Many of us taking part in the Wildflowering L.A. project have learned the importance of removing unwanted species before they go to seed (such is the case, for example, with the non-native mustards, whose ripe seed capsules burst open and scatter aggressively).

Just as important as the act of weed removal is proper weed disposal. We encourage placing weeds in your black trash can, rather than the green waste bin. If weeds go into the green waste, there is a good chance that they will end up in a facility that grinds it all into mulch that is then used by the city and offered to other residents for use in their gardens. This mulch, then, would harbor the weed seeds and encourage further and wider-spread propagation of the very plants we were trying to eradicate. In the black can, weeds and their seed are treated as refuse and do not have the opportunity to regenerate in a wider sphere. 

Posted by Genny Arnold, Theodore Payne Foundation