The first time I came across this particular annual plant, I wondered what these cute little buttons of mouse-eared seedlings were. Gosh, there sure were a lot of these little darlings in the perennial bed I was struggling to keep cleared in early spring. Oh well, just pluck and pull over and over. Later in the season, doing the eternal weeding job, I’ll be darned if I wasn’t being shot at from all directions every time I brushed against some spike-y weeds. Turns out, it was the mature form of that cute little guy of the mustard family, called the Hairy Bittercress, that sprays its seeds everywhere if you touch the seed capsule.
Here’s a video of how that works:
Being an organic gardener, I tend to avoid chemical controls and just hand pull. The advice otherwise is to use a pre-emergent type for this weed.
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