flower of Broad-leaved Everlasting Pea
I think the last time I wrote I complained about a pernicious weed called Broad-leaved Everlasting Pea – Lathyrus latifolius . They got the everlasting part right – it is now my fifth summer of digging up these plants over my septic bed. You might think that after so many years without having seeds produced that this thing would be starting to peter out. No such luck. This summer has been the worst since the first summer I started trying to eradicate this menace, but I am determined to eradicate it. I see infestations in the Peterborough area and I want to warn people about the problem they don’t realize they have. Because the seeds aren’t small, the area they infest spreads out relatively slowly. But the seeds seem to be unusually hardy: I have tried to kill them with heat and drought by covering with a plastic tarp for a summer; I have hoped for birds, mice, cold winters, etc. to destroy them, and I have tried to outlast them by pulling up the seedlings by the roots when they appear. So far, I think I am keeping even, but it is proving to be a very difficult struggle. I hate to admit it, but I even tried Roundup, with no success.
