I'm unsure if this is a weed or not? Need ID, have photo!

12 years ago

Back in April, my husband and I decided to make a meadow. We bought a box of mixed wildflower seeds that claimed to have 50 different flowers and herbs.

These "flowers" were the first to pop up after a few weeks. The plants are quite tall (around 4 feet I would say) and the bottom leaves sort of resemble a maple leaf (3 leaves), while the top leaves are thin and pointy. The flowers are small and yellow.

Bees and butterflies seem to like it a lot, so I am hesitant to consider it a weed and get rid of it.

I'm in Europe, I don't know if that makes a difference when it comes to wildflower and weed species. Does anyone know what it is? Do I need to get rid of it?

Thanks!

I attached a link to the flower in question.

Here is a link that might be useful:

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Comments (5)

tyrlych
12 years ago
Barbarea sp. or something else of Cruciferae family.
Kimmsr
12 years ago
Not only could what are considered "wild flowers" (very often "weeds") be different from the the USA to Europe but different wild flower species grow in different areas of the USA, so purchasing a "wild flower" mix may well have plant species that might not grow well where you are but some could be noxious "weeds". Your plant looks kind of like Mustard.
Is your wild flower garden a prairie, a bog, a woodland, or something else?
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Ginny McLean_Petite_Garden
12 years ago
Wintercress, very common in the UK. Check this out

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wintercress_-_Barbarea_sp_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1163922.jpg
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
12 years ago
Not everything that sprouts in your new garden can be attributed to the seeds you put there.
Lorelei80
Original Author
12 years ago
kimmsr - I'm not really sure what it would be considered. It used to be a vegetable garden before we inherited it in the Spring.
We only used one half of it for vegetables and the other half (separated by stairs) for the meadow part. We are quite new to this gardening bit as we have never owned our own garden.
The part where we planted the wildflower seeds, I think may have been a potato field previously. I believe that lime was added to the soil, along with compost before we came along. The field gets pretty much full sun all day, from sun up to sun down.

Everything is growing crazy like a jungle. Every time I see it, I see something new! I am able to identify some of the flowers I see like poppies and thistles, but I am unsure of the identity of a lot of them. That is why I wanted to ask about this particular yellow flower because my father-in-law thinks it is a weed and that we should remove it.
If it is indeed Winter Cress or something similar from the Mustard family, which I think it definitely is now that others have suggested it, then I will let it stay.
Thank you!