Weeds, perennials or re-seeding annual flowers?

Earlier this year we had a chain link fence put up because the neighbor's huge dogs wanted to live in our yard.

While the crew was outside, I pulled weeds, enjoying the balmy weather. The fence company owner said his wife grew a lot of herbs and "that henbit sure is a problem the way it grows into everything."

What's henbit?

You may already know, but I started looking into weeds to find out. A gardener has to be able to recognize weeds when they emerge so we know what to pull and what to leave.

There is an old saying that you can tell a weed from a desirable plant by how difficult it is to pull: The expensive perennial will come out easily and the weed will hold on for dear life.

If you are also curious about what's what in your flower beds, Oklahoma State University provides this easy to use website that will help identify the weeds though they do not offer to help pull them out.

http://teachplants.okstate.edu/speceis%20pages/seeds.html