Published on Saturday, September 13, 2025

By Victoria Torley

We have a lot of gardening books in our house. I have books on organic gardening, pruning, tropical ornamentals, the big guide to Costa Rican plants and trees and five or six books on orchids. What I don’t have is a book on weeds.

Yes, we have all heard that, “weeds are just flowers growing where they shouldn’t.” Baloney! Weeds are nasty, clingy, sticky, invasive, pains in the neck (and back and fingers). Their thorns penetrate gloves and shirts and I have the scratches to prove it. They also stick to your gardening clothes and your socks. Just toss everything into the washer?  No way! Those burs will migrate from your socks to the inside of your undies. In a couple of days, you will wonder why you are so itchy in such unscratchable places.

That’s just the human part. If you have a dog or dogs, beware of weeds! Since weeds don’t have to do anything but grow quickly and bloom, they go to seed equally fast. Nasty sticky seeds with little hooks or burs or husks that catch on your dog’s fur. Our little dog gets a daily bath for dirt (which she barely tolerates) and a good combing out (which she absolutely hates) for burs. She whines, she whimpers, she scratches, she gets me soaking wet, and all because of weed seeds.


Then there are the “blowing away” sort of weeds. You think you got them all, but it only takes one dandelion to infest another piece of the lawn, garden, or pasture. Personally, I loved dandelions when I was a kid, and I bet you did too. There is something about watching the seed float on the wind that is enchanting, but I am an adult. All I think of now is where the dang things are going and what they will do when they get there.

Then we have the poisonous weeds like the aptly named “horse poison.”  Wear good gloves when you pull it out because the white sap can irritate your skin. The leaves are not like those of the dandelion, which can be tossed in salad; the leaves are actually poisonous for horses (and probably cattle). This is probably why there are so many of them in fields – horses and cattle aren’t stupid and have learned to avoid the plant. It does have a pretty flower, though.

That’s the problem with some weeds, they do have pretty flowers. If only they didn’t produce such nasty seeds, I would be happy to have some in the garden.

Plant for the week. Here are some of my favorite weeds: Mexican yellow poppy (Argemone mexicana). They do make pretty flowers, but then they make burs. And at least one of the plants has thorns. Hmm. When you pull them out, try to get the roots because they are very persistent. On the weed below, you can see that it is blooming and setting seeds at the same time. Bad weed, bad.

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Find more interesting stories about gardening in Costa Rica on the AM Costa Rica Garden page. Questions on this article, Ms. Victoria Torley, gardener columnist, can be reached by emailing victoriatorley1@gmail.com
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