Around my house we have lots of pokeweed.  Until I moved south, I had never really experienced it.  Now, however, after a couple of years' combat, I'm well aware of its growth potential.  As they say in the USDA plants database (from which we get some of our plant data), "This plant can be weedy or invasive".  In the summer time it's a constant battle.  This morning I decided to survey the pokeweed army's front line and make a first strike.

Here is a fine specimen early in its lifetime.  The leafy green part of this week hadn't emerged from the ground as late as last weekend.  At least, I don't think it had.  In any case, these things grow like weeds.  Umm, yeah.

Mostly they appear around the perimeter of our property, especially along the north and west side fence lines.  If you don't keep it under control, they can take over and become quite large.  Last year, we referred to the back fence line as the pokeweed forest.

What's remarkable to me is how large and solid the root system is - it grows as fast as the greenery.  After I tried to just pull this one out by hand and the top just broke off, I was left with this.

This called for more than just my little weeding fork.  I went to get my garden spade and dug the whole thing out.  Look at that.

I'm told by some natives around here that you can harvest the young leaves and eat them (after they've been thoroughly cooked) as greens with your black-eyed peas or whatnot.  But be careful, once they start producing berries, the plant becomes slightly toxic.  Me, I think I'll just stick with swiss chard or arugula for my leafy greens.