Kathryn Burlingham wrote:

Warren wrote:

Anyway, I'm thinking they look like hyacinths. The warm weather of the
past two weeks has got mine sprouting, too.

Grape hyacinth is a weed in many parts of Portland. Unless you like it,
then whee!

If it's muscari, that's fine with me. It's not getting in the way of
anything, just coming up under evergreens and rhododendrons. And it
goes away on its own later in the year.

A couple of things to keep a close eye out for are bindweed and
blackberries. Either of those will take over if you let them.

I haven't seen bindweed in our yard, but there's a blackberry bramble
along the driveway (between our house and the neighbors). I keep it
trimmed back for safety's sake but I'm not about to sacrifice the free
desserts we get from it in August.

Check with
your new neighbors if there's something you're not sure of--if it's a
weed, they should know it.

My neighbors are even more clueless than I am about our local weeds,
and some have lived in Portland all their lives! I was talking to
someone on my block who'd never heard of sorrel and didn't realize
there are multiple kinds of dandelions.

Our worst weed here so far has been the bittercress -- this is
something they don't have in Minnesota, as far as I can remember, and
there's loads of it all around our house here. It flowers/seeds when
it's VERY small, and it loves winter.

Adam