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The State of Utah has listed 27 plants on their noxious weed list. An Extension Publication titled "Noxious Weed Field Guide for Utah" has been used extensively to teach the public about the identification and biology of the legally listed noxious weeds.
More than 25,000 copies of the Noxious Weed Field Guide for Utah have been sold during a 10-year period. Utah State University County Agents, County Weed Supervisors, and members of the Utah Nursery and Landscape Association requested a weed identification guidebook that was smaller than "Weeds of the West" but more expansive than the Noxious Weed Field Guide.
In addition, many horticulturalists said that they had problems with commonly occurring weeds that are not on the noxious weed list and thus would like a weed identification guide that included noxious weeds (as appropriate) but focused on weeds more commonly encountered in the yard and garden.
The concept of a guidebook titled "Common Weeds of the Yard and Garden" was developed in the summer of 2005. A graduate student was recruited for the project in 2006 and support from external sources such as County Agents, Weed Supervisors, and horticulturalists was solicited.
The advisory committee limited the publication to 50 weeds. Text was written and images were collected during 2007 and 2008. Guidebook layout considerations included listing weeds alphabetically by common names; categorizing weeds according to problem area, such as weeds of turf, weeds of gravel driveways, weeds of gardens and weeds of flower beds; organizing by appearance (color, type of inflorescence, prostrate, woody, etc); and, listing weeds from most detrimental to least.
Ultimately weeds were organized alphabetically by scientific family name, and within families by scientific generic and specific names. Fourteen references were used throughout the guidebook.
The objective was to have all information in the guidebook corroborated by at least two credible sources. An internet-accessible version was developed in 2007. The expanded version of the guide (web version) was completed by summer 2009.
The shorter booklet version was completed by fall 2009. The guidebook was completed and 5000 copies were printed in February 2011. Online access of the expanded version of the guidebook is found at extension.usu.edu/weedguides.
Of the 50 weeds listed in the "Common Weeds of the Yard and Garden" guidebook only five are also listed on the state noxious weed list for Utah. The weeds guides are available at http://extension.usu.edu/weedguides/htm/
Written by: Larry A. Sagers Extension Horticulture Specialist Utah State University Thanksgiving Point Office
