Another weed ID?

deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b

12 years ago

Here's another one! This has appeared in my garden and I didn't exactly put a plant in its territory last year, but it is close and overlapping with some Asclepias incarnatas. Because it's not spread throughout the entire garden I'm not sure if it's a weed or a forgotten plant. It sure doesn't look good at this point, which has me suspicious. It is, however, similar to the Asclepias. The first picture shows its roots, which are more tuberous. The second picture shows it growing. It has wider leaves than what I KNOW is Asclepias in my garden. it also has fuzz along the stem. I did plant two varieties of Asc incarnata, so I don't know if it's the other variety or a weed.

One more question: What's the weed that looks exactly like Rudbeckia seedlings? It starts out like Ruds but then just grows as a weed with huge leaves. Anybody know?!

Thank you again!

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Comments (5)

jaynine
12 years ago
Looks like Helianthus tuberosus/Jerusalem Artichoke.
terrene
12 years ago
Could be Helianthus 'Lemon Queen'. A very pretty but vigorous perennial Sunflower. Not a weed but spreads aggressively by rhizomes. Makes lots of fabulous lemon yellow flowers.

I had a huge patch going, but the voles ate most of it over the winter, which wasn't such a bad thing, saved me having to cull it.
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NHBabs z4b-5a NH
12 years ago
That is my thought also. JAs have a nice flavor (if they agree with your digestion) and the flowers are small sunflowers, but the plants do spread somewhat rapidly and so need some type of a barrier. If you don't want them, get rid of them now since they are a plant that is hard to get rid of once established.
NHBabs z4b-5a NH
12 years ago
Oops - my message is unclear since I was still writing while terrene was posting. I think that it's Jerusulem artichoke like Jaynine due to the appearance of the leaves and also due to what looks like the start of a tuber in photo 1.
deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
Original Author
12 years ago
Boy, you guys are good! Looked up what a Jerusalem Artichoke is and found that it is a wonderful plant I got at our plant swap last year. At that time I had no idea exactly what it was, only that it was a type of sunflower. I compared these seedlings to my mature plant and they are indeed the same. You would think seedlings would be around mom, but, she's on the other side of the garden! As much as I love the mother, I'll be taking up these seedlings. Probably will bring some to our swap this weekend. I'm surprised at how many there are, and I can easily see them getting out of hand. I'll put this plant on the list of ones to deadhead this year.

Thank you!