Weed ID

[Mark Anderson]

This year I'm growing three different wildflower mixes; midwest, northeast, and western. Three of my boxes were planted last fall. I've grown the midwest mix for many years but not that familiar with the northeast and western mix. Anyway, a plant has popped up in areas seeded with western mix that I think I remember as being a common weed here in Chicago Zone 5 but I'm not sure. In one area there's a clump of these plants and I'm usually careful about pulling things I'm unsure of.

Here's a pic of the very young plant.

underside of the leaves are green with purplish veins.

I don't necessarily need the exact name of this (but if you know it that would be nice), rather, is this a common weed or not or is this some sort of plant that grows out west and I should be happy it's growing?

BTW: I've googled and googled for weed ID resources and haven't been able to find any good sites. Google is becoming infected with ads in their searches. Are there any good plant ID sites where you can check off a list of characteristics and the site tries to match that with possible plants? I remember using something like this last year but I seem to have forgotten to bookmark it.

[fran]

I can tell you it's not a common weed here in western NC! (Not much help, I know).

[Cereus-validus.....]

I look forward to your posting a picture of it in bloom.

Then you will get a definite ID.

[raycruzer]

To help with your weed ID efforts, you will find over 100 weeds lists, most of them with images, organized by state or province, at the World of Weeds

For Illinois, 8 weeds lists are included.

With so many online weeds databases, many of which having been published in only the last few years, it's now easier to identify any weed that pops up in your garden. Some weeds are also highly invasive and noxious, and others are also poisonous. The more we know about our weeds, the better.

Ray _______________________________________________ Talk about weeds: World of Weeds