My parents always had a vegetable garden and bit of a flower garden, so I do recognize some common domesticated plants. I also have an interest in wildflowers, so I recognize some of those. But when you're not a gardener, and the garden you're acquired has kinda run wild, it's like a treasure chest, and a slightly mysterious one. What's this? Is it a weed or something planted with intention? (It can be hard to tell the difference sometimes.) I don't want to accidently yank out a hosta or something, but I also don't want to let the weeds take over. We've got shasta daisies everywhere, and those suckers are hard to uproot.
So beyond the obvious (daffodills, primulas, hyacinths) I've been doing a lot of peering at plants and trying to figure out what they are. In the "intentional" category, I have been clearing a little rock garden area and found a type of jade plant that I used to have in a pot, and some sedums and creeping jenny. There's quite a lot of columbine and some bleeding hearts as well.
Over on the weedy side, some mysterious plants popped up--yesterday I finally identified them as purple deadnettle. We've also got blue-eyed mary.
No sooner had I got the deadnettle identified than I found another mystery, over on the other side of the pond where the gardener had reclaimed some territory last fall. I've no idea if it's weed or intentional. What the heck is this? Whatever it is, it's growing out of a big lumpy root thingie that's obviously been there for a long time.
First spring in a new house is so interesting.
Followup: it appears to be bergenia cilata. Who knew?
2 Comments
I’ve always understood that a weed is any plant growing where you don’t want it to grow.
Heh…. my definitions of weed do rather follow in those directions.