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King County, Washington

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‘giant hogweed in hand’

Published April 3, 2019 at 1504 × 2016 in Learn about noxious weeds at upcoming classes in April and May

Giant hogweed

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King County Weeds Instagram

Meadow knapweed is starting to break free of its coppery round buds. This hybrid between two European knapweed species is alarmingly well suited to western WA habitats, from sunny fields to rocky areas, it can thrive and dominate other plants. Yes the flowers are pretty! And it doesn’t look that bad. But trust me this plant is hard to control, spreads easily by seed and can eventually replace pasture, rangeland or native wildflowers depending on where it’s growing. Photos by Tom Erler. #meadowknapweed #knapweed #centaureamoncktonii #centaureajaceaxnigra #prettybutinvasive

Does this look familiar? Lapsana communis is its Latin name and nipplewort is its rather odd common name. Makes for giggles when teaching plant ID but I believe the name refers to the small flower heads that are like tiny dandelion flowers. In any case, I call it lapsana to avoid that problem. Is this plant invasive? Well it depends on your perspective. Yes it seeds prolifically and spreads into all sorts of areas from backyards to urban forests to rural wooded areas. I regret very much letting it go to seed in own little slice of land. However, it does seem limited to those disturbed areas and edges of natural areas where all sorts of other nonnative, weedy plants have taken root in the Seattle area. So I believe the jury is still out on this particular visitor from overseas. If you don’t like it and are trying to get rid of it, pull it in the spring and apply thick mulch over cleared areas. Best to replant infested areas with other spring plants such as native herbs like bleeding heart, fringe cup, avens and piggyback plant, mixed in with sword ferns perhaps. Just don’t tell yourself, oh it’s not that bad, maybe I’ll just let it go this year. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ #gardenmistakes #liveandletlive #withlimits #lapsanacommunis #nipplewort

Poison-hemlock is starting to go to seed so please report it with King County Connect or with link in our bio. Or pull it out if you can, with gloves! #poisonhemlock #pullitnow #poisonousplants #toxicplants #coniummaculatum

Come and see the fascinating water weeds Ben found for our lake weed watcher class! Monday, June 17, 6:30-8:30 pm at Lake Wilderness Lodge in Maple Valley, co-hosted by City of Maple Valley, free and open to everyone! Come learn how to save our lakes from these wily water weeds! Photos by Marta Olson. #lakeweeds #weedwatchers #aquaticweeds #lakes #aquaticinvasivespecies #volunteertraining #citizenscience

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