Weeds

As is inevitable, weeds have started sprouting up throughout the now-open soil of my developing native plant garden in the front yard. Ripping off the once-lush turf and disturbing the soil has released the thousands (millions?) of weed seeds that had been lying dormant all these years, waiting their turn. I knew this would happen, but it still always amazes me when it does. Weeds are like that.
A great many are light stratified, meaning that their seeds are dormant if they are covered up by something - turf, other plants, or even a layer of soil or mulch. When that cover is eliminated and they are brought closer to the surface and exposed to sunlight, they germinate. Any new landscape is bound to produce bumper crops of weeds in its initial years. If you are not prepared for it, your new garden can be overwhelming. My suggestion to new gardeners is to never bite off more than you can chew. Develop your new planting areas in stages that you can then effectively manage, and weed each area vigorously so that your new weeds are eradicated before they can mature enough to set seeds of their own. Eventually, you will get ahead of the game and your weeding efforts can be reduced, If not, you will likely lose the battle. A native yard is not one that includes whatever emerges naturally whether those newcomers are native or not. A living landscape, will include only those species that you've included purposely; plants that provide the attributes you seek for the wildlife you've chosen to provide for. Anyone that tries to sell you on the idea that a native landscape is relatively maintenance free is selling you a bill of goods. All landscapes require management and new planting areas require a lot, at least during the first years. If you think you can plant an area and then sit back and let it develop on its own, you are doing it a great disservice. Worse yet, are those landscapes that are "native" solely on what emerges "naturally." Nature will give you weeds and most of these landscapes will not create the potential you desire and that would be reached with a purposeful approach. Understand that truly native landscapes develop and are managed naturally by abiotic forces such as hydrology, fire, and temperature. As you plant a landscape, you've also signed on to become its manager. You have to intrude, and weeding out the plants that you didn't plan for is perhaps the most important management activity of all.
I read and hear a lot of discussion about weeds. They are NOT the "wrong plant in the wrong location."  It has nothing to do with "desirability." It has everything to do with "attributes." Weeds are weeds because they are "weedy", and weedy plants all share those attributes. Some argue with me that this is a circular definition, but most, if not all, of us know what those attributes are. Weeds have evolved to quickly take advantage of disturbances. They quickly show up once a patch of soil is exposed. They grow and mature quickly because they are adapted to produce large numbers of seed and fill in the disturbed spots before "slower" plants can compete with them. Most live a relatively short time if a site is left alone, but they will dominate a site forever if those disturbed/bare areas are maintained. The seed that is now emerging in the newly created bare soil of my front landscape would win the race and dominate it if I didn't weed them out as swiftly as they make their appearance. 

There are plenty of native plants that are weeds. Being “weedy” has nothing to do with being native or not. It has to do with how it behaves. Spanish needles (Bidens alba) is one of the most common weeds in my area of the world. It is established throughout my yard here in Holiday and its seedlings are emerging everywhere there is a speck of open soil. The plant is a wonderful nectar source and its flowers are edible. I’ve even made wine from them – just as I once did with dandelion  (Taraxacum officinale) when I lived in the upper Midwest. Spanish needles is not a “bad” plant, but it is a weed. I choose not to allow it in my new landscape plot because it behaves poorly with others. It is a schoolyard bully and it would eventually overwhelm the species I am purposely planting. I may decide to leave a few alone in other patches of my yard, but I will aggressively eliminate it from the front yard area I am now planting and everywhere else where it doesn't fit into my plans.

When I lived in Seminole, I left small patches of dotted horsemint (Monarda punctata) and blue curls (Trichostema dichotoma), but I did so knowing that I would also have to be aggressive in weeding them out of everywhere else. If I had not done so, they would shortly have comprised most of my wildflower area. That happened once before when my ex-wife, before we married, largely abandoned the management of this landscape while she went to nursing school. Diversity is the key to a living landscape designed for the greatest diversity of wildlife. Weeds, native or not, are an anathema to diversity if left to their own devices.

As my new landscape develops, I know that I will be pulling out weeds regardless of their nativity. I have a landscape plan and I will be ruthless about who "gets in" and who doesn't. It is the only way for me to achieve the goals I have set. The effort will be reduced over time as the seed bank is eliminated, but the need to weed will always exist. I accepted this when I chose to begin with removing my turf.