Picture #1 - Looks like mint to me. But I'm sure she would know from the fragrance if that was what it was, so I have no idea.

Picture #2 - I can't remember if I've ever let that one flower, but it is for sure a weed; I'm often pulling it out. Maybe some kind of chamomile/daisy type flower?

Picture #3 - I think they are both the same plant: either a clover or maybe young alfalfa. Pull it out! Well...she can leave it if she wants, but the root will be much worse to pull out if she leaves it.

I usually leave unknown weeds until they grow a bit so that I can be 100% sure it isn't something that I planted. When I'm sure, I rip 'er out. Nothing worse keeping is just going to randomly show up in my garden. ;)

Good luck..I'm basically not sure of any of the weeds - but I think they are weeds! (excapt MAYBE the top one)

I'll ask her about scent in the top one. The leaves look mint-like, but the dark stems are different from any type of mint i remember seeing. I'm sure the second one is a weed.

If the last one is alfalfa, i'm wondering where it might have come from (mine, not hers). Is it in bird feed, maybe?

The first one is creeping blue bellflower (kill! destroy!), the second is a weed but I can't think which one and I don't have my weed guide with me, the third is a clover seedling. They both are clover seedlings.

Hah - when you said clover seedling, it all of a sudden looked like one to me! LOL I should take a picture of the thing i have. I almost thought baptisia, but then i bought another one, and it's not quite the same.

Actually Marcia, I think the larger seedling on the left is a yellow clover as opposed to a white clover on the right. But it's definitely a wild/weedy clover species.

The middle one is bugging me. :S

Gil, i was looking for tansy for the second one, though i think the foliage is not quite right. What do you think?

But while looking (i'm working hard today - can you tell?), i found this:

Hi

Agree - first one is creeping bellflower = very bad.

Second one - first thought was Potentilla pensylvanica - prairie cinquefoil - but maybe not - maybe Tanacetum vulgare?

Third one on the left- it looks like a tiny rose, right? I also think it might be Melilotus officinalis (yellow sweet clover), although alfalfa would also fit (Medicago sativa)

I was thinking in the ragweed family for the middle one. I also thought of marigold or cosmos but they're not quite right either.

(I am also working hard, can you tell.)

I've sent the thread address to my friend so that she'll know to get pullin'! LOL

Agreed the first is creeping bellflower. If you don't get rid of it, soon you will have nothing but.

If the first was mint, the stems would be square in cross section.

The third pic, plant on left, could be yellow or white sweet clover(Melitotus officinalis, M. alba) -really an alfalfa, an invasive weed here in Minnesota. You would certainly know when it flowers and probably by the large size of the plant. More likely, I think, it is Black Medic (Medicago lupulina) a common weed in lawns, gardens and especially warm, dry and poor soil places.

The plant on the right might be the same or not. Can't tell. If it is a true clover, leaflets will not have petioles (leaf stems), or if they seem to, the "petiole" length will be equal for all leaflets. This is obviously not the case for the plant on the left (and a helpful diagnostic for alfalfas and medics, among others), but the plant on the right is too young for accurate assumptions. True clovers often have symmetrical variegation in the leaflets. Alfalfas and medics do not.

Rick

Actually, Marcia, I think you might be right about the second one being tansy. At least that certainly came the closest when I looked in my husbands weed ID book. It also says that the leaf shapes can change as the plant grows, so maybe that might account for it looking "different"?

If its tansy it should smell as well right. But, it looks like a common weed I get in my garden that I have no idea of the name :'( Its around but not invasive or perennial.
I thought mint with the first one as well (mine has dark stem like that), but the leaf looks to elongated or something. So I'm tending towards creeping bellflower.
I agree with the third on left being either alfalfa or sweet clover, right one is regular clover.

I love tansy and i wish it wasn't so invasive. I've had it come up in my garden, but that was a few years ago and i don't remember what it looked like when it was young.

My friend has read this thread and thinks you're all wonderful folks! :)

I think the weed in the second picture may be Queen Annes Lace that has been cut or mowed constantly. It then gets bushy as a survival tactic. I have them in my garden and they look like that after DH has tilled them several times. Personally I just let them grow a bit, then I cut off the foliage and toss it into the garden (organic matter) and then dig out the root to keep the plant from sending out runners. Marg

Hi Marcia DON"T PULL up the weeds in the first pic----DIG DIG DIG ......... This plant has a tremendous root structure and you will achieve nothing by just pulling it. It's in the campanula family and has the purple drooping bellflowers. THey grow in backlanes , fields and anywhere it can get a foothold.

I got one "given" to me with another plant years ago .I let it grow for 2 years before I realized what I had--- WE dug a hole 3 ft deep and 4 ft long trying to remove it out of the garden. We had to lift plants out and bareroot them to get rid of it. WE still didn't get all of it gone and used roundup by painting the leaves-- it still is there to this day and is a constant battle.
I now check any and all plants given to me and will often leave them in the pot awhile to see if any grow. I feel for the people who own the place now.
I call this the plant from h... Lois

Hey, Lois! I've passed this thread on to my friend - hopefully she's doing the digging!