I SAY THANK YOU to the University of Chicago Press for investing in “Weeds of North America” (above) by Richard Dickinson and France Royer. The Canadian authors have created a massive work (800 pages paperbound) covering 500 of the continent’s pest plants, including aquatics. Key ID tips include not just flower and foliage photos, but also images of seeds and seedlings.
This serious reference volume illuminates other reasons to consider the plants as pests, beyond the space they steal from natives. Such traits include toxicity to livestock (like milk thistle) or transmitting a disease to a valuable crop (like barberry does with a rust affecting wheat, or hedge bindweed, chickweed and common burdock do in cucumber mosaic virus). Did you know that purple nutsedge is the world’s worst weed, affecting 52 crops in 92 countries? $35 cover price ($25ish on Amazon). All my favorite field guides are here.
for the hardworking feet on your listAT GARDEN OPEN DAYS and just around and about, people often ask me about the big black boots (top photo) that I often wear. I confess I have had my Muck Boot tall “Hoser” style pair since not long after Muck started marketing them. They are indestructible, it seems, and comfortable in all but hot weather. The current version, which is slightly different from my oldies, is about $110 at Amazon or from Muck.
WANT SHORT, waterproof boots instead? My little black rubber ones from LaCrosse get a lot of “Where’d you get those?” questions, too. Read more on awaytogarden.com