A storm drain in Guilderland, where a river of crabgrass runs through it.

Crabgrass is one of the toughest, most resilient weeds that can grow in extreme heat and drought and only needs a smidgen of an opening, even in asphalt & concrete, to flourish.

Digitaria ischaemum, the genus name of crabgrass, has roots that can run six feet deep, four feet wide, with each plant containing up to 150,000 seeds that can remain dormant underground for up to 10 years.

Your correspondent's sad, hot mess summer lawn, where the crabgrass has become an all-she-can-eat salad bar for the writer's dog, Lily, who is a relentless crabgrass forager.

Typical crabgrass infestation on a well-tended lawn in Guilderland. Crabgrass is the bane of suburban homeowners. Blame the U.S. Patent Office, who introduced crabgrass to the U.S. from Europe in 1849 as a potential foraging crop.

GUILDERLAND — We are living in a golden age of crabgrass.

In this hot and humid summer of our discontent, crabgrass is flourishing. I’m sure you’ve noticed its epic proportions, too. I see it spreading its gnarly fingers of yellowish-green defiance earlier than usual, creeping across manicured golf courses, inundating well-tended public green spaces, taking root in concrete cracks and making a home in the sprinkle of sediment that collects around storm drains.

“I’ve been here a long time and I’ve never seen crabgrass as bad as it is this summer,” said Patti Marx, manager of Hewitt’s Garden Center in Glenville, who has worked at Hewitt’s for 35 years.

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“I hear people complaining about crabgrass........

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