All it takes is a rain shower and you'll see weeds everywhere. Weeds peeking through summer-dried leaves, popping above brittle twigs and languid stems, greening foothills and fields that weeks earlier were dusty brown. Weeds sprouting in yards and vegetable beds. Weeds creeping down the orchard and vineyard furrows, walking trails and cow paths. Weeds strutting their stuff in suburban rock gardens, median strips, and the home gardener's flower pots.

 

The persistence, adaptability and prolific nature of weeds is admirable when you realize they comprise only 1% of all plant species. Weeds provide seeds for birds, nectar for bees and habitat for beneficial insects. Weeds prevent soil erosion. Some weeds are even cultivated for pharmaceutical ingredients. I mean, what's not to like about weeds when you're viewing their verdant turf on a distant hillside? It's the up close and personal invasion of our space that changes our perception.

 

Weeds cause a lot of grief for people who are allergic to grass pollen or poison oak. Weed control and eradication is an exhausting endeavor, especially if you make your living in agriculture. As an ordinary gardener, I've hoed and hacked many a weed in my lifetime. Wrestling mustard and thistle plants taller than I am. Tugging on annual and perennial broadleafs and ripping out annual and perennial grasses. Digging through soil on bended knee and bent back until the last visible leaf, stem, and root of these pernicious dicots and monocots are extracted.

 

Yet there are occasions when weeds work in unexpected, whimsical ways. The dandelion and oxalis are examples.

 

Dandelion 
Following World War I, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone tested over 17,000 plants in their botanical research laboratory hoping to lessen America's dependence on foreign rubber by discovering another source. In the 1930s, Russian scientists discovered that the roots of certain dandelions produce a sticky latex similar to that produced by rubber trees in Southeast Asia.

 

Since then governments and companies worldwide have cultivated and experimented with the “rubber dandelions” only to discover that they are not as hardy or as fast growing as their common cousins that populate our lawns. Today research projects are ongoing in Kazakhstan, at Oregon State, and at a carrot farm in Ohio. According to Katrina Cornish, head of Ohio State's alternative rubber production program, dandelion-rubber-soled running shoes, and bicycle tires could be in our future. (Source: Wall Street Journal, “Dandelions Ruin Your Yard but Could be the Future of Rubber” by Lucy Craymer, October 3, 2018, A-7) For more information, log on to http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/WEEDS/dandelion.html

 

Oxalis
This perennial weed, also known as Creeping wood sorrel, is a small herbaceous plant with a big reach. When its seed capsules burst open, seeds are ejected up to 10 to 12 feet. Plants also can colonize by rooting at the stem joints, adding to its invasive nature, with some tuberous species being resistant to most weed control. Native to South Africa and tropical and South America, this cute little weed is recognized by its heart-shaped clover-like leaflets. Oxalis inhabits any spot a weed can grow, thriving in sidewalks, cracks, fields, roadways and flower pots. It prefers moist soil and part shade especially woodland ecosystems of our Coast Range and the Pacific Northwest, but can survive in rough terrain and be tough to eradicate.

 

During a visit to my daughter's, I discovered the whimsical side of Oxalis. Never in a million years would I consider planting this weed in a gorgeous ceramic pot. But there Oxalis was, strutting its stuff beneath a Sago Palm. Just the sight of those cute little heart-shaped leaves stopped me in my tracks. I reached for my cell phone and snapped its photo. Call me crazy, but I think this is one time that a weed actually works. To learn more about Oxalis, visit http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/WEEDS/creeping_woodsorrel.html