Stop and Smell the Bindweed

One of the most prevalent and annoying weeds we have in our yard is Field Bindweed. Growing up, we called it Morning Glory. The flowers of Morning Glory and Bindweed have close coloring and shape, but that is where the similarities end.

Because Bindweed is a terrible plant.

As the (actual) name suggests, it’s an insidious weed that ties itself up other plants. Flowers or fruits or vines you may want to grow become choked and twisted in the stuff. We had a raspberry patch at our last house that Bindweed loved, since the raspberry bushes had convenient thorns the weed could climb up.

After extricating the little monster from around and around the stalk, there’s still the matter of the root. Bindweed’s origin lays far underground, and cannot simply be pulled out. “It is a vining perennial plant that sends roots to 30 feet deep and spreads from both seeds and root runners from spring to fall” (Utah State University Extension).

Don’t it sound fun?

Actually, it is. If you pick one of the thin little flowers, you can hold it in place on your nostril by inhaling. I’ve shown each of my boys how to do this amazing trick. And, since the Bindweed is living beneath our houses like an insidious monster, they always have plenty of buds to play with.

If you can’t beat ’em, sniff ’em; right?

 

Photo Credit:
Image by Jerzy Górecki from Pixabay
Image by JacLou DL from Pixabay

 

©2019 Chelsea Owens