Is this a weed or what?

July 7, 2012 6:31 AM

Weed or flower filter: I was on vacation for a week or so and now there is a bunch of stuff here that I can't identify. HELP!

I feel like a tool for even having to ask this, I generally have a lot of luck with plants and my gardens have generally been gorgeous and turned out great. This is my first time doing a full size bed, though, and this is a virgin bed and its first plantings ever. It is also my first time planting bulbs, and I don't really know what the bulbs I planted should be looking like. Also, in my enthusiastic state while I was planting, I didn't really keep track of where I was planting things.

Pictures of the plants in question:
Picture 1
Picture 2

Things I know I planted:
Glads
Dahlia
anemone

I also got a big 'ol bag of a couple types of bulbs, but I can't remember what were included in the bag....

Please help me before I accidentally pull up a plant that I meant to grow. :(

posted by gwenlister to home & garden (10 answers total)

It looks a bit like a weed to me, maybe something in the sunflower family.

My advice is to let it grow as long as you like the foliage. Keep a close eye on it, and yank it when it flowers if it's a weed. It doesn't look like it will spread unless you let it go to seed.
posted by shrabster at 6:39 AM on July 7, 2012

picture one, thing on right is likely a dahlia. thing on left is a bindweed. kill the bindweed.
picture two thing on right is again, likely a dahlia. thing on left is something in the carrot family - could be cliantro or parsley or something of that nature.
posted by sciencegeek at 6:49 AM on July 7, 2012

Unknown plant #2 is your dahlia. #1, not sure, could be bindweed. I agree that #3 looks like flat leaf parsley -- do the leaves smell like parsley if you crush them?
posted by vers at 6:50 AM on July 7, 2012

thing on left is something in the carrot family - could be cliantro or parsley

Perhaps more likely for a sudden volunteer/invasive, wild carrot aka queen anne's lace.
posted by Miko at 6:52 AM on July 7, 2012

Also, neither of the weeds are glads either. I'm of the opinion that if you didn't plant it and you know it's not your plant, yank it out.
posted by Miko at 6:53 AM on July 7, 2012

If I knew it wasn't what I planted I'd haul it up, but I don't KNOW if its not my plant, mostly because I wasn't keeping track of what I planted.

I'll pull out the bindweed, and yay to the dahlia identification.
posted by gwenlister at 6:58 AM on July 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Bonus identification: picture number two the plant on the far right is Alchemilla mollis, aka Lady's Mantle.
posted by sciencegeek at 7:44 AM on July 7, 2012

I'm pretty sure that the tall, strappy-leafed things behind your dahlia are the glads.
posted by purpleclover at 9:34 AM on July 7, 2012

Agree with purpleclover: those are your glads behind the dahlia. And yes, get rid of the bindweed.
posted by trip and a half at 12:30 PM on July 7, 2012

I think it's possible that the parsley-looking leaves are Ranunculus ssp. Ranunculus does not smell like parsley, so that's a good test. It is likely to be slightly fuzzy on the undersides or at the nodes. It's definitely not Queen Anne's Lace- that has pinnate leaves (like a feather) and yours has palmate (like a hand) leaves.
posted by oneirodynia at 1:57 PM on July 7, 2012