Common Weeds in Virginia Author Virginia Green Category Lawn Care Estimated Reading Time 7 Minutes

Weeds are a common problem for homeowners in Virginia and all across the country. They can grow in areas with good or poor soil conditions, causing headaches for those who care for their lawn regularly. Fortunately, with a regimented, year-round lawn care schedule, you can beat any weeds in your lawn and garden!

Topics

• Virginia’s Climate and Seasonal Weeds
• Winter Weeds in Virginia: Bittercress & Chickweed
• Year-Round Weeds in Virginia: Wild Violet & Oxalis
• Warm-Season Weeds in Virginia: Spurge & Nutsedge
• Preventing Weeds in Your Lawn and Yard

Virginia’s Climate and Seasonal Weeds

In this article, we’ll primarily focus on cool-season grasses and how you can prepare and tackle the most common weeds in your Virginia yard! Virginia’s climate can feature wet Spring and Fall weather, hot, arid Summers and cold Winters. Choosing a cool-season grass like Tall Fescue has many benefits for your Virginia Lawn, such as the ability to maintain a lush and green appearance with minimal maintenance.

No matter how well you care for your lawn, the chances of weeds invading your lawn are always present. Weeds such as Bittercress germinate in the late fall and go unnoticed during times of colder weather, reemerging in the spring and summer. Chickweed grows low to the ground and may be difficult to spot until it reaches maturity and is quite large.

Winter Weeds in Virginia: Bittercress & Chickweed

Winter annuals like Bittercress and Chickweed are some of the most common weeds in Virginia. Chickweed spreads in extensive mats as a low-growing succulent before turning upward and flowering in the spring and summer. Chickweed is identified by its pairs of leaves growing along the fuzzy stem and the 5 deeply divided petals of the flower. Chickweed’s ability to produce over 1,000 seeds per plant and its short germination period are some of the reasons one might want to remove it from their lawn.

Chickweed Identifiers:

• Prostrate growth pattern.
• Flowers are small and show at the tips of stems. Each flower has 5 deeply divided petals which may resemble 10 upon first glance.
• Chickweed stems can grow over a foot in height.

Bittercress is one of the easiest weeds to identify as its rosette growth, and white flowers are unique. Leaves of the bittercress grow on stems much like a feather along the central stem. As the plant ages, you will begin to see stems branch and grow from 3 up to 10 inches in height. Small, white flowers appear at the ends of these branches and show four pollen-bearing stamens. Bittercress is well-suited to growing in many places in Virginia such as yards and garden beds and can outcompete more desirable plants, such as your lawn. It is important to remove Bittercress before this occurs!

Bittercress Identifiers:

• The base of the Bittercress forms a circular cluster of leaves, close to the ground.
• Small white flowers appear at the ends of these branches and show four pollen-bearing stamens.
• After maturing, flowers are replaced by thin seedpods, which dry out, split open and release seeds.

 

Bittercress

 

Chickweed

Year-Round Weeds in Virginia: Wild Violet & Oxalis

The perennial weed, Wild Violet, often grows in clumps and has purple flowers, sometimes white or yellow. It can be extremely common in Virginia lawns and can outcompete turf grasses such as Tall Fescue. Wild Violet thrives in moist and shaded soil and can signal areas of high soil fertility.

Wild Violet Identifiers:

• Clump growing pattern around areas of high moisture
• Purple flowers, sometimes white or yellow.
• Heart shaped leaves with rounded teeth

Oxalis is another perennial weed with one of the most common being the Yellow Woodsorrel, Oxalis Stricta L. It has an incredible ability to grow in many conditions such as sunny and shaded areas, moist and dry solid and in lawns that have received both high or low maintenance. Yellow Woodsorrel in Virginia grows low to the ground then shoots upright green stems with leaves and yellow flowers. These flowers are replaced with seed capsules that have the ability to eject seeds into the air.

Oxalis Identifiers:

• Three heart-shaped leaflets, similar to clover
• Five petaled vibrant yellow flowers
• Seedpods look similar to Okra.

 

Wild Violet

 

Oxalis

Warm-Season Weeds in Virginia: Spurge & Nutsedge

The Spotted Spurge is a summer annual and is often found taking over poorly maintained, thinning turf or areas of new seeded grass areas. Spotted Spurge grows from seed in late spring to early/mid-summer and spreads laterally in radial patterns. This plant often remains a problem for lawns as its seeds have the ability to spread via the fur of pets, shoes, and lawn equipment.

Spotted Spurge Identifiers:

• Prostrate growing pattern, with wide growth habit
• Stems are red to pink and hairy
• Sap inside stem is milky

Yellow Nutsedge is an unsightly visitor to many lawns in Virginia and must be controlled to early to avoid its spread. Unlike the other weeds mentioned in this article, Nutsedge grows tall. The Nutsedge plant produces primarily through nodes on rhizomes and tubers that are produced from the plant, remaining dormant in the winter. Nutsedge is yellow in color and fairly shiny, making it easy to spot among a tidy cool-season lawn landscape.

Yellow Nutsedge Identifiers:

• Tall, bright green and yellow stems and leaves
• Triangular stem
• Straw colored flower clusters

 

Spurge

 

Yellow Nutsedge

Preventing Weeds in Your Lawn and Yard

The most common reason for seeing weeds in your lawn and yard in Virginia is improper care and maintenance. Many weeds are attracted to areas with either too little maintenance or where nutrition is particularly rich. While a year-round lawn care schedule provided by a professional lawn care company like Virginia Green is designed to fight weeds, they can still pop up in unwanted areas.

Some weeds, such as Bittercress, respond best to pulling from the root and do not react to preemergent weed control. Without pulling, management for weeds similar to Bittercress involves proper turf management and regular mowing. In cases where weeds have matured to seed, avoid mowing, especially weeds such as Oxalis, which has the ability to shoot seeds across your lawn, making your issue worse.