It might be pokeweed, Phytolacca americana. I can't tell from the photo. Here's a thread on pokeweed with some photos of a large plant: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/namegal/msg0816284825135.html?14 Here are photos of younger plants: http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/weedguide/singlerecord.asp?id=270 If you can't remove all the root (which you must do in order to get rid of pokeweed), you can put a few drops of Round-up concentrate (or generic glyphosate concentrate) on it or pour boiling water in the hole with the root. If it sprouts again from the root, repeat.

***********SUCCESS******** I used some old unwanted shower doors that compressed the weeds during the afternoon heat of a 90 degree June day here in Colorado today and I AM VERY HAPPY WITH THE RESULTS! Moisture accumulated underneath (by itself) and in about 90 minutes the bindweed simply burnt up...WEED FREE - FAST! I was able to move the glass doors several times in a single day. I'll see how long it takes weeds to regrow but this worked and I will be looking for more shower doors to keep out of landfills. I am also going to try some wrought iron table tops that will compress weeds and should heat up pretty well on top of clear plastic tomorrow since I don't have enough shower doors yet and expect similar results to burn weeds reasonably quick with the SPEED OF SOLAR HEAT WITHOUT CHEMICALS! I love repurposing things and this jusr makes sense....since solar panels use glass don't they? Tie a rope to move them easily! NEXT DAY: Yes, with the weight of wrought iron on the clear plastic did work. Because the mower and the weed whacker still leave low growing weeds I wanted to eliminate them (kindof like removing hair instead of shaving - ha!) to simply buy me more time. I had covered these areas with 4" tree mulch in February and still weeds came up. Framed shower doors are ideal. A frameless one broke just trying to get it in my car and of course it beng tempered I was certainly glad.

I wanted to thank everyone again for all the great suggestions and to give an update... I've moved a bunch of irises to a test area of the strip. They've been there a week and so far they are still standing, which is encouraging. I did not cut the foliage back as I normally do when transplanting and I think this has helped keep them from being trampled. The mint that I'd planted before is doing better too, and seems to have started to spread out a bit. The star of Bethlahem that I have in the back yard is all going to get moved to the strip soon too... its too invasive for the back yard, so I have high hopes for it in the strip. I'll be looking into the ajuga and bishop's weed as well. I'd tried thyme at one point but it died almost immediately. I must say that part of the improvement this year is probably due to the new downstairs tenents who moved in last fall. The two guys who moved into our downstairs apartment last fall both have cars now, so they normally use the spots in front the house. They seem to really respect my plants and my efforts to improve the yard and garden :-) The rebar would be tempting when I'm feeling particularly frustrated, but its the owners I'm irritated with, not the dogs. I understand that the dogs have to go somewhere; its up to the owners to aim them at the tree instead of the daffodils and to pick up the solids. My "kid" problems are probably different than most people's. Most of the "kids" aren't that much younger than me and go to Tufts University; they own the house next door and uses it as a dorm. I call to complain occasionally about loud parties on weeknights... calling to complain about the litter and trampled plants afterwards seems like overkill when the campus police at least come promptly to break up the loud parties. At least I have someone to complain to about those "kids".

Carpet Burrweed "Soliva sessilis) is considered a noxious weed with no benefits. It is a winter annual that dies back in the summer after forming seeds, and not watering your lawn leaves the soil open for the seeds to sprout when the rains come. Humans tend to be the major source of the spread of the seeds. The spines are attached to the seeds. Germination begins early and seedlings develop rapidly, usually faster than the grass it grows in. Since you don't water your lawn, and the weed likes compacted soil and sun, you might consider either sheet-mulching your entire lawn area (shading it out), or rototilling the whole thing, then when you see the first small plant, keep the top few inches of soil loosened. And keep doing it (preventing the compaction it likes). Germination starts with the first heavy rains of autumn, so you would need to keep on top of it when you need to, not when you can get around to it (too late). Scientists seem to think that there is a fairly low carry-over of seed from year to year, so if you could eliminate the seed production for one year (about Feb to July or so), the existing seeds may not live long enough to keep germinating year after year. If you want to keep your lawn, you should probably ferilize it with compost or manure, overseed it well, water it, and cut it higher so it can help shade out the burrweed. Or you could fertilize with natural fertilizers (compost and manure), then lay sod over it. The microbial action of the compost and manure could help the seeds to rot, with the help of the sod in keeping out the light. It can be removed manually in late winter and early spring, but if you wait until the seeds form, you're wasting your time. This weed is rather famous here in WA, as we get a lot of rain for 8-9 months, then nothing all summer, producing the conditions it prefers. 8-( Sue