help me identify these weeds/trees/flowers - Part III

12 years ago

So continuing my efforts to figure out my inherited garden/lawn with the help of you knowledgeable folks ...

And lest you think that I am not putting in an effort to start my own garden .. I will post another thread with my modest successes and failures ..

Here is a purple a purple ball on one stalk. Just one bunch of flowers, cant really see any foliage. There are no more of this kind.

closeup

The irises are blooming (so far yellow and purple) I am not sure I like them. They don't look fresh/happy. Are they supposed to look like this?

3-4 plants with blue and pink flowers. The flowers never looked nice and blooming. weed or not?

pretty white flowers, weed I think .. But if its not invasive, I don't mind it

spinach weed in lawn? This one is easy to remove with my roto-digger drill attachment .. but would like to know what it is

Comments (5)

reball517
12 years ago
Purple globe is some kind of allium - onion.

The blue and pink are columbines - definitely not weeds.

Not sure what the last is as don't see the leaves - star of bethlehem?
sarahrock
12 years ago
The first one looks like allium. The fifth one -- the pink flowers -- looks like columbine. And that last one looks like a weed... plantain maybe?
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pixie_lou
12 years ago
1) Purple Allium - I don't know the variety. It is a bulb. the foliage is probably buried under the rest of the "stuff" in that garden. Definitely an interesting looking flower - I find that people love them or hate them. I'm not particularly fond of them, but they do add color to the garden this time of year.

2) Irises - yes they are supposed to look like that. Personally I think they look gorgeous - irises are my favorite flower!

3) Columbine. The flowers do tend to look toward the ground. Not a weed. They do self seed - though may have difficulty self seeding with competition from all that other foliage.

4) I'm blanking on the name - maybe star of bethlehem or mayflower. Grows from a bulb. You could always dig them up and put them where you want them.

5) Wild plantain. Weed. Will be killed with any broadleaf herbicide. They "flower" - send up a green spiky thing. IMO - one of the ugliest "flowers" in the world!

http://www.altnature.com/gallery/plantain.htm

I will happily take any of these flowers from you if you decide to do away with them.
NHBabs z4b-5a NH
12 years ago
You have some great IDs so far.
1 & 2 is an allium. On some of them the leaves die back before the flower really gets going, so if you transplant it, learn from my mistake and don't put it at the very front of the border.

3 Your yellow irises are looking pretty good to me.

4 & 5 are Columbine, which tends to be short-lived, but as Pixie Lou says, if you leave the seed heads, you will get some seeding around, especially if they don't have too much competition from other plants.

6 is Star of Bethlehem AKA Ornithogalum umbellatum. It can self-seed, so if you don't want to have more, rip this one out.

7. Plantain is a weed that despite its lack of pretty flowers will seed around and spread. I tend to cut mine out with an old knife that is one of my favorite weeding tools.
diggerdee zone 6 CT
12 years ago
Ditto to everything - including thinking your irises look great!

I just pulled out some Star of Bethelehem yesterday. Never had it before - I think it came in with some stuff from a friend, since she has it in her garden. Flowers are pretty, but I just don't want to bother with anything that might become a pest. Got enough of those things already, lol!

Dee