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| A row of ragweed sprouts next to one Cosmos seedling. |
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| Cosmos seedling has a few lateral rootlets off the primary root. |
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| Ragweed has long shallow root with rhizomes. |
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| Ragweed on the left, Cosmos on the right. Don't confuse the two! |
Last summer I let a young plant grow in my flowerbed. It
looked to me like a Cosmos (C. sulphureus) seedling. When I noticed it again, it was not a
beautiful, glowing Cosmos, but a mature ragweed. I pulled it up, of course, but too late. This February, I had hundreds of little
ragweed babies popping up in that flowerbed.
Arrgh!
To be sure I would never make the same mistake, I took these
photos of a cosmos seeding next to the ragweed sprouts. I might still confuse the foliage, but there
is NO WAY that I will mistake what happens under the soil with the roots! The Cosmos seedling has only a small set of lateral
rootlets of the primary root. The ragweed has a clever, extensive
underground system of threadlike roots and rhizomes that supports multiple
plants. To get it under control, I dig
up each bit of ragweed and collect as much of the root system as possible. I declare that this flowerbed will eventually be ragweed free.
