Last year during a house foreclosure I picked up over 60 plants. A lot of them bloomed last year. But, this year there were a lot of unknown plants that popped up. This one has gone from not showing up at all last year to taking over a corner of my garden. I don't know what it is and would appreciate any help in identifying it. Thank you.
Not sure on the first one but the 2nd one is variegated Polygonatum, common name is Solomon's seal.
Thank you! There are so many more "plants"? that came up this year, I am lost. Could the 1st one be a invasive weed? I could id most of them, so I knew what they required. But these "extras" that came up, I can only id 8 of the 31. They are still in the "infancy" stage.
My first impression on #1 is a type of native sunflower... same green color, same shape, so I went out to look at my Maximilian's (Helianthus maximiliani) and there are not as many teeth as yours.
Overall, it looks "native" to me and I would let it grow until it flowers, then decide what to do. Some of the native sunflowers are lively, but not near anything invasive as creeping charlie, clover or dandelions. They just grow a little bigger each year and the babies are easy to pull if the seeds end up in a bad spot.
I could be entirely wrong on this and hope someone will come by to help you.
Thanks, Chillybean. I will take your advice and let them grow and flower as with the others. It will be interesting to see what other surprises pop up in my gardens. The woman that I bought the plants from had gorgeous gardens.
If you still can't ID that first plant once it flowers you might consider posting some pics of the blooms to see if anyone recognizes them.
I just looked at your first pic again. I'm probably wrong, but it reminds me of the native Goldenrod that grows all around my area, although the foliage might be wider than Goldenrod.
Agree with a Solidago sp.
I hadn't thought of Goldenrod! After I saw your post, nuts, I looked at the plant identified as the Canada species and the leaves are very similar. Some say it is aggressive, but that one patch of mine has not increased in size much, nor has it sent out any babies that I am aware of. It grows up to about six feet. All kinds of insects congregate on it since it is one of the latest flowering plants we have.
Depending on the type, Goldenrod can spread, mostly by seed, but there are over a hundred varieties of native Goldenrod. Some are small and (supposedly) well-behaved, even in a normal size garden.
I've also seen attractive ones at Bluestone and other nurseries.
http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/common_name/Goldenrod.html
Because there are fields full of Goldenrod around me, I'm not surprised it popped up in our yard a few years ago. I let some of the plants grow, but most were in very shady areas and never flowered - one in a sunny area bloomed. It was amazing how many pollinating insects were attracted to it! It also attracted aphids, but they were never a problem.
For the most part now when I see baby Goldenrod (Solidago) plants popping up I pull them so they don't spread everywhere, but I wouldn't mind having one or two of the smaller varieties.
