Weed or Volunteer Narive Plant - 2018 Edition
 

I may have planted this one last summer in my herb bed as it is front and center in a large planter. Pay no attention to the sorrel going to seed leaning on the left side of this monster.


Next am I coddling a privet or a weed? The new growth is a very brite greenish yellow, about 3 feet tall in total.


This has square stems. Is this thug growing all over different beds a weed, monarda that is spreading wildly with the rainy weather, or some speedwell that is blooming much later than other varieties, or ???


The grey plant was from a plant exchange. I was told it was invasive, but didn't expect this much so soon. I don't recall the name but would like to know what it is.


- Lisa

What is a narive plant?

Please excuse my typo, NATIVE.

Regardless of the terminology, can you identify any plants in the photos?

- Lisa

I don't know what the plant is, but I can't stand it when I typo a title :lol:and I've done it more than once.

The plant does look familiar though.

You will be able to tell better when it blooms but is the Gray plant Rose Campion? The second picture looks like a weed. The first picture may have something invasive bitterweet if it is a vine, but I am not sure. If it is a vine and you pull some and it has red roots, get it out as soon as possible becuase it is very invasive and difficult to get rid of. If not a vine, then I am not sure.

The plant by the window- I think is a very healthy giant ragweed? The grey one might be dusty miller?

I think you are raising some very healthy weeds here, lol.

The plant in the second picture may be Agastache, a lovely plant with blue flowers that attract bees. It has a square stem, and if you crush a leaf, it smells of anise. It makes great herb tea.

The silver-leafed plant is probably Artemesia which is indeed rather invasive and better off grown somewhere that you can control it by mowing around it.

Linda

[QUOTE=Labradors2;704821]The plant in the second picture may be Agastache, a lovely plant with blue flowers that attract bees. It has a square stem, and if you crush a leaf, it smells of anise. It makes great herb tea.

The silver-leafed plant is probably Artemesia which is indeed rather invasive and better off grown somewhere that you can control it by mowing around it.

Linda[/QUOTE]




Fingers crossed for Agastache! I've planted the orange hummingbird hybrids but have given up on them being reliably hardy.


Later I'll post a photo of an Artimesia plant that I purchased at a garden club plant sale. The leaves on the purchased plant terminate in a square shape, and have a sharp angular tooth. The nearly dead sample I have of the plant in the photo has more of a rounded end and is smooth. Stay tuned!


- Lisa

Ha ha everyone sees a different plant. :lol: The silver one looks like one we have called "Snow in Summer". Curse my tongue for saying such a words (since we had the real stuff:cry:). ;) It is white flowered and spreading, yes, invasive as all get out. Dandy ground cover for a place you just want foliage/flowers and never intend to put anything else. :D

I googled Snow In The Summer, bingo! Mine did not flower, must have been to hot this year. :(


I need listen to people when they say it is invasive and not fall for a pretty color. Now I have two snowy invasives to have fun with - this and Snow On The Mountain!


I also took a cutting of ribbon grass from another club but that is behaving in the adjacent area that has weed fabric.



- Lisa


new roof every few years

BTW two different 'square stem' pics? The first one could be Agastache or Motherwort (Leonuris cardiaca?) or a Speedwell (although not similar to any I know of here, there are a lot of different kinds). All of which have a flower spike which could look similar to the unflowered one in the first square stem pic.

The plant with deeply lobed leaves.. is not any of the labiatiae that I know personally, doesn't look like the same one you pictured first.

Oh no! I bought ribbon grass at a recent plant sale. It had no label and looked extremely healthy which should have been a warning! Fortunately, I contacted someone "in the know" who warned me about it. Anyone want some Ribbon grass?????

Linda

The second photo from the top is a close up. You can most readily see the bloom forming on a plant on the left. There is a piece of wood that shows its position in the last photo which is a garden overview. Its invasiveness is demonstrated in the patches of this square stemmed plant to the left, in front of, and to the right of this old wooden post.


I am sure that within the past two years I had planted bee balm from another plant swap in that bed, but the bloom forming is the wrong shape for bee balm.


- Lisa

[QUOTE=Labradors2;704870]Oh no! I bought ribbon grass at a recent plant sale. It had no label and looked extremely healthy which should have been a warning! Fortunately, I contacted someone "in the know" who warned me about it. Anyone want some Ribbon grass?????

Linda[/QUOTE]


It would look great for foliage in a pot. It stays short. You can use it in place of using all annuals in a display of clustered pots to save money. Not a bad deal for cheap color.


- Lisa

[QUOTE=Nattybo!;704816]The plant by the window- I think is a very healthy giant ragweed? The grey one might be dusty miller?[/QUOTE]


Oh no I have enough allergies!


Dusty Miller seldom overwinters here. It did sometimes when I lived in New Jersey. We treat it as an annual here.


- Lisa

[QUOTE=greenthumbomaha;704880]It would look great for foliage in a pot. It stays short. You can use it in place of using all annuals in a display of clustered pots to save money. Not a bad deal for cheap color.


- Lisa[/QUOTE


Ha! I actually tried plonking it's pot on top of a planter and the darned thing grew a mass of roots out through the bottom of the pot!


Linda

Your silver plant in question is an Artemisia. Silver Mound is also in this family. I think that yours is Artemisia absinthium. I have grown it. It does spread. It is a great filler for cut flower arrangements. You can also dry it and use it for dried cut floral pieces. It is easily contained if you put a ring around it that is also buried about 6-8 inches under the soil or just dig a ring around it each spring.

I also agree with the vote for ragweed.

We have a couple of patches of ribbon grass at the farm - they aren't invasive but maybe the beds where they were put for a reason, are not likely to spread anywhere. They are a nice producer of foliage for bouquets... rather nice, really!

I looked up Rose Campion and it is really pretty, and I have another plant similar to that foliage called Silver Speedwell - it is not a bit invasive here though. You could do a multicolor flower bank with either of these and snow in summer... Would be nice. It's hard to tell from a photo but the Snow in Summer has more of a spiky foliage just very narrow linear leaves and lots of them, while the silver speedwell and rose campion have more of a 'leaf shaped' leaf. :twisted: (can you say that???);)
I've grown several artemisias including absinthium, and the leaf is nothing like your picture . The absinthe or wormwood is very strongly scented if you rub a leaf between your fingers once you will never mistake it for another plant. :?: :)

I'm sorry, I need to correct that. It is ARTEMESIA LUDOVICIANA. Still a very beautiful plant.

Here is a close up of a pulled stem of the mystery plant. Along side in the pot is an Artemesia from a garden club sale, waiting to be planted in very sandy soil in a sunny spot at the lake.

We are finally getting rain and a short lived break from the heat this week. It will be a few days to do a sniff test. I didn't smell anything on the square leaf plant, and after seeing bee balm about to bloom at the garden center, this can be ruled out.

Did I miss an ID for the first photo? In the landscape pic, it is to the left of the rock , on the left side of the photo.

- Lisa

Lisa, I think it must be Rose Campion or Silver Speedwell or something else... the Snow in Summer has a narrower leaf and very bunched together - shorter internodes, at least as it grows here...

Bower, I don't think it's Rose Campion. [url]https://wimastergardener.org/article/rose-campion-lychnis-coronaria/[/url]

I have Rose Campion and love it. A friend was helping me to weed and she suggested that it was invasive, but I told her that I had planted seedlings all over because it looks so pretty interspersed with anything. They are really flourishing with all the rain we had early on, and now I am wondering if they really are invasive {LOL}. Not a problem as they are easy enough to pull if I have to :).

Linda

I didn't think it looked like rose campion, either. The campion does seed itself freely but is easy to get rid of, here anyway. I find it easy to keep the 'invasive' dame's rocket under control too and always leave some for the hummingbirds.

Oh I LOVE Dame's Rocket (and its wonderful fragrance), even if it is a huge plant that I have to evict from my front flower beds! We created large new area with shrubs and perennials and anything wild was allowed too (if approved by me). Last spring the Dame's Rocket was everywhere and gorgeous, but this year there's not much of it - sigh...…

Linda

No, now that the leaf shape is clearly visible, definitely not rose campion. I have lots of it and the leaf color is similar but not the shape.

One of the Mystery Plants is Starting to Bloom
 

Here is a clue, any guesses as to the square stemmed plant? This photo was taken in a different garden, but I believe it is the same plant. The tallest plant, including stem, is approx 2.5 feet.