aliska,I think your plant is Poke weed,
Love the crazy daisy,I need to get mine in the ground.
Very pretty pictures.
cAROL

Thanks, Carol. Pokeweed, wonder what that rode in on? Yes get your daisies in the ground. Mine did wilt on hot days the first year, sometimes perk up in the evening, watered them, and after that they don't seem to require any particular care. I don't bother watering that strip any more (until I squeeze a couple new plants in there).

I just let that thing grow to see what it was going to do; it has a stem thicker than a broomstick and really tough! I don't see any particularly interesting flying things going for the blooms, think I'll whack it this fall.

Aliska, beautiful pictures. I really like the rudbeckia. Hope youre going to do a seed trade this winter.

Haha, ladyrose, a seed trade? I will save and label what I can and will see if I want anything back. Usually don't, one-way with me, but glad I accepted the black raspberry offer, never imagined they'd germinate although I know they do easily enough in the wild. I was lucky those survived and I recognized what they were in shattered cups just where my daughter threw all my stuff to get it out of the way.

There's another darker rud clump a little slower to open, will have to see what those look like. Probably ugly dark streaks.

Thanks for the compliment about the pictures, never go out taking photos like I was. I mean the ruds are colorful, kind of grow on me. I've only done the two, first Prairie Sun then got Cherry Brandy in plants. Only one person here had some really nice ones like on the seed packet. Mine would have been ok if I hadn't known what they were supposed to look like. I do like that brown or red button.

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don't wait till fall..i did the exact same thing thinking I'd wait and see what it was..the root on that thing is H_U_G_E_
it gets THICK and wide.
I pulled in 2008 and I think I FINALLY have gotten it so it stops tying to comeback from root pieces I missed.

As to how it got there? Mine was near the bird feeder... FWIK the birds like the berries that form.....

i'm going to chime in on pokeweed - weed butt planted by birds. then the birds eat the ripe berries and poop purple everywhere. get it out of there!

Wow, thanks, bakemom and ontheteam, I saw on google images that root. Makes me almost puke to look at that massive ugly thing. I mean ick ick ick and it's poisonous to varying degrees, read up some on the stuff. I don't know how I'll get rid of the root, have a jar of yucky Roundup (turned dark, but I have to be careful how I dispose of it) I could pour on the stalk after I cut it off. I won't paint Roundup out of a jar again or if I do, mix a smaller batch.

The birds never used the feeder that was on there much because it gets so icy I quit putting seed on it but it was really a pretty cedar one. The birds probably lit on it anyway until my tree limb took it out.

This morning I went out to look at my gypsophilia, and just happened to see two shoots further to the left of that pink rose (closer to the house, different clump). I'll try to get that rose shaped up and the other gypsophilia plant going better, surprised it's still there. I'll put some chalky stuff down and mark it with half an obelisk I pulled out from the back yesterday temporarily so I won't dig or do heavy duty weeding there. I wish I had some on the other side os the walk, I did but thought it all died.

Although the plant it toxic, it is only a weed because you don't want it in the garden. It is a native plant -and actually quite beautiful when it is dripping with glistening black berries and deep reddish purple stems.
That said, it's way too aggressive in my yard, where birds eat the neighbors berrying plants and poop them out. The digestion helps the seed germinate readily. If it would stay put, I would love to have lots of it as a backdrop in the garden. Normally I try and use no chemicals but if I can't get a poke root out, I cut it down, sick a stick in the root in the ground to make a hole and squirt a little total kill in there. It won't return.
Your babies breath is lovely aliska12000

I agree with everyones statement above about the pokeweed. Horrible to get rid of! Nasty tap!

Around these parts the old timers actually go out in the wild and pick this mess. At certain times of the year when the plant is a little younger than yours in the picture you can see cars on the side of the road with older people and their walmart sacks full of the leaves. They actually eat it!! They call it poke salad here!! Yes it is poisonous, but what they do is boil the leaves, drain then reboil, then drain and reboil again.

I have never tried it and I probably never will. My father goes crazy when he sees a pokeweed plant. He is so country it isn't even funny. Anywho if I let him know that stuff is growing around my house he gets mad at me for pulling it. He calls it "good eats". LOL

If you decide to use the round up on it, remember that RU only works on the "growing" parts of the plant in conjuction with sun. So you could paint/spray it on the leaves and eventually I imagine it would die all the way down to the root. But cutting it off at ground level and then putting RU on the root left behind will probably be unsuccessful.

Well, I whacked it think it was yesterday close to the ground with the lopping shears. There was a smaller one beside it. If they come back, they're right close to the back door, so I'll do the stick or some RU or both. Mulberry is hard to get rid of, too, like a hydra, cut it off, pops out 5 more sprouts in its place. One got so bad out on the terrace, some stump diggers came thru and got rid of that once and for all. That was before I would have dreamed of using RU or don't even know if they made it then.

It's a riot of color with all those rudbeckias that self-seeded and other stuff. Not what I would have planned or wanted but maybe Mother Nature knows better. The main thing is they'll bloom a long time and the Jap beetles seem to leave them alone. They're here now and ruining my roses like they do every year.

Glad you like my baby's breath. Too bad it took so many years to get it going to look that pretty. You can dry it, too. I might.

No, I would not want to eat pokeweed it even if I cooked it right. I did venture into collards, turnip greens and some other stuff beets maybe, with onion and ham hock. Good for you, made a huge batch a few weeks ago. Ate it all but it took 3 or 4 days. 50 cents a bundle, don't see how it pays to stock it. My Jiffy corn bread muffins flopped for some reason.

I took some more photos. These are odd, but I was going to use RU behind the garage until I saw what was back there. So I'll throw the photos in here and write an explanation at the bottom.

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I always find neat stuff back there (and lots not so neat).
1. I think is a little juniper, transplanted one and think I'll pull this one out.
2. A hosta that seeded in a crack, can't lift the rock to get it out, and it's not like any of the 3 I've had before; another one just like it follows.
3. A tulip tree seedling from my neighbor's tree. Been wanting one but no place for a large tree. So I'll put it in a big pot or wait. Maybe I should just leave it alone?
4. An ancient fern that's been there since before we bought this place. My son put 5-year-killer back there several years ago, and that fern survived. I am very attached to it now and it will be treated with the dignity it deserves.
5. Common milkweed, not good landscaping but we need all the butterflies we can get so I'm leaving it alone until late fall. Always get some back there.
6. A redbud tree seedling, looks like maybe second year. That I'll have to stake or transplant. It could grow there ok but may not grow straight behind the drip line of the garage.
7. The second hosta, will leave that right where it is. Had 3 Patriots back there, decided I didn't want hosta so gave them away on Freecycle. Now I kind of regret it because they'd just gotten to the dimpled stage.
8. Those purple flowers. Think they're ladybells. Adenophora something. How many times I've tried to WS them, well twice. Nothing. So it looks like they are multiplying.

So I kind of feel like I got some free stuff ;-). I need to do more work back there, was going just RU the whole thing and cover the fern but now, I'll have to do something different. The mowers are dumping my grass clippings back there, so I can use it for smothering and mulch. I look at it again by the nicer hosta plant, and it looks like there's a smaller one there, too.

I really don't like to go back there very often, and it shows. I pulled a whole bunch of stuff but need to do more. Now it's hot, and I don't do heat.

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