It looks like a Veronica turf weed. Veronica arvensis looks similar and is difficult to control with herbicide.

I agree that the white blooms would probably not look the best against our pale yellow house, but since I was looking for a smaller H. I didn't realize I'd have many other choices. I like the idea of blooms on new and old wood. It seems a relatively safe bet that there will be blooms on it at some point. Also I want to make sure of hardiness, although I will have no problem protecting it with a good mulching before winter. I also think some color would be nice. The Pee Wee I was thinking about, I believe was an oakleaf and I thought I read that it's leaves change color in the fall? But hardiness could be a problem, especially with the northern exposure it will get. The paniculata Pee Wee says it gets white blooms that age pink and into fall until frost. It seems an appropriate size at about 5' x 5' and is more hardy to zone 4, so should not be a problem here. Does anyone have any experience with any of the above H's I mentioned that may be available at the nursery? 'All Summer Beauty' or 'Color Fantasy' both are macrophyllas and supposedly hardy here and they look lovely in the pictures. Thanks everyone for all your suggestion and ideas. Janet

Brock, if anybody is guilty of writing too much, it is I, appreciate your input on the matter. I believe you are correct, it's Chinese or Japanese roof iris aka crested iris (did some googline). I did see zone 5b somewhere which is the colder limit for them, and I definitely think there is a difference b/t 5a and 5b, but I might be able to squeak some things through anyway. Now that is distressing that they may not survive the winter. I just set them out this afternoon, new area where there is no protection, and will have to mulch (or something) for the winter and expect to lose them. There are too many similar in this class to know exactly what to expect. If they make it through the summer, I could pot a few up and bring them inside, but that defeats my purpose as I have enough already to winter inside. They look so nice with that pretty foliage. Yes, I could move some, but I've got scads more plants waiting to be set out. Yes, I agree that some, not all, mail-order retailers exaggerate the zone business because they would lose sales. A topic for another time, tired after setting out 24 plants, used my bulb planter which made things go a little faster. I think I had my tiller set to till and not cultivate, oh well, it had gotten so bad so fast, it needed the extra power, but I'm worried if I could have compromised the roots forming on the Austins I set in there ealier. They should recover.

There are many species of Epilobium, some of which have had name changes, like the fireweed. Some are native, some are introduced weeds. There's only one fireweed though, by whatever name. Watson's willowherb is a common garden weed, I think it's Epilobium ciliatum now, used to be Epilobium watsonii. Dry or damp, sun or shade, tall and rank or short and sparse. Seeds, no runners. The one in your garden is probably the Watson's although you may also have others like Epilobium minutum in dry spots. I'm sure bboy is much more knowledgeable about the various species than I am, I usually do well enough just going by 'Epilobium species'. What you have in the photos on the Weeds forum sure look like Watson's willowherb gone to seed. They've done really well this year with the cool damp spring. But the photos do need to be larger to really see. I'm just guessing from the silhouette.