more weeds & other unidentified plants in my garden

These are still unidentified weeds (I'm calling them weeds 'cause I don't know what they are nor did I plant them). I like the one with the purple flowers. The other has no flowers at this point and is almost indistinguishable from the horseherb. I can definitely see why horseherb is considered a good revegetater for disturb areas. Weeds that I kind of wish I had are dandelion which I like to eat and burdock, though I'm not sure I would be willing to eat them if they showed up voluntarily. Granted, I did eat a wood sorrel leaf and it was tasty.

Purple Nut Sedge

To differentiate from grass, check to see if it has edges. The main stalk is triangular in shape. This is apparently some kind of invasive from Africa/Asia. It likes sun and moist soil. It is only along the right side of the back yard. Interestingly, right in line with the main poison oak mass in the backyard. I also think it is kind of pretty though many gardeners seem to regard it as scourge. 

Apparently, yellow nut sedge which is very similar has a sweet nutty taste. Purple nut sedge is suppose to be pretty bitter, but I guess edible for all that. I haven't tried it and I don't think I will even though I like bitter greens. I'm not sure where I read that nut sedge was edible. I've been through so many weed books and websites I'm not even sure I could find the reference again.

SPURGE

These pictures are two different kinds of spurge with a little horseherb thrown in. Spurge apparently was tried as a purgative at one time with deadly results. The milky white juice that comes out of it can cause contact dermatitis. There are many, many varieties of spurge as you can see these two look quite different. I'm not sure where I read it, but spurge apparently can also be used to

 remove warts, though I am not sure I would be willing to test that. Spurge has no other benefits, though I admit I kind of like the way it looks. I only have a little bit here and there it doesn't compete all that well with the horse herb.

POISON OAK

This is part of the mass of poison oak we cut down. I thought we had pretty much eradicated the poison oak, but the rains have made new little ones spring up all along the fence line. The main one is still dead at least, though there is a smaller one sprouting up near it. I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with it. Apparently poison ivy and oak are part of the cashew family which also includes yummy mangoes. You can develop an allergy to mangoes by handling a lot of poison ivy/oak or so I read. Not sure I believe it.

These two other pictures are poison oak in the spring and winter. The main root which I cut through was the size of a tree limb. It was harder to cut through than the piece of fence I cut off to get to it.

The poison oak was actually pretty in the spring, but ominous in winter. I pretty sure the 'Man' and I are not allergic or we would have had some kind of reaction by now, though we both took multiple precautions once we knew what it was.