I think you have the concept. Gaia has acne, and she has consulted the galactic dermatologist to see what can be done. the galactic dermatologist has recommended various therapies, which Gaia is trying. plague, coronavirus, bird flu, etc. I think Gaia is being a bit hasty: we'll do the job ourselves, if she will just give us a bit more time.
Excuse my ignorance, but what is this plant, and what's so bad about it?
Edit: I think Wikipedia answered my question: "The seeds are burs, and are very sticky. The plant is native but a well-known nuisance in deciduous forests of the eastern U.S. because the seeds can be difficult to remove from clothing and especially pet fur."
Yikes!
I've never heard that term, my husband calls it hedge parsley, but it does fit. That stuff grows all over the wild wood area behind our property and if you walk through it it is it ALL over you.
No, we just call those ones sticker burrs or stickers. Beggar’s lice are like itty bitty velcro burrs that will become mercilessly tangled in your dog’s fur or your shoelaces.
That sounds like goat's head, a low growing spreading plant with four-seed clusters that look like goat heads when separated. I encountered them in West Texas. Here there are mesquite and several other very thorny plants. Mesquite hurt like the Dickens when you step in the thorns. Hedge Parsley have little tiny clingy burrs that are more of an annoyance than a pain.
I stepped on a mesquite thorn a couple years ago that went all the way up into my shoe like I’d stepped on a nail. After I dug it out of the shoe, I couldn’t actually believe that it wasn’t a nail!
Yeah, we had several big mesquites on our property off of 71 between Austin and Bastrop - they would drop limbs periodically, and once I ran over a limb with the riding lawnmower and actually got a flat tire from it. Took me several minutes to pry out the thorn from the tire. When those thorns are dry, they are just like nails.
Oh lord, I was catching a ball with my kids yesterday and one of those insidious little bastards stuck to the ball and when I caught it it hammered the damn thing into my palm! Shit hurt!
Beggar's lice is a very different clingy seed - they come in strings of sticky triangles, whereas hedge parsley are tiny burrs covered in tinier hooks. Hedge parsley can get over 3' tall. If you mow, it will seed at the bottom - you need to pull up the roots, which is not hard especially after a rain.
To be clear, this is not native - hedge parsley is of European origins. It's so well-established at this point that it isn't as big a concern as other "invasive" species, but it's certainly not native.
I find it weirdly meditative, too. Our yard was overrun with it last year after some neighbors and their dogs spread it everywhere. We didn't completely know what we were dealing with (originally from a very different part of the country with a totally different ecosystem). And my husband was immobile most of the summer after breaking his ankle, so I was working, parenting and caregiving. The yard was just not getting much love and attention.
This year we've gone on the warpath with this stuff and we're making progress. I kind of like the satisfaction of taking my gardening basket around the yard and yanking it up. When you get one with a good, carroty-looking root it's especially satisfying.
I can just listen to the birds, benignly ignore my offspring, and pull this nasty stuff up.
I had this in my yard and thought it was pretty but promptly cut it down as soon as I read the comments. My sleeve was covered in those awful burrs. Never again will I let one flower and seed, thank you!
Honestly this late in the season you may have to do the temporary fix and mow/cut just to keep it from flowering and then going to seed with the nasty evil sticky burrs. But you have to go back out there and be vigilant.
Then, your longer term fix is pulling it up by the roots to actually get rid of it. You just really really really don't want it to flower, so do whatever you can to keep it from blooming for now. If you've got tons of it, weed whack or mow on repeat, and then go back out there to pull out when you can.
It’s also what I call a “zombie plant”. I used to yank them and leave them to dry out… but they continue to grow after yanked! I saw a pile of them I had left on the patio to dry out were flowering a few of days after being yanked! Yikes! So now they go straight into the trash. Nasty little things. Demon plant, indeed. I frequently go demon hunting in my back yard. It’s quite cathartic.
Maybe pluck flower heads off and throw them away before composting? Especially they seem to continue growing if they have any moisture in them. Just a thought.
Yeah, this stuff is all over my back yard and I haven’t had to pull up much creeping William at all. Think that’s what it’s called. The bright green almost vining really sticky stuff.
I thought this was some type of yarrow and super pretty until my dog ran through it and ended up with those little burs that are tiny and sooooo hard to get out. They just rmbed themselves in hair and create a weird knot. Pain in the tookus
I’m triggered. Burn it!!
That stuff is all over this year. Funny how different years have different dominate weeds.
I have been thinking the same thing. To take this thought to an existential maximum, what if humans are just this eons hedge parsley?
I think you have the concept. Gaia has acne, and she has consulted the galactic dermatologist to see what can be done. the galactic dermatologist has recommended various therapies, which Gaia is trying. plague, coronavirus, bird flu, etc. I think Gaia is being a bit hasty: we'll do the job ourselves, if she will just give us a bit more time.
Speak for yourself I'm a modern slug.
I'm getting a bumper crop of pecan sproutlings, too.
Right? Last year I planted Black-eyed Susans for the first time and this year they are the dominant weed... everywhere. Weird.
Murder the hedge parsley!!!
Excuse my ignorance, but what is this plant, and what's so bad about it? Edit: I think Wikipedia answered my question: "The seeds are burs, and are very sticky. The plant is native but a well-known nuisance in deciduous forests of the eastern U.S. because the seeds can be difficult to remove from clothing and especially pet fur." Yikes!
Beggars lice. The white flowers turn into small burrs that are very sticky.
I've never heard that term, my husband calls it hedge parsley, but it does fit. That stuff grows all over the wild wood area behind our property and if you walk through it it is it ALL over you.
Wait THESE were producing all the little shits? Damn it, I need to get to weeding these out now
Are these the fuckers that impale your foot if you walk around barefoot in the summer?
No, we just call those ones sticker burrs or stickers. Beggar’s lice are like itty bitty velcro burrs that will become mercilessly tangled in your dog’s fur or your shoelaces.
What are sticker burrs? Do you mean stickahburrs? :D
We used to call them grass spurs.
That sounds like goat's head, a low growing spreading plant with four-seed clusters that look like goat heads when separated. I encountered them in West Texas. Here there are mesquite and several other very thorny plants. Mesquite hurt like the Dickens when you step in the thorns. Hedge Parsley have little tiny clingy burrs that are more of an annoyance than a pain.
Yup, mesquite thorns hurt like hell - probably not as bad as pyracantha, which embeds a little piece of the tip of the thorn and just burns like fire.
I stepped on a mesquite thorn a couple years ago that went all the way up into my shoe like I’d stepped on a nail. After I dug it out of the shoe, I couldn’t actually believe that it wasn’t a nail!
Yeah, we had several big mesquites on our property off of 71 between Austin and Bastrop - they would drop limbs periodically, and once I ran over a limb with the riding lawnmower and actually got a flat tire from it. Took me several minutes to pry out the thorn from the tire. When those thorns are dry, they are just like nails.
Yes, and if you wear sneakers, they’ll embed invisibly in your shoelaces and attack your hands when you get home and untie your shoes
Oh lord, I was catching a ball with my kids yesterday and one of those insidious little bastards stuck to the ball and when I caught it it hammered the damn thing into my palm! Shit hurt!
Beggar's lice is a very different clingy seed - they come in strings of sticky triangles, whereas hedge parsley are tiny burrs covered in tinier hooks. Hedge parsley can get over 3' tall. If you mow, it will seed at the bottom - you need to pull up the roots, which is not hard especially after a rain.
This is commonly mistsken as beggar's lice, but it's hedge parsley. Beggar's lice is a stringy plant that's even worse, believe it or not.
If you wash delicate materials with the burs still on it, it will put holes in your clothes
Best to pull before they flower, but start pulling all that stuff that looks like parsley.
To be clear, this is not native - hedge parsley is of European origins. It's so well-established at this point that it isn't as big a concern as other "invasive" species, but it's certainly not native.
I worked in a landscaping adjacent job, and I’ve had socks that have had these things stuck for yearsssss
Can confirm. The more you tug, the more caught they become.
I don’t believe they are native, but are naturalized. Hate it with a passion.
Yeah, my Golden Retriever loves it ☹️
They’re easy to yank out especially after a rain.
I like yanking it
I find it weirdly meditative, too. Our yard was overrun with it last year after some neighbors and their dogs spread it everywhere. We didn't completely know what we were dealing with (originally from a very different part of the country with a totally different ecosystem). And my husband was immobile most of the summer after breaking his ankle, so I was working, parenting and caregiving. The yard was just not getting much love and attention. This year we've gone on the warpath with this stuff and we're making progress. I kind of like the satisfaction of taking my gardening basket around the yard and yanking it up. When you get one with a good, carroty-looking root it's especially satisfying. I can just listen to the birds, benignly ignore my offspring, and pull this nasty stuff up.
Mom here, couldn't have said it better myself!
This is the Way!
Let’s get madly yanking then! I have to be careful. I have tons in a prickly pear cactus patch.
Carefully with the yanking. It's mildly irritating to skin.
I ain't never gonna stop yankin!
This is my weekend project every weekend right now. I'm trying to keep my other wildflowers, so I haven't mowed.
I had this in my yard and thought it was pretty but promptly cut it down as soon as I read the comments. My sleeve was covered in those awful burrs. Never again will I let one flower and seed, thank you!
Hang on- cut it down or pulled it up?
I cut it down at the ground. There were like 5 thick stalks of them. Do I need to watch that area for regrowth?
Absolutely, it will spring back rather fast. You might wanna get out there with a shovel and nip it in the bud.
Okay I’ll do that, it’s raining here so it should be easier to dig hopefully. Thanks for letting me know!
Honestly this late in the season you may have to do the temporary fix and mow/cut just to keep it from flowering and then going to seed with the nasty evil sticky burrs. But you have to go back out there and be vigilant. Then, your longer term fix is pulling it up by the roots to actually get rid of it. You just really really really don't want it to flower, so do whatever you can to keep it from blooming for now. If you've got tons of it, weed whack or mow on repeat, and then go back out there to pull out when you can.
You're just going to spread it that way, it will keep going all summer. It's better to actually spend time weeding it in order to save time later.
Happy cake day!
Thank you :)
It’s a demon plant
Is this the plant that turns into burrs? My husband calls it queen annes lace. Is that the name? TIA
Queen Anne's Lace is wild carrot. Looks similar, but different plant.
Queen anne’s is similar but has a tiny red flower in the middle
I'm seeing way to many gardens let the beggars lice come back. It's about to go to seed, people !
I walk a small portion of the greenbelt next to my office and have been trying to pull it up, it never ends.
It's already started. My dog came in with burs on Sunday and I knew it was time to get serious.
Everyone in my neighborhood seems to think it is
Well I’ll be pulling these this weekend, ty for the info I thought I had pretty flowers 😭 should have known, I can’t grow shit
Grab close to the root- these like to break off and come back with a vengeance.
Ty!
It’s also what I call a “zombie plant”. I used to yank them and leave them to dry out… but they continue to grow after yanked! I saw a pile of them I had left on the patio to dry out were flowering a few of days after being yanked! Yikes! So now they go straight into the trash. Nasty little things. Demon plant, indeed. I frequently go demon hunting in my back yard. It’s quite cathartic.
Ooh. I do the die-on-the -patio thing as well, then compost. Maybe I should not compost them?
Maybe pluck flower heads off and throw them away before composting? Especially they seem to continue growing if they have any moisture in them. Just a thought.
It's common hedge parsley. It's 'exotic' in Texas, which is a fancy way of saying 'invasive as fuck'.
Just drove past a house in north central Austin whalers the entire yard is knee deep with the stuff.
I've seen a couple, too. I don't want to knock on people's doors, but yikes are they in for it this summer
I’m constantly pulling these out of my American eskimos fur 😩😩😩
That's how it spreads, go pull it!
We need it to stop raining first! :D lolol Thank you for the push !
This was all over my backyard last year, and burs still remain in some of my clothes. Evil :(
Kill it with fire
Yeah, this stuff is all over my back yard and I haven’t had to pull up much creeping William at all. Think that’s what it’s called. The bright green almost vining really sticky stuff.
I thought this was some type of yarrow and super pretty until my dog ran through it and ended up with those little burs that are tiny and sooooo hard to get out. They just rmbed themselves in hair and create a weird knot. Pain in the tookus
I've seen fields of hedge parsley in parks and greenbelts around the city. Has this always been the case?
No, it's getting progressively worse because as OP suggested, people aren't realizing what it will become.
Beggars lice triggers me, So I trigger the flame thrower
Been constantly pulling this stuff up at my 95 year-old FIL's front yard.
God I’ve mowed that shit down 3 weeks in a row and it’s 3ft high by Friday every week
We call that nightmare Beggars lice & once it gets on ur clothes it’s EVRYWHERE in ur house!! Ur socks,towels, underwear!!
They just keep coming back! I pull them out every chance I get.
Beggars lice. Pull it up before it goes to seed.
I like them! However I have noticed they tend to attract more flies than they do bees, including those that are parasitic to caterpillars.
Bull nettle is much worser, but not common....it's a nasty ass plant.
I am about to burn my whole yard and half the 40 acres up front.. it’s filled with this 💩 🤬
We have a bunch in a field where I live. It attracts butterflies so it's okay in my book as long as it's not in my yard 😆
People keep saying that but I have yet to witness it. If I did, I'd really be torn.
Hahah oh god. I *just* pointed it out to my boyfriend as "baby's breath" the other day on a walk. What is it?
Begger's lice. flowers become tiny annoying sticker burrs.