Wanted and Unwanted

Peonies, spiderworts, and Japanese irises coming into fullness. Daylilies just starting. Sprouted beans ready to go into the soil. Unstoppable progression of spring. 

I dug up what felt like acres of bishopsweed--what an amazing plant that is with its dense unyielding net work of roots. The newest incursion came out fairly easily; its roots were merely sprawling, close to the surface. The established stand, however,  was supported by a deep, three-dimensional knot of roots and rootlets difficult to dig and impossible to remove completely. I noticed three different kinds of roots, or phases of root: a tender smooth white shoot, crisp and brittle like a mung bean sprout; a sinewy, ropey brown root, the stubbornest; and, emanating from it, tiny, branching, vein-like roots that both permeated and seemed part of the dirt itself, roots of the roots.

It felt good to impose my will on that little patch. But from everything I've read about this ubiquitous invasive, it will be back...