Is this a weed?

With the wealth of knowledge here I would bet someone knows the answer. This plant seems to have taken over one side of our retaining wall flower garden. Given its proliferation and the fact it’s all but choking out other plants and rose bushes that I know were put in there on purpose I’m leaning towards weed. But then if it’s some kind of late blooming flower I’d hate to rip it all out. Bought the house last year and all the landscaping and shrubbery was done by previous owner and I am far from an expert on identifying decorative flowers/bushes from weeds.

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Weed

I wish I could help, but my weed ID is admittedly terrible and I’d hate to give you bad advise and have you tear out some flowers.

I would be more concerned by the viney thing in your garden. I will strangle out everything.

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If I had to guess, I’d say you have some type of a later blooming garden phlox. I’d give it this summer yet to see if it blooms, and if it doesn’t, hack it.

Phlox
Phlox

It looks like it may be a Milkweed. However it may sound like a weed, it may be intentional as they are used to attract monarch butterflies.

Wait for it to flower and see what it looks like.

Is it sticky to the touch?

FDR

djshannon wrote:

I would be more concerned by the viney thing in your garden. I will strangle out everything.

Yanked a bunk of that out last night, it was wrapping itself around the flower bushes.

The was a bunch of what I’ve always called milkweed in there too, but I think I may have been calling it the wrong thing as I don’t see any milkweed pictures that look like it. Closest thing I can find to it is prickly lettuce.

The stuff pictured is taking over the whole garden, you can barely see some of the rose bushes. Maybe I clean it out around them and leave some to see what it does. I noticed it grows out in clumps with half a dozen or so stalks all popping out in the same area like a common root system. Bottom end of the stalk is very hard, almost like a tree sapling.

francisco4 wrote:

Is it sticky to the touch?

FDR

Not really, I’d say the leaves feel somewhat velvety.

Crankbait wrote:

If I had to guess, I’d say you have some type of a later blooming garden phlox. I’d give it this summer yet to see if it blooms, and if it doesn’t, hack it.

Phlox
Phlox

Looking at this picture, minus the flowers this one looks a lot like it. Now I wish I had taken pictures last fall to see if it did flower.

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not milkweed, could be wild phlox it’s very common and spreads

let’s dry it and smoke it. Then we’ll see. Take a trip and never leave the farm.

Pretty hard to tell for sure from the photos, but looks like it could be Wild Phlox or Dames Rocket. After it blooms count the pedals on the flower. I would be interested in follow-up.

It is definitely Dames Rocket. (Hesperis matronalis).
https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/dames-rocket

While it is not listed on the State’s Noxious weed list – it is not native and it is considered invasive.
It is an escaped garden plant – Please feel free and justified to get rid of it.

According to the plant expert (mother in law) it is garden phlox, and look and behold it also started blooming today too. Still thinned it out some to stop choking out the roses.

Also found out the vine like ones I ripped most of them out was morning glory and I should have left it too.

The morning glory is wild and you do not want that growing anywhere in your yard. It’ll strangle good plants out. Flower value on wild morning glory is nill.

Not to argue with your expert, but in reviewing your photos I think you will find the plant in question to be Dame’s Rocket. The leaves appear to be opposite instead of alternate(Garden Phlox). Check the flowers and see if there are four pedals instead of five. Dame’s rocket is on the federal noxious weed list and is problematic in many areas of the country.
As for the morning glory it used to be on Minnesota’s noxious weed list. The main reason was because of all the damage it does to crops. As stated above it has no value whatsoever and will choke out other plants. Either way, glad it’s your yard and not mine. Have enough plant problems of my own.

Mike Stephens wrote:

let’s dry it and smoke it. Then we’ll see. Take a trip and never leave the farm.

Yep, put that in your pipe and smoke it!

Henpecked wrote:

Not to argue with your expert, but in reviewing your photos I think you will find the plant in question to be Dame’s Rocket. The leaves appear to be opposite instead of alternate(Garden Phlox). Check the flowers and see if there are four pedals instead of five. Dame’s rocket is on the federal noxious weed list and is problematic in many areas of the country.
As for the morning glory it used to be on Minnesota’s noxious weed list. The main reason was because of all the damage it does to crops. As stated above it has no value whatsoever and will choke out other plants. Either way, glad it’s your yard and not mine. Have enough plant problems of my own.

Checked this morning, 5 petals.

Has the stem turned purple as it is budding? If so it could be “bee balm”, that is what my wife calls it and has in her wild flower garden. The leaf pattern looks the same.

It would probably be wise to go along with whatever your mother in law thinks it is, no matter what! Nevertheless, I’ll have to agree with her. We actually have some garden phlox growing in one of our border plantings as well, which like yours, is also starting to bloom right now. Here’s a site from the UW Extension that has a good description of the difference between dame’s rocket and phlox, the former of which pops up near the border of our woods.

It’s actually phlox which has the opposing leaf arrangement. Also, in the picture with your hand, it does kind of look like the leaves have the distictive toothed edge look of dame’s. As the flower head emerges from the tops of phlox plants, they can get that crinkly jagged look to them which can resemble dame’s at times. To keep phlox from self sowing and crowding your rose bushes, take a shears to the tops of them after the flowers fade. One thing I find interesting is that the forest rats LOVE our garden phlox, but will not touch the wild phlox we had blooming in our woods earlier this spring.

I don’t bother with it any, but morning glory can be nice in a pot with a trellis, set on the deck where you can keep an eye on it. Never knew it was considered noxious at one time. IMO the only vine worth growing is clematis. Bee balm, which usually has opposing leaves like phlox, actually does have sawtooth edges. The flowers are radically different than phlox though. Plant bee balm, along with some turtlehead growing in front of it, and you have one of the best combinations for attracting hummingbirds and butterflies. Ours is just about ready to bloom.

Who doesn’t love a good plant mystery, although, I think you might have a little bit of everything growing in that bed. We should start a new user group for the IDO gardeners!

poomunk wrote:

Checked this morning, 5 petals.

Very good. Gotta love a mystery. Never know when you might find a new species. As for the Morning Glory, what I was referring to is wild morning glory otherwise known as Field Bindweed. Not the cultivated variety. It may still be on some county weed lists. Have not checked them all. Amazing how most weeds have pretty flowers.

Does anyone know what this thing is? It was the only thing that has grown where I have planted my peppers. Being a first time gardener I wasn’t sure what to expect. Neighbors have been curious all season on whether something would flower but it is looking like a weed for sure now? It has really taken off in the last week, I think I should take it out? Doesn’t seem to be harming anything though.

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leaves

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Mookie…..this is a weed. The next time it rains good and the ground is soft just grab hold of the stem near the dirt and pull it straight up. The root clump should come right up with it.

Mike Stephens wrote:

let’s dry it and smoke it. Then we’ll see. Take a trip and never leave the farm.

I’m game.

Looks like smartweed.

Henpecked wrote:

Looks like smartweed.

they all look like a variety of smartweed to me.