I’ve been a very good weeder the last couple of years. I’m determined to eliminate all of the unwanted weeds from my backyard. First it was the morning glory seedlings. They were everywhere. I started the whole thing a few years ago. In an attemt to hide a chain link fence, I planted Morning Glory Vine. The flowers were lovely, but I didn’t know I was making a ten year commitment. The seeds spread everywhere. Year after year they show their distintive little heads, sneaking in from the other side of my new fence, winding in my tomato patch, popping up all over the place. Who brought this invasive weed into my yard? I did.
Morning Glory seedling
Next it was onions. Onions, onions everywhere. Popping up in the lawn and the perennial beds. Where do these seeds come from I ask myself. How do get into my yard in such quantity? Could the culprit be the lovely chives I have growing in my herb garden. Chives are in the allium family. Allium = Onion. Yikes, did I do it to my self again? Just to be safe, I’m not letting the chive flowers go to seed. I will let them bloom, then wisk the flowers to the compost.
This spring I have a new nemisis. A small low growing plant with a tiny blue flower has appeared. It could be mistaken for a steppable. If it wasn’t sprouting up in every nook and cranny in the yard, I might think it was kind of cute.
What is it? How did it get into my yard? Did it blow in from the neighbors? Did I overlook it last year, letting it seed all over the place. It almost looks like someone brought a bag full of seeds into my yard and spread them around. They are especially abundant in the area near the bird feeder. Bird feeder = seeds. Did I do it to myself again? Do bird seeds sprout into weeds?
I had fun trying to identify it. Check out this website for advice:
http://www.grounds-mag.com/mag/grounds_maintenance_identify_weeds/
Or go directly here for an interactive guide. You tell it all the characteristics (size of leaf, color of flower etc) and the computer narrows it down for you.
I still haven’t been able to ID this weed. The closest I came was Creeping Charlie, but it isn’t an exact match.
Can anyone help me out here?
6 Comments
May 6, 2009 at 9:30 am
Peggy – I know I have it in my garden (as a weed), but it hasn’t been that insistent. I don’t know what it is and haven’t bothered to try to ID it.
May 6, 2009 at 5:27 pm
you may have a weed that is commonly called Henbit
May 6, 2009 at 11:32 pm
The lovely little weed is a type of “weedy” veronica — it does resemble the perennial. Creeping charlie has rounder leaves and nodes that root wherever they touch the ground. My current nemesis is “nimblewill” — an actual weed that is ferocious.
May 7, 2009 at 7:58 am
Could it be henbit? I have this weed also.
May 11, 2009 at 6:06 pm
I have been fighting this weed for a while and share your frustration with not being able to identify it. Your picture pushed me to doing a more thourogh search, however, since it is identical to my problem weed.
I think I finally found it; look up “Corn Speedwell” on Google. Apparently it can look a little different from place to place (or is apt to be mis-identified), but I found a few pictures that look exactly like our problem.
Scotts Step 2 knocks it down for a month or so, but then it comes right back.
May 15, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Thanks you everyone for helping me ID my weed. I’m sure now that it is a Veronica. I think I have two weed species growing in my garden, Corn Speedwell and Germander Speedwell. There are great pictures at http://www.msuturfweeds.net/details/_/corn_speedwell_39/
VERY near by the worst of this weed problem is a patch of the oh-so-lovely Veronica ‘Goldwell’. Could Goldwell be causing this weed problem? Do cultivated varieties sometimes seed back to their parents or relatives?