Anchorage Daily News

I was stunned by what I saw during a walk last week. You should be as well: invasive weeds all over the place, especially narrowleaf hawksbeard and butter-and-eggs.

The contrast was clear because it's been exactly a year since I've been on the "evening loop walk" with Jude and the dog -- the result of a nagging foot problem that has finally faded in the past weeks. It was great to walk without thinking about my foot every other step.

In just one year there has been a drastic change in the proliferation of noxious weeds. They are heading your way if they are not there already.

Of course, there are the soon-to-be-flowering-everywhere butter-and-eggs, aka Linaria vulgaris, about which I keep harping. They used to be a cute little oddity here, and people imported them into their gardens. Now they are everywhere, and I mean everywhere, from the alleys of downtown Anchorage to the finest perennial gardens in Southcentral.

Butter-and-eggs, sometimes called toadflax, began to self-spread about five years ago as few understood that a single plant can produce -- and I hope you are sitting down -- 30,000 seeds in a season. Yikes! One plant can support an invasion of battalion strength. Ah, but you never find just one Linaria.

In sunny locations, Linaria is already blooming, maybe even starting to set seeds. On my walk I saw it along foundations, the bike path, in driveways and around mailbox posts. It is a big pest about to become a bigger problem. Pretty soon it will start to choke out other stuff.

The second plant I was astonished to see all over the place was narrowleaf hawksbeard, scientifically known as Crepis tectorum L. You've seen them. They look like dandelions on steroids, with flowers that look almost exactly like dandelion flowers but on plants that are 1 to 2 feet tall. The plant branches and has multiple flowers. The leaves are described as "lancelike," about 4 or 5 inches long. And guess what? They are narrow.

I don't remember seeing nearly as many plants last year, though there were some. In prior years Jude would collect a handful along our walks. This year she would need a truck to transport what is out there. It is that fast, folks. Numbers are dramatically up. This isn't a good thing. This is an invasion by landscape terrorists, and the terrorists already have their beachhead.

Here is the rub: Each hawksbeard flower produces up to 70 seeds that look almost exactly the same as dandelions seeds, white fluffy transport mechanism and all. Unlike dandelions, however, a single plant can have 10 or more flowers. And don't fail to take into consideration the advantage over the dandelion those 12 to 24 inches of height give the hawksbeard when it comes to dispersal.

It is really time for all gardeners to face up to the terrorist threat and the fast establishment of cells in our yards and public lands. The two that are so evident now are joined by a hawksbeard look-alike, perennial narrow-leaved hawkweed (see the fuzz on the stem), and the rhizome-spreading plants as well as orange and red hawkweed, bird vetch and a dozen others throughout the season. We are being invaded, and we need to defend ourselves.

Please, all area gardeners, spend time today viewing the information at www.cnipm.org, the site of the Alaska Committee for Noxious and Invasive Plants Management, a group of dedicated government officials and volunteers who are as concerned as you should be. Bookmark the site, learn to identify the plants and take action to defend the homeland. And pull some of those weeds when you take your walks.

Preventing plants from seeding is the first step for controlling populations. No chemicals needed. Hand-picking plants is the only way a homeowner should try to deal with them, unless you have patches where you can use a weed-eater, flame heat or a Burn Out spray.

The hawksbeard is an annual with a very shallow taproot and is easily controlled. In lawns, the flowers hardly appear due to mowing. Butter-and-eggs has a perennial root system, and it can be extensive. It is easiest to just overmulch after picking flowers. You will find all the information you need to take care of the others from the CNIPM Web site.

And join Jude in picking invasive weeds when you take walks.

Jeff Lowenfels is a member of the Garden Writers Hall of Fame. You can reach him at gardenerjeff.googlepages.com or by joining the "Garden Party" radio show from 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays on KBYR 700 AM.

Garden calendar

• DELPHINIUMS: Stake them -- stop putting it off.

• APHIDS: Some meadow rue plants always end up covered by sticky, gray aphids. Are these sacrifice plants for the ones nearby not touched? Spray with cold water and knock them to the ground.

• CLOVER IN THE LAWN: Welcome to the new world. Clover is good. Lawns with clover are healthy lawns. We were duped to think otherwise.

ADVERTISEMENT