7 Types of Weeds in Lawns & Gardens

Knowing the types of weeds plaguing your lawn and garden is essential for preventative lawn care and effective weed control. To identify the weeds in your lawn, you’ll need to know what to look for – and how to manage them if you spot them on your property.

7 Common Types of Weeds in Lawns & Gardens

Let’s review the 7 most common types of weeds in lawn and garden care. You'll find out what they look like, what areas they thrive in, and the best ways to treat them so that you can eliminate any outbreaks and even stop them before they take over.

1. Crabgrass

Identification & Region

Probably one of the most widespread weeds, crabgrass grows low to the ground and has broad, flat leaves. The clumped grass stems resemble crab legs, which is where it gets its name. Crabgrass is a competitive weed that will openly compete with other weeds and grass planted in your lawn for nutrients and water. This can be critical during times of drought. Crabgrass grows in areas with sun and warm weather where the soil may have been disturbed recently. It takes advantage of this condition and sets in for competition.

From eastern states spanning New Jersey to Florida to central states spreading Oklahoma to North Dakota, you can find crabgrass creeping across most of North America.

Treatment & Prevention

When controlling crabgrass, you'll need to pull weeds by hand, making sure to remove its extensive root system. To prevent regrowth, apply pre-emergent weed killers in the early spring as the weather starts slowly warming up. This prevents the crabgrass seeds from germinating, eliminating most of the problem before it can begin.

2. Dandelion

Identification & Region

Also considered a wildflower, dandelions is a common lawn weed that's also one of the most aggressive. This garden weed has toothy, light green leaves and long, creeping stems capped by small yellow flowers. While those bright yellow flowers are beautiful for a time, they're soon to spread a lethal dose of their seeds. Dandelion seeds go airborne easily, making these weeds easy to spread with just a gust of wind.

Because they have ample seeds that disperse at once, they can spread quickly and grow faster than most types of grass. This makes them a deadly competitive weed. Grass around dandelions is often choked out, and the necessary nutrients are unable to be gotten. Dandelions thrive in areas where the soil has low crop production and little competition. They're are found throughout the US, but some states are more heavily populated. The most common places include South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Midwest states such as Michigan, Indiana, and Colorado.

Treatment & Prevention

Dandelions are persistent lawn weeds. If you want to remove dandelions, brace yourself for several treatments. To get ahead of dandelions, utilize broadleaf herbicides and focus on dandelions specifically, as they are stronger than some types of herbicides. You'll also pull weeds, making sure to get down to the root. You may also need to use a pre-emergent weed killer.

3. Clover

Identification & Region

Clover comes in small round leaves and a well-known three-leaf pattern nationwide. In some rare cases, you might find a four-leaf clover celebrated and associated with St. Patrick's Day. Outside this celebration, clover is considered one of the most competitive weeds and will have small pink or white flowers once they bloom. When clover is planted as an herb or a way to feed wildlife in food plots, it crowds the grass in the lawn. This keeps the grass from growing evenly and can cause brown patches in your lawn.

Treatment & Prevention

If you've done a soil test and discovered low nitrogen, be aware that clover finds that to be an ideal condition, along with moist soil. Clover can't live in soil full of nitrogen, making it a great way to deter the weed naturally. High-nitrogen fertilizers can encourage strong growth from your grass and crowd out the clover so it can't grow. If you've already gotten a clover outbreak, you can utilize some herbicides; make sure they specifically target clover so that it doesn't harm the grass you're trying to save.

4. Nutsedge

Identification & Region

When it grows, yellow nutsedge can look like grass until it surpasses your lawn and grows into large stems. The stems are more triangular, and the heads will be yellow or green with spikes when the seeds develop. If you have an area in your lawn growing faster than others, it could easily be nutsedge. Because it takes on the appearance of grass, it can take over and outgrow your grass, taking away vital nutrients and disrupting the root system with underground tubers.

Nutsedge can thrive in most lawn conditions, but it prefers areas with standing water and soil that is irrigated regularly. For example, if you constantly turn over your lawn or garden area with a tiller, nutsedge will penetrate the soil and root deeper as it's turned. Nutsedge does need some water, so if your lawn dries out, it will deter the nutsedge. This weed can grow nationwide, taking advantage of wet lawns and poorly maintained areas. Nutsedge is particularly common in Nebraska and Iowa.

Treatment & Prevention

If you have a small area of nutsedge developing, you can manually remove it, removing the root and tubers from the soil so they don't regenerate. If the nutsedge has started to overtake the lawn, you will need an herbicide designed to specifically fight the tubers of the nutsedge so that it doesn't just eliminate what you see but what can come back.

5. Bindweed

Identification & Region

Bindweed, another culprit that will overtake lawns at any opportunity, is found in the upper parts of the country and out west. This vine-like weed has leaves shaped like hearts and white or pink flowers blossoming like trumpets from the ground. Once it starts growing, it overtakes the area in just weeks, smothering the plants in your lawn and the grass planted. Because it is vinelike, it will grow over these plants and generate a massive mess if it isn't maintained and treated early on.

Treatment & Prevention

Bindweed thrives in sunlight, looking for areas with regular moisture but not too wet or dry. It will likely start in a flower bed and then into the lawn. If you haven't mulched your lawn, add it to your plants to prevent the bindweed from growing. If you try to pull the weed, make sure you snip it at the soil and keep trimming it back daily. If the bindweed can't maintain photosynthesis, it will die at the root, but if you pull it and leave it for a few days, it will quickly grow back. Herbicides that have a glyphosate base are great for targeting bindweed.

6. Chickweed

Identification & Region

If you live in the Southeastern part of the US, you've likely had an experience with chickweed. This weed starts to sprout in lawns in early Spring, taking advantage of shaded areas before moving to take over the entire lawn. Chickweed is small, growing low to the ground, with round leaves and little white star flowers. They will take over your grass and any shrubbery, plants, and flowers you have spread throughout the property.

Treatment & Prevention

Chickweed is best treated in early spring with herbicides before it can germinate and start growing. If you notice an outbreak, you shouldn't use additional herbicides; instead, take on manual removal. Ensure you hoe or pull the chickweed from the root out of the soil to keep it from returning.

7. Purslane

Identification & Region

One of the weeds that you'll find throughout the continental US and even in lower parts of Canada is purslane. You've likely seen it along roadways, open areas, ledges, and railroads while traveling. Purslane is thick, like a succulent plant, having red stems and fleshy leaves that produce yellow flowers when it blooms. For purslane to grow so efficiently in these areas, it requires ample nutrients, causing strong competition with all types of grass. It grows rapidly in some warmest states, such as Texas, Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Kentucky.

Treatment & Prevention

If you plan to apply a post-emergent herbicide to your lawn in the spring, opt for one targeting broadleaf weeds, including purslane. You'll also have to ensure you're regularly hoeing your garden areas and the edges of your lawn to maintain them. If you keep your lawn watered, but not too much, you'll have a good chance of keeping the purslane out of the grass. Ensure your plant and vegetable garden are being watered appropriately to avoid purslane from getting in and taking over.

Common Weed Categories for Easy Identification

There are many different types of weeds and classifying them into groups can help you spot growth patterns in your lawn. Most lawn weeds can be placed into one of two categories: grassy weeds and broadleaf weeds. Each type has its own growth habits and life cycles, which are crucial to identify and understand for effective control.

Weeds are typically categorized based on their growth habits and life cycles. Here are the main weed categories:

1. Grassy Weeds: These weeds resemble grass and have narrow, blade-like leaves with parallel veins. They can be difficult to distinguish from turfgrass. Examples include crabgrass, quackgrass, and foxtail.
2. Broadleaf Weeds: These weeds have wider leaves with a distinct network of veins. They often produce flowers or seed heads. Common examples are dandelions, clover, and plantain.
3. Sedge Weeds: Sedges are grass-like plants but have solid, triangular stems rather than the round, hollow stems of grasses. They often grow in wet or poorly drained areas. Yellow nutsedge and purple nutsedge are typical examples.
4. Annual Weeds: These weeds complete their life cycle in a single growing season, meaning they germinate, grow, flower, and set seed within a year. Examples include crabgrass (a grassy weed) and chickweed (a broadleaf weed).
5. Perennial Weeds: Perennials live for multiple years, often regrowing from their roots each season. They can be particularly challenging to control. Examples include dandelions and plantain.
6. Winter Annual Weeds: These weeds germinate in the fall, survive through winter, and complete their life cycle in the spring or early summer. Examples include henbit and chickweed.
7. Summer Annual Weeds: These weeds germinate in the spring or early summer and die by fall. Crabgrass is a well-known summer annual weed.

Understanding weed categorization can help in identifying lawn weeds, their growth patterns, and what you need to do to permanently remove them from your lawn or garden.

How to Handle a Weed Problem

While it’s tempting to reach for the weed killer the moment you see an unwelcome weed in your lawn, there may be a better approach that’s healthier for your lawn – and for the environment. A professional lawn care company should be able to control the various types of weeds in your lawn through routine landscape maintenance, but for those of you who want to take the DIY approach, these tips can help:

1. Lawn Inspection

Start by assessing the extent of the weed problem. Walk through your lawn and take note of where the weeds are most prevalent. Are they scattered throughout, or are they concentrated in certain areas? This step will help you understand the scope of the problem and inform your weed treatment strategy.

2. Weed Identification

Correctly identifying the weeds in your lawn is essential. Different weeds require different control methods, so it’s important to know what you’re dealing with.

3. Routine Lawn Care Services

Improve your lawn’s health to naturally suppress weeds. This involves practices like proper mowing, watering, and fertilization. A thick, healthy lawn is less likely to be overtaken by weeds, as the grass will outcompete them for resources like sunlight and nutrients. View all of our lawn care and landscaping services that can help you achieve a healthy lawn.

4. Manual Weed Control

For small weed infestations, hand-pulling or using a weeding tool can be effective. This method is especially useful for larger weeds or those with deep roots. Be sure to remove the entire root system to prevent regrowth.

5. Apply Pre-Emergent Herbicides

If the weeds in your lawn keep regrowing despite your best efforts, selective herbicides can be used as a last resort. Herbicides target specific weeds without harming your grass, but you'll need to choose the right product and pull weeds first before applying it. Always follow the product’s instructions carefully and apply at the appropriate time for the best results.

Benefits of Professional Weed Control

If you've tried everything else, but can’t seem to get rid of those pesky weeds – it’s time to turn to the professionals. There are many different types of weeds in lawns and gardens across the United States, so don’t feel bad if your identification or treatment plan isn’t quite cutting it! When you turn to the professionals for weed control services, you'll enjoy several benefits and quickly see a difference in your lawn and garden, including:

• Faster results
• Proactive weed prevention
• Effective weed removal
• Advice from skilled technicians
• More time to enjoy your lawn and garden

Get Professional Help for All Types of Weeds in Lawns & Gardens

Properly identifying and eliminating the various types of weeds in your lawn or garden is vital to cultivate and maintain a healthy yield. Weeds siphon essential nutrients away from other plants, making it more difficult for your preferred plants to thrive.

If you need help identifying the types of weeds in your lawn, find a Heroes Lawn Care near you and reach out to your local service provider. Our skilled technicians have the knowledge and expertise to help you create a friendlier environment for your grass and plants. We're happy to help guide you through your lawn care journey, helping you with whatever services you need.