The weed that drives me bonkers
Weeds are a fact of life for a gardener. I try to stay on top of things, but I’m not obsessive-compulsive about weeding. However, there’s one weed that drives me bonkers: spotted spurge ( Euphorbia maculata ). It’s an annual that goes away in the fall and doesn’t come back until late spring. But when it does, it’s seemingly overnight — and it’s everywhere: Spotted spurge ( Euphorbia maculata ) It loves to grow out from under things so it’s hard to get to the center of it It also loves to grow in the middle of desirable plants... ... like this Dymondia margaritae Spotted spurge’s specialty is to pop up in particularly inconvenient spots: Who wants to reach into this dyckia clump and try to pull out the spurge? Or this silver cholla ( Cylindropuntia echinocarpa )? I like it, but I try not to get too close to it Spotted spurge is part of the massive euphorbia family. The Euphorbiaceae is the fifth largest flowering-plant family and includes members as diverse as the rubber tree ( Hevea b...