What's up with the weeds???
The first year we lived in our townhouse, the neighbours kept telling us what an avid gardener the previous owner was, and praising her skills. So, when a vine started sprouting under the deck, with ivy-like leaves and lacy white flowers followed by spiky kiwi shaped fruit, I assumed it was a proper garden plant. Even though no-one at any of the local nurseries could tell me what it was.
The second year we lived there, my husband got into a bad bike crash in May and what with going back and forth to the hospital and doctors appointments, the garden got neglected. So one day I looked out and noticed that this pretty vine had (within a few short weeks) grown up through the deck boards, wound around the chairs in our patio set, and was smothering the tomato plants in their pots. Clearly this was not just a pretty vine. After a lot of searching, I discovered it was something called Bur Cucumber, and it's considered an aggressive weed... in places like Oregon. Not generally known on the Canadian prairies, which is why no-one could identify it.
Now I've identified the odd purple-flowered climbing thing planted out the back corner of the house. You guessed it, another weed - climbing nightshade! I suppose the previous owner found these plants on her travels, thought they were pretty, and brought home samples and seeds. Funny no-one noticed that she was growing things classed as noxious weeds. I guess the neighbour's gardening knowledge was even more limited than mine. It's kind of funny, really.
While we were in England last week, my husband's niece told us about the neighbour to the back of her taking the opportunity of one fence section coming loose to come into her yard, cut her ivy down to the ground along six fence sections, and then presumably poison it, as it hasn't returned. Their excuse was that they needed to do this to re-attach the one fence panel. (yeah, right) When I told her about the bur cucumber vine, she asked me to send some seeds. I think she was only joking....
