Monday, June 1, 2009

The weed or not the weed?




19 comments:

Cheryl said...

For some reason the leaves remind me of a Stokesia (the cornflowers in my garden are a type of Stokesia), but the plant seems taller than any I've seen before. I'm still stumped!

Kristen said...

I know, I have never had a weed this big before but maybe because I always pulled it out before it got this big, I had to tie a string around it because it was shadowing some of my smaller plants. It has tons of sprouts coming off it too and if each one had a flower it will look awesome but I don't see any buds yet either.

Priscilla said...

If you remove a leaf is there a milky sap?

There may be some mineral in your soil that it absolutely loves.

Biddie said...

waiting is ......

Kristen said...

No there is no sap or anything from a broken off leaf, I did that this morning

Kristen said...

So I know a guy that is an Arborist, I sent him the pictures, he said...

"Beats the hell out of me. Have you tried pulling it out? If it comes out easy, it is a weed. If not, it is a perennial."

So I am not taking his advice, I am going to leave it be a while longer and see what happens, I don't like his answer, he is a bit of a joker with me, kind of like Herb

Biddie said...

good thinking!

Denise Rosier said...

It seems awfully big and "branchy" to be a weed. The leaves resemble my coneflower's leaves, but it looks denser than my coneflowers .. interesting .

Denise Rosier said...

hmm .. I'm trying to match your mystery plant to something in my garden. What about penstemon? It looks like your plant is about ready to produce a bud, so we may know soon enough.

Maureen said...

It kinda looks sunflowery? I had some last year that put out a bunch of branchiness and at the end of each was a tight cluster of leaves that turned into the sunflowers.
Has it budded out a bit more since the last photo?

Kristen said...

Just went and checked on it, looks the same as this morning, and I did grab the base of it, it has a good hold in the ground so the weed theory from the Arborist, not so much

Priscilla said...

If no white sap then probably not wild lettuce.

Couldn't be sundrops, could they?

Cheryl said...

I would have to argue with your arborist friend...there is one weed in particular over here that I have a heck of a time trying to pull out, I'm not sure what it is but it is a tenacious bugger!

Evil...just pure evil I tell you...like the Devil himself is holding onto the roots!

Even the lowly (yes I said it!) dandelion has a firm grip upon the earth and is not so easy to dislodge with taproot intact.

I say wait and see :)

Kristen said...

I agree Cheryl, I gave it a good tug and it was holding firm in the ground and so do dandy lions so I said not all weeds come out easy and this one is still up in the air, I will give it more time!

Priscilla said...

Evening primrose.

Kristen said...

Update on the weed.... It still looks the same but the small black ants and ladybugs are attracted to the tops. Any idea's?

Biddie said...

curiouser and curiouser!!

peonies are known for attracting ants but that is AFTER they start to bloom ....

Cheryl said...

Interesting...aphids attract both ants & ladybugs...so watch out for an aphid infestation. I've already discovered tons of them on my roses & plum tree.

Check your lupine too, I've found that mine are an aphid magnet & they will suck it dry really quick if you don't catch them in time.

Kristen said...

What do Aphids look like again?
I checked again, there was two ladybugs and a kind of worm on the weed today and maybe some small white stuff

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