beds of daylilies, roses, and irises, and now have solid weed grasses coming up in them that get away and start going to seed before I can deal with them. If I had a free source of wood chips or lots of money I would put chips on thick and try to smother all the weeds.

I'm also very frustrated with weeds right now. Yellow clover in my flowerbeds is my biggest problem. It is really hard to pull and it sprays seeds when you touch it. I don't mind the white clover in the lawn but the yellow is invading all my sedums and groundcovers.

There is also a flat reddish weed that hugs the ground that is a problem.

I'm glad Portland picks up yard debris for free every other week though I wish it were every week....

Hemnancy, I just checked your page and it seems like you have a similar situation to mine. I live on 5 acres, about 1.5 are landscaped and the rest are thick woods in the Cascade foothills in North Bend. Last year, we cleared and made weed free, a 3500 sq. ft. area and then planted wildflower seeds this past February. They've started growing and some are even flowering, but these willowherbs are blanketing it and not allowing many of the young seedlings to get enough light or water. Also, I have a large sloped area (approx. 1/8 acre) that I have about 150 redtwig dogwoods, oregon grapes, and the ground cover is salal (which is finally starting to grow this year). That has about 5 inches of mulch and it's still bad, but not AS BAD as the other areas. Then I have a rock garden, terraced rock beds, several large perennial beds, pathway borders, etc. Oh, and this year I'm growing vegetables in 4 4x4 raised beds. But, even in the front of my house where I spent many hours last year putting down landscape paper and 3 in. of bark mulch, they are EVERYWHERE!!

Last night I spent 2 hours after I got home from work pulling just the willowherb from the wildflower area, and some of the other large areas. I have such thick woods surrounding me that I just take the buckets of weeds way out into the woods and dump them. I feel much better today.

I think I'm going to get a large amount of corn meal gluten, which is the main ingredient in Preen and is a pre-emergent herbicide and put it on the areas that I don't want these seeds to sprout. I can't put it on the wildflower area because I am counting on all the wildflowers reseeding to make it thrive. After I get things under control, I am going to purchase about 10 yards of bark and gradually put it on the areas that still has open dirt exposed.

I love gardening and there is nothing I'd rather do than garden. I'll post some pictures of my landscape tomorrow, so take a look if you want to see what I've got. Sometimes the weeds do get me down (a little), but I just keep plugging away at them.

Pacnwgrdngirl - Heavenly bamboo (Nandina) would be a great choice for your hedge. It is evergreen in our region, has gorgeous reddish green leaves, is not invasive and grows about 5-6 feet and is drought tolerant. A great shrub!

Sounds good ! My parents actually have a couple different types of bamboo at their cabin. One has black canes, very pretty. My dad cuts them for me for my garden. Very useful and pretty stakes. I've just always been a little afraid of bamboo. I know I shoudn't be. I've never grown it before. Is is possible to divide my parent's?

(Off to Portland for a long weekend. Catch you guys all next week. :o)

If its range does include western WA (I don't know, have never heard of it) then maybe you really do have that one there. Otherwise, the common weedy annual fireweeds of Seattle are E. ciliatum and E. brachycarpum. If it turned out you actually had one of those instead it wouldn't knock me over.

These both have tiny flowers. How wide are those of yours?

Some beautiful hardy species grow in tight clumps under all circumstances.

That's it!! Most of what I pull is Epilobium ciliatum. I also see little ones that grow in bunches almost like a ground cover. Are they the same variety? I think I also have the other varieties with narrow leaves as well, but I pull hundreds of the Epilobium ciliatum.

I'm so glad you asked the question and bboy answered! I've wondered all spring the ID of the weed I've been fighting.
DS and I both have acreage and it's a battle between us and E. ciliatum!

I can't remember seeing it before this summer but this is the second year I haven't used a pre-emergent. Weed eater & Weed-b-gone is my control at the moment.

Appears to like moist exposed soil. Diligent mulching would probably help quite a bit.

Well, unfortunately, it likes about any kind of soil on my property. And, it grows on top of the mulch. It is a huge problem in my heavily mulched beds where, I guess, the seeds flew in and germinated. And, in my wildflower area, it doesn't get much water and is pretty dry, it is flourishing! Just my luck!!

I think the key to solving this situation is to get rid of them by pulling them ALL, and then putting down a pre-emergent. And to reapply the pre-emergent on a regular basis if new ones appear.

What kind of mulch? Fine-textured mulches like screened compost or fine bark are almost like spreading potting soil over the ground (annual fireweeds often pop up in pots among other plants, too).

Here is a link that might be useful: Bark Mulch

I just use the medium bark from North Bend Sand & Gravel. I got 12 yards delivered last year. That's the same kind of bark I've been using for years and it definitely works on stopping weeds from growing up from the dirt. I really don't think the bark is the problem since these weeds are everywhere on my property. I just think possibly it was there in a smaller amount last year and the seeds flew everywhere causing it to be a huge problem this year. I don't remember it being a huge problem last year, so I may not have kept all the weeds pulled like I should have. It's the same with the shot weed. I tried to keep them down last year, but this year they were totally out of control!! I just finished dealing with them when this willowherb weed started popping up everywhere!

I'm pretty sure these are not coming up out of the ground and that they are germinating from seed on top of the ground. Especially, since the roots are very loose on the surface.

You might find this thread interesting in regard to having a wildflower meadow. It might answer a lot of questions for you. I personally had a disaster when I tried not mowing and having wildflowers. My whole yard was covered with dock flowers going to seed.

Here is a link that might be useful: eco lawn

Shotweed also comes up in mulches that have decomposed to become like potting soil or forest humus, or where there are thin spots. Bark mulch often has to be topped off every year to maintain integrity.

Try wood chips. Last year I was using purchased cedar chips that were really great - clean, fragrant and resilient but apparently the supply has since been diverted.

I let some fireweed grow and yes it seeds around but I think the tall pink spires are great. I've been told they are not considered weeds in England. I also live in the middle of woodlands and pasture and the weed battle never ends. This year for the first time (I've been here 30 years) I have the tall yellow clover that someone else described. I suspect the dark red low growing plant described is a clover....if it just wouldn't bloom and get straggly I'd probably decide to let it stay in some places. I definiely have my favorite weeds, the skunk cabbage, Queen Anne's Lace, plain old daisies and some buttercups in damp places......jwww

hemnancy, actually, I'm not too worried about the wildflower meadow having grass mixed in. I purposely did not put any grasses in my seed mix when I planted it because I knew the grasses would grow naturally. I have hundreds of perennial seedlings coming up, columbine, foxglove, sweet williams, shasta daisies, lupines, black eyed susan and english wallflowers. I was mainly concerned with the willowherb that was taking over, but I went out there and weeded for 2 hours and got most of them. I will finish the job this weekend. I only pull a few of the spreading grasses or thick clumping grasses when I see them or the tall grass if I see it's going to seed, otherwise, I'm just letting the grasses be. I knew from the get-go that I would have to weed and pamper the wildflower meadow the first year because I planted mostly perennials and they do not grow large and bush out until the second year. I added cosmos and poppys just so I'd have some flowers the first year. They're coming up now giving the area pretty orange color.

bboy, the wood chips sound like a good choice and I'm planning to mulch again later this summer, but I thought wood chips let light in because they don't cover as tightly as bark. And, where do you get them? Do the local soil, bark and mulch suppliers have wood chips, too?

I think the ones we were getting were being sold for play area use. However, these were not as coarse as what I am used to being offered for that "application." Otherwise, free arborist wood chips mentioned at my link would be obtained. May have to wait until one is working in the vicinity, approach the crew. Only time this has backfired for me was once getting giant morning glory (Calystegia sepium) in a load. It has since spread all over the yard.