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Hydrocotyle
It is hard to think of this nice, cozy, round, scalloped-margin plant being a weed. The leaves are on an elongated stem. It can be grown as a ground cover or in a bog garden. Plant in the muddy margins of a pond. Bright filtered light or full sunlight. Found in moist and wet sites. Can be seen from Maine to Florida and west to California, and in places like Nova Scotia, West Indies, Mexico, and Central and South America. It is considered a weed (just a plant "out of place" - see Emily's definition) in lawns that are overwatered. Very similar to Dichondra carolinensis (Carolina Dichondra or Ponyfoot) which is kidney shaped with the stem coming out of the kidney like indentation. The Dollarweed is umbrella like with scalloped margins with the stem coming out of the middle of the leaf. It is a perennial weed with rhizomes sometimes tubers.
I actually purchased this plant at Lowe's several years ago, where it was sold with only its scientific name, Hydrocotyle umbellata, attached, and as an "oxygenator," with no information as to what it really was, or did... I had to do net-searches to discover it was also called Pennywort, and it was only after a couple of years I actually heard the term "Dollarweed" and only last year I finally saw it online. I grow mine primarily in a 55-foot stream that connects my small upper pond with my larger (450-gallon) lower pond, and it lives year-round here in Zone 7b/8a, although I often have my pump off in the winter because I need to do maintenance, so it just goes dormant until the water runs again. All it has to for rooting substrate in the stream is a thin layer of "egg rock" and whatever mulm has settled into and beneath that, yet it FLOURISHES each year, to the point that annually I send several large (2-gallon) Ziplock bags full of this stuff to water gardening internet friends all over the country... Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Maryland, North Carolina and several other states... With all the FUSS over it being a WEED, I finally did a USDA search to make sure it IS a native plant, and they indicate it IS and DON'T call it a weed at all. Here's a picture of some growing, prolifically, in a section of my stream... Nice site! Jeff Hayes Some questions from Emily's mailbox: Q: Dear Emily, I am living in a mobile home on the West Coast of Florida in a RV campground. We are about a quarter of a mile from the ocean. The ground around our park model is poor and does not support grass except when I plant rye grass in October. After we leave in the spring it dies off and must be repeated again in October. This year I notice a lot of dollar weed creeping in and have decided to settle for its green cover to keep from tracking of dirt into the house. Many of our neighbors have this covering already by default. Most of the trees in our park are Live Oak and they drop their leaves all year and they also suck up a lot of the ground moisture. My question is, Can this weed seed be purchased somewhere to speed up the process of spreading this ground cover? I will have no problem with my neighbors, as they are tired of planting rye grass every year also. A: I often think Dollarweed is a nice thick ground cover and I see no reason for you not to use it. It does grow rather fast, however it spreads rapidly with the over abundance of water. I suspect fertilizing would also do the trick. Since I usually deal with people trying to get rid of it, I have not had the pleasure of cultivating the plant material. It seems to grow in sun or shade. Q: Hi. I am hoping you can help me. My husband and I thought we were moving into our dream home. Well, we live on 10 acres. The entire area around my house and to the front of the property (about 4 acres) is totally covered (thick) in dollar weed. Which I believe I am severely allergic, I'm absolutely miserable. What can I do? I look forward to hearing from you. p.s. does mowing help with the allergies or bother them more? A: Mowing and trimming the dollarweed seems to encourage more growth. Dollar weed appears because there is over watering in the area where it grows. Are you sure you are allergic to dollarweed? Yes, sometimes mowing stirs up the dryness and the oils of a certain plant material to bother some people. Dollar weed is a southeastern problem and getting rid of it is very difficult. Q: Call me a dreamer....dollar "weeds" have over taken my yard...I thought it was a nice "clover". Didn't know any difference until I heard over the TV news about dollar "weeds"...I guess it just depends on how you look at a situation. I don't have the time, nor want to spend money on weeds....so I'll just keep my lovely "clover". A: I too, just keep my lovely patches of dollar weed and love it as a ground cover . It is as nice as any ground cover we normally buy at a nursery. Q: How do I kill dollar weeds? A: My heart goes out to you dollarweed is a miserable weed. Yet at one time I wanted it as a ground cover. Dollar weed grows because there is an over abundance of water. Reduce your watering. Most can be dug out manually. Although a chore, this is how one may tackle the underground runners. Most time dollarweed can be eliminated in the off months or early months of January and February with atrazine. However do check what zone you are in and what the timing maybe. If dollarweed is in your flowerbeds, dig carefully. You will eventually eliminate it. |
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Coastal
plain pennywort - H. bonariensis .
A
reader writes: I just did a Google search for "dollarweed" to see what
negatives were out there on my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE water garden plant.