Dollarweed

Love It or Hate It—If You Have It, You Know It

Loved by some. Loathed by others

🌱 Garden Talk | by Guy Saldiveri | March 6, 2026

This is one plant I find myself at odds with when it comes to my stance on invasive species and allowing nature full control to do as she sees fit. 

I love having it in the yard. I think it makes the lawn soft and a pleasure to walk on barefoot. I absolutely hate it when it comes to my raised beds and hardscaped flower beds.

In the gardening world, it's called pennywort. You can even find it in some stores as a health supplement (although I think that may be a slightly different cultivar). In the backyard, though, most will simply refer to it as a WEED. Yep—dollarweed. Without a doubt, one of the most prolific weeds, plants, things-that-grow (or whatever else you call it)—you can ever have in the yard.

This stuff grows so fast you'd swear it was being mass-produced on Ford's assembly line. One day there is one, the next day you have 300—and that was only a slight exaggeration. And pulling it? Good luck! You can grab this thing by the neck, yank on it, and it breaks off nice and clean. But unless you dig down and get that entire white root—and I mean every last little bit of it—it's right back the next day, head and all.

And here's the real kicker—I think this stuff is on the verge of being self-aware. I swear it sits back and waits for you to turn your head, then it leaps head-and-roots over concrete blocks, chicken wire, and maybe even a 6-foot trellis, to land nice and safe in your fresh, new, and very nutrient-rich raised bed. 

You honestly don't stand a chance. Once there, it owns the ground, and it doesn't care if you know it or not.

Dollarweed is one of those plants that falls into the "I love it or I hate it" category based on where it is and what it's doing to the rest of your garden. 

Like I said, I love it in the lawn. It grows fast, it covers very well, and it's very thick and soft to walk on. Unfortunately, it's those exact same traits that make it unwieldy in the beds. 

Given time (and less than you might think), it will cover the whole bed area. It will choke out everything else you have planted, and you will have the worst time trying to get it gone.

I've even watched this stuff burrow under my 35-pound concrete blocks, travel 10 inches horizontally, then poke up through 8 inches of soil, and just sit there smiling at me with that cheesy—yes, I just did that—grin. 

There are times when it gives me pause and makes me think that maybe, just maybe, there are pods growing in there ready to assimilate every living thing. That high-pitched shriek you imagine might just be real…

So how do you get rid of it? That's a very good question—and one I wish I actually had the answer to… It's one of those beasts that we as gardeners just wind up having to live with. 

I could spray it, but I don't really like using chemicals—especially around edibles. Spraying around ornamentals is safer for the plants you have, but it could cause issues for the pollinators that are attracted to them. So, I just let it go. I get out there every so often with my gloves, spade, weed puller, and duct-taped mouth (so I don't offend the neighbors) and just pull it as I see it.

It's just one of those little extra ummmm gardening experiences we all have to deal with.

Happy Gardening 🌱