Biwako of Abi,
When I was a kid, I called Birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) "snapdragons" because the flowers looked like dragon's heads to me. It is a low-growing legume, but the flowers are pretty much solid yellow. It was (and is) one of my favorites.
There is also Butter-and-eggs (Linaria vulgaris), which grows higher, and the snapdragon-like flowers answer the "candy corn" description. I wouldn't call the flowers tiny, though.

-eggy

2 favorites.....Blue eyed grass. Has some self-sow from who knows where and I was wondering all winter what the evergreen grassy looking plant was. Loved it when it bloomed.

Crown Vetch. Have you seen the plants on Interstate 80 all summer long? I know its listed as invasive, but here--in a shady part of my yard-- its a very well behaved plant.

~Chills

Doesn't anyone else just LOVE buttercups? I agree about the violets, jewelweed and wild strawberries, and I always smile when I see daylilies and lilacs that have survived long after the homestead's gone. Weeds? Nah - a weed is just a plant growing where you don't want it. Somewhere, someone is paying a nurseryman good money for the stuff we curse. (Except Poison Ivy and Creeping Charlie, of course - HATE the stuff!)

Id have to say I agree with Paradise Plants on this one. Weeds are just plants that are very common to an area, prolifically seed, and usually end up invading our gardening space which was origonally theirs to begin with.

Weeds are plants too just like what we grow. In fact many of them as pointed out earlier are sought out in other areas because they are non native to some areas.

Take Virginia Creeper for instance. Here where I live, it IS considered a weed, but a "good" weed. Its widely used to cover many surfaces which would otherwise be unsightly, such as freeway sound barrier walls. It is also often used here to cover sides of buildings, and there is even a huge 60 foot high metal scupture in a squre in Old Town Alexandria, VA built/ designed specifically for Va Creeper to climb and cover.

It IS a native to quite a few areas in the US/ Canada. It is suggested even that if you dont require an evergreen covering, that you use Va Creeper, or its VERY close relative Boston Ivy, INSTEAD of the nasty, invasive English Ivy. English Ivy has escaped cultivation in many "natural" areas here, and it KILLS OUT Va Creeper. IT is considered a nasty invasive plant here. It is often seen being KILLED in places where Va Creeper is being used as a primary covering.

I do not however consider Va Creeper a true weed. It gets that reputation from the fact it grows anywhere, and is a rather prolific seeder/ runner.

I have way too many favorite weeds to list here, but Va Creeper is the top of that list. A few others I actually GROW on purpose are Porcelain Berry, (considered a non native invasive plant along the lines of kudzu, but not nearly as harmful really.) and Lambs Quarters. Did you know that Lambs Quaters leaves are in fact more nutritious for humans than most greens we purposefully grow???? One of the reasons that its not widely grown as an edible green is simply because it is more difficult to harvest the leaves. Sweet Autumn Clematis has also escaped cultivation here in our area, and is quite the aggressive plant too. Ive seen it covering entire trees up to 40' tall! Its every bit as invasive as porcelian berry is.

Kudzu is a weed of a different sort. That is truely a very damaging plant. We are far enough south here in Northern Va, that Kudzu grows prolifically, to the point of flower and seed, and spreads like wild fire! There are sections as far as the eye can see here in Va where this stuff has just literally taken over forests, covering / killing everything in its path.

Anyway, most "weeds" that have a nice form and or nice flowers, I dont consider true weeds. Just nice, usually native plants whose natural space WE just happen to encroach on.

heres the link to soem pics of my garden. Youll see some photos of the Va Creeper, Porcelain Berry, and Lambs quarters I grow.

The Album called 6/25/03 is the most recent.

Here is a link that might be useful: Photo Albums

You know, they may be rather homely and a pain to deal with, but in the whole wow-look-how-well-this-thing-evolved kinda sense, I think thistles are really cool.

*hide*

Pixie - I once let a Canada thistle grow to almost 8 feet. It was glorious! When it went above the top of the fence, and the flowers started to "mature", the neighbour threatened to get a little ax-happy on it. I wouldn't let him, and instead got out the ladder and *very carefully* trimmed the flowers off so he wouldn't get seeds in his precious white marble chips and dumb statue "garden." You should have seen his weird pussy willow, though - looked like something out of Dr. Seuss. And he wouldn't let *me* near it with the pruners. Fair's fair, I guess.

My favorite weeds are dandelion and clover. Together they help to make a tremendously benefical guild, with the clovers fixing nitrogen, providing a beautiful ground cover, and feeding bees. Dandelions are beautiful and so amazing -- deep taproot mines valuable nutrients. Dandelions are like one reproductive organ. They will grow anywhere! Under my pine tree and in the cracks of the sidewalk in San Francisco. And still look healthy.

"Weeds" I guess are plants that are able to grow on their own, without our bumbling interference. In this way, they are real plants, more nutritious, more natural, more hardy. Why should we struggle to make European lettuce (which is really a hybrid plant on life-support) grow when we have beautiful weeds that grow on their own, that contain more nutrition?

I love weeds.

Though me and crabgrass have had a few words. :)

"A Weed is a plant in the wrong place..."

There are just a few weeds I don't like. I would have to say mainly carpet weed and sorrels. Wood sorrel isn't too badm easy to pull up, and it taste good, but sheep sorrel is ramapnt in my yard and garden. And carpet weed, don't get me started! Then there is nightshade, blah! And then there is the virginia creeper that is trying to stangle my elders...

But most other weeds I will let grow just to see what they are. Got a beautiful clump of St. Johns Wort this way! Mullien, queen ann's lace, ground ivy, purslane, clover, violets, motherwort, heal-all, dandilions, hawkweed, chickweed, I let them all grow. I don't weed my lawn, I figure if it's green, who cares! I have even transplanted weeds to a few of my flower beds, ground ivy mostly. if it starst trying to take over, I just pull out some. It makes a beautiful ground cover, but it can be just a little bit invasive. I have also transplanted violets, stork bill, and mullien. I really like mullien, weed or not, they are show-stoppers in book! they just plain look cool! Burdock is another weed I love. Who can resist those big, beautiful leaves? I do cut down the stalks,however, I can do without the burrs!

Check out the link below to se whats growing this year!

Here is a link that might be useful: June garden pics

Hi all, I am new to the boards

My weeds of interests at the moment is hogweeds as I was taking a short cut across a field to work and came across a hogweed like plant which made me think about my scout holiday and that blister that may came from it.

Vincent

Oooh, I have lots of "weeds" I love. Violets are a particular favorite - they carpet the ground under my magnolia tree and make my heart stop (in a good way) when they bloom in spring. Pokeweed is gorgeous, I think. I love dandelions starred through my lawn and my son loves to blow the seeds. I have big clumps of Chicory and Queen Anne's Lace growing together and they look wonderful. I actually tried to plant Jewelweed for its healing properties (very good for poison ivy) and I like the little flowers. I planted Joe Pye Weed (but it's less a weed and more a native plant, I think). Clover is always welcome. And I actually let a thistle grow this year - though I'll cut the flowers before it goes to seed. And my latest favorite? - Pennsylvania Smartweed and Ladysthumb! Besides nice foliage and great, airy panicles of pink flowers - Japanese Beetles LOVE it and left all my roses alone in favor of the weed! Can't argue with anything that does that!

I was doing some late-in-the-day garden weeding a couple of years ago and, procrastinator that I am, just left the pile of weeds on the side of the garden. The next morning I went out to dispose of the "weeds" and I saw the most beautiful flower right in the midst! Needless to say, I replanted this particular weed in my garden and, then proceeded (to the point of obsession!) going nuts trying to identify it. It is called "Flower-of-an-Hour"/Hibiscus trionum l. The flowers are beautiful but, like the name implies, only lasts for a very short time.

My next fav "weed" is chicory/Chichorium intybus. I actually ordered seeds to plant, from the internet, because my attempts to transplant this beautiful blue beauty failed.

Flowering purslane...my DH tells me they're weeds (he looked it up in "GOOGLE"), but the flowers are sooooo colorful. I've learned that purslane is of the Portulaca (moss rose) family.

I like the milkweeds/butterfly weeds but they never returned from last year:(

I planted some Asclepsias physocarpa seeds this spring and so far the plant is about 2' tall. I don't really care about what the flowers look like---I'm intrigued by the seedpods that form giving the plant the nickname "Family Jewels" :)

I also love the orange "ditch lilies", wild violets, buttercups, jewelweed, and probably more that I can't think of at the moment.

These aren't "weeds"---they're "wildflowers"!

Pokeweed. Birds love the berries.

Great blue lobelia, which I just found the identity of today thanks to 'janetgia',- Queen Anne's lace,
- milkweed, - violets, they were the first 'posies' my daughter picked for me, a long time ago, - and wild dasies.
Jane

Here in S/W Ontario, my fave weeds/wildflowers are "Fringed Gentian", "Jewelweed", "Butter and Eggs" and "Cat Tails" but I guess these are not really weeds.

I think maybe clover would be the weed I'm most a peace with.

My least fave is definitely Deadly Nightshade. Our vegetable garden was full of it and we couldn't get rid of it. We have a dog with Pica that eats anything and everything and small twins and I was forever afraid of all of them getting into the pretty black berries. I weeded fiendishly to no avail...the nightshade won and we moved ;o) (not because of the nightshade though) ;o)

Just an added note... On the lots to the west of me (currently vacant). There is such mature "climbing" nighshade there that it is pulling trees over and crushing bushes. I didn't ever imagine that a nightshade vine could grow to such proportions but sure enough that's what it is. Is Climbing Nightshade and the garden variety Deadly Nightshade the same thing or are they 2 different things?

Barb

Dandelions.... I know, I know, but they only bother grass, and I'm not grassophile....(I like my gardens......)....I also like lady's thumb, another problem in grass, but a few clumps look like heather!!!! Of course I like Queen Anne's Lace but it's hardly a weed to me......

purple dead nettle & henbit
(purple bee-loved flowers weeks before first frost)

dandelions
lambsquarters
broadleaf plantain

My favorite weeds have to be white clover, we plant it otherwise our yard would be just creeping charlie(which is the enemy along with vinca) I also dug a clump of speedwell from a ditch and I like plain old orange daylily. My sweetheart complains that I bring weeds home to plant in the garden LOL!!

How about cow parsnip? It's like a monument. Maybe it isn't a weed though. I do love the beauty of all the mint family weeds like creeping Charlie and red dead nettle. Regards, Peter.

Violets!!! I love them. Even have some white ones I brought to PA from my childhood home in NJ. Luckily I have a very patient landscaper. He mows around my violet patches when they are blooming---no matter how irregular it looks! We moved this year and he didn't even make fun of me (to my face ,anyway) when I asked him to dig up my white violets and move them to my new home.

Violets are a weed? Uh uh..

Dandelion (salad)

Dewberry (dewberry cobbler/pie is heavenly)

Wild Strawberry (i can"t find it anywhere though, not even wild!)

Onion flowers (I used to pretend they made blush on my cheeks when I was a kid. Pollen, you know.)

Sheepsorrel (great to chew on, while reading a book in the shade on a summer afternoon. No calories or anything, either!)

Rain lilies

Some nice little low vine that makes tiny white star-shaped flowers
Another little climbing vine that makes tiny white tricot flowers

That very invasive vine that makes clumps of flowrs that look like grapes I can't think of the name just now.. not freesia, but it maybe sounds similar?

Least favorite,Chinese Popcorn tree. I hate hate hate them, they make seedpods that break open into sharp, pointy little things that really hurt bare feet.

I wish I had more 'weeds'... Nothing grows naturally around here except ugly, smelly, invasive annual things that usually have spines of some sort and usually no flowers. Real weeds, not the good kind. Not even sunflowers. :(

Oh yeah forgot Carpetweed, (stickiweed) it will stick to anything faintly fuzzy. We had stickiweed fights all the time when I was little...

I am a complete novice with gardening, and this thread is so eye-opening to me! I've been looking up all the weeds you guys have been mentioning, and they are all so pretty! I just went to the garden store today to get some things identified...they said the creeping phlox is a weed, but I love it and want more to grow.

Its really amazing to me to find out that what some books consider to be weeds will be listed in another as a flowering groundcover, or whatever. Which makes me totally happy, because I love the look of wildflowers, ivy, etc.

We've only been in our house a few months, and the "garden" is really straggly, but I think I'll just clean up some of the ugly weeds, and see what else happens. If it's pretty and doesn't kill other plants, I don't care if it's a weed!

Mine is the white dutch clover. Rabbits eat it and bee's love it. It roots out weeds, and it is in the far back reaches of my yard.

Love Anagallis arvensis, or Scarlet Pimpernel.

Totally invasive, can totally take over your garden,but it has the cutest little flowers and when you get a whole bed full of them flowering, they don't look half bad!

I was standing on my deck with my 5yr old looking out over our garden. I asked her if she thought it looked nice.

She said "not as nice as the nieghbors yard. It's full of flowers. All dandylions and no coltsfoot!"

My fav has got to be meadow forget me nots. I love the way the tiny flowers poke their heads between the other flowers like a sky blue baby's breath. I never weed hem.

i love this thread. the milkweeds have already been mentioned but i love them too.
i am a displaced cheesehead (person from wisconsin) who is now living in the flatlands (illinois). so when my neighbor mentions the dandylions in my yard spreading into the neighborhood; i tell him that all i see are lovely yellow flowers against a green lawn (well, semi-green it has purple creeping charlie and white clover too). i continue to tell him that it reminds me of my favorite football team: the green bay packers.
we have this same conversation every spring ;-)

Too bad purple loosestrife is such an invasive alien. It's beautiful and hardy. Whenever I'm walking in the park and I see a small one that looks like "I can take it," I pull it right out with my bare hands. If anyone were to see me, I'd have some explaining to do!

I pretty much like most other "weeds." Many are edible, and my hubby doesn't mind when I tell him he's eating weeds.

If an unknown sprout pops up, I let it grow so I can see what it turns into. Kind of neat to find out what it looks like in all its stages.

With my poor soil, I can't be picky. Whatever grows wild, I try to turn into a garden. I'm making several lasagna beds, but the south side of the house is an expanse of hot, dry sand and sparse weeds. I'm going to capitalize on it. I can plant lavender and yucca, and anything else that will thrive in the hot sand. Then I'll make an oasis of lasagna and grow my veggies in the all-day sun.

I do have my limits. If something threatens to take over the whole garden, or if it makes people miserable (like ragweed or poison ivy) then it's got to go! I'm still pulling out the crown vetch that the previous owners planted. They also planted milk vetch. It's a pity that the milk vetch spreads like wildfire. The bees love it! I leave just enough to make a few seeds for next year. I encourage the many species of clover because they're less visible, yet provide the same nitrogen.

I love wild plants.I don't kill all of them. Insects and birds need some to survive. I like milkweeds for the monarchs, some black nightshades and Carolina horsenettles, Maximillian sunflowers, tall sunflowers, gaillardia, coreopsis, mullien, lambsquarters, amaranths, other edible plants.
A plant is only a "weed" as long as it is unwanted or out of place.

Lamb's quarter--Love to eat it. It tastes just like spinache, but doesn't turn to shapeless goop when steamed.

My all time favorite weed is dandelion...... it isn't a problem in areas other than grass (which I don't care for much anyway..... I don't care if its "perfect") I love the cheerful yellow daisies..... wildlife seems to love the leaves ...... and it is superb as a diuretic tea...... or a tonic.....
I also love my polygatum...... ladies thumb..... it's taken over a spot in my yard and is still blooming...... it looks like a swath of heather...... wish I had a photo :)

I love honeysuckle and morning glories. I have been forbidden to grow morning glories at my new house 'cause of their uncontrolable nature at my old house. It kept growing over the gate at night so we couldn't get out in the morning. It was like it didn't want us to leave, 'HAL'. So MG's are not allowed.

He hasn't gotten wise to the honeysuckle yet. Just noticed it growing wild in various places in my yard. Should bloom next year.

there's this low-growing, silvery weed with fuzzy, pinkish flowerheads that crops up in all the sandy gaps in sidewalks around town: rabbit foot clover. Someone should pull it but it's too pretty, and nothing else will grow in those spots. Also large leaf wood aster. It introduced itself to my yard, and blooms in fall in dry shade. That's reason enough to let it be.

After becomeing a Beekeeper I like all weeds that produce pollan and nectar for my girls to work. Bees will make you aware of all the beatuful things God put here to feed them.

My favorite weeds are dandelions (free food for my son's iguana), milkweed for the monarchs, and wild violets. I like clover in the lawn, would rather have that than grass, less work lol. I like mullien too, had one growing in my flower bed last year, I let it grow because the goldfinches liked it.

Joe Pye Weed, although I don't really consider it a weed. And Milkweed. I actually keep both around to attract butterflies in my summer butterfly garden habitat.

Here is a link that might be useful: Spotted Joe Pye Weed

thank you - i feel special.

clover, pokeweed, dandilion, goldenrods i encourage,and milkweed

My favorite weed is purslane. I love the little flowers it gets and the hotter weather the better my purslane does.
thanks,
englishivy

Wild grapes and raspberries.

Anything so easily edible is worth growing, and these "weeds" really thrive, here.

Cattails too. And most of what has already been mentioned.

-----Too bad purple loosestrife is such an invasive alien. It's beautiful and hardy. Whenever I'm walking in the park and I see a small one that looks like "I can take it," I pull it right out with my bare hands. If anyone were to see me, I'd have some explaining to do!-----

I have yet to see proof that loosestrife is detrimental and I won't believe it until I do. Most of the literature states that its impact is unknown. We transplanted a few plants decades ago into our swamp where it has coexisted peacefully all this time with the cattails that it supposedly overruns. Both species flourish and the birds and wildlife are as plentiful as ever.

I can say this - if loosestrife could take over the poison parsnip's (wild parsnip) territory, it would be an environmental blessing. Parsnip is one nasty weed and it took us two years and $2000 worth of brush clearing machinery to reclaim our pasture when the 6 ft tall weeds got the upper edge. I think efforts to erradicate beautiful purple loosestrife should be re-directed toward poison parsnip whose negative impact and insideous nature is well documented. And parsnip is surely a blight on the landscape from an aesthetic perspective.

Daisies and black eyed susans are two of my favorite wildflowers.

I also love dandelions, as others have declared. And I too feed the greens to pets - our birds love them. The pony eats them, flowers and all, while grazing. Occasionally I add the greens to salads or boil them like spinach. They're rich in vitamins and minerals.

Other edibles that grow wild are chamomile plants, with small daisy-like flowers. I haven't made tea from them but they look pretty and smell nice. I pick flowering sprigs and put them in water in the miniature glass bottles on my kitchen windowsill. And we also have wild mint that I do use to flavor iced tea.

Mistakes I've made were allowing magnificent purple thistles to grow and flower. After digging the last of their stickly progeny out of the yard and pasture, I swore off thistles. (After all thistles are second cousin to burdocks, and anyone who has spent time combing and cutting burrs from the coats of hairy animals knows how unwelcome and persistent these weeds are.)

I too made the morning glory mistake and understand fully why it is nicknamed 'bindweed' by farmers.

I just found what I believe to be my favorite weed - although I'm not sure what it is. My hubby & I were out on a rural road which turned into a dirt road. We saw several of these flowers. Stopped to pick one - any ideas what it is? Don't have a pic - best description is: 4' - 6' woody stem then at the top 6 leaves about 6" wide by about 12" long - thin and green green. The flower sort of looks like a magnolia, but doesn't smell anything like it! But all were white flowers with a pale green "outer leaf?"

edible or useful weeds - I have quite a few - calendula, feverfew, dock, oregano, arugula, chickweed, miner's lettuce, breadseed poppy, borage, batchelor's buttons, california poppy, burnet, valerian, lemon balm, parsley, sweet cicely, purslane, violets... But nothing on the noxious weed list. Will not allow those.

I used to think Creeping Charlie was a good weed. It grows low, looks pretty, lovely blooms, etc. The smell reminds me of Germantown, and my grandmother's house.

HOWEVER, since I got a sprig of it in the dirt around a hollyhock 24 years ago, it has gradually spread thru my yard. Suddenly, In the last 5 years, it has moved to choke out just about everything in part-shade--perennials, grass, etc. I spend a lot of time pulling it up if I want to grow anything specific. It has spread down our long driveway, out to the fields, and thru the neighborhood. It moves into wood edges and ditches. It doesn't seem to choke out poison ivy, though. Rats. Not sure about the long-term environmental aspects.

You're certainly right about the dangers of creeping Charlie! However, since I live on more land than I can keep up with, gardening wise, I still tend to be grateful to it for covering certain areas with some grace. We live on the edge of a village, with fields/woods all around, and I figure there's enough c.C. out there that I'm not the one spreading it . . .

My favorite is Blueweed - Echium vulgare. If it wasn't on the state noxious weed list, I would have it in my garden.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blueweed

that blueweed looks like bugloss we have around here. I think they are pretty. the ones I saw were growing next to the railroad tracks. I don't understand why people spend so much money putting chemicals down to get rid of moles, voles, weeds and such. I mean they spend all this time and money to get a lush green lawn only to have to mow it constantly because they fertilized it to death.

I mean what is up with that? don't people realize that by eradicating these things they are throwing everything out of balance and wonders of wonders they wonder why their grass is dying when there is a mild drought. And of course by killing off the beneficial insects and rodents they have to extra treat for pests on their lawns, and of course these are toxic and cause all kinds of health problems and enviromental damage you don't directly see, and in fact they found that many people were getting sick from pesticides which they didn't attribute to the pesticides until all other things were ruled out.

I have dandelions, our bees just love them, we have violets growing in the lower pastere, of course I wish they didn't take up so much space away from grass.

I like sweet joy pye weed, and all the goldenrods, and I love those ironweeds, and honeysuckles which grow in the woods. They smell wonderfully all summer long.

I like the fact that my grass doesn't have disease or pests problems or problems when we have the occassional drought, while everyone is watering like crazy when it doesn't rain for a while I don't have to everything keeps growing all I have to do is mow occassionally. I have moles voles bugs galore and yet no problems that I know of or can see. the little voles are cute, I used to have horses and I put the manure in the corner of my pasture, and they took up a home under the pile after it aged awhile, and when I went to dig up some to put on the garden, there must been a hundred that came from under the pile. they ran every which way.

I have moles too as I can tell by the raised parts, but that is no problem when I mow it flattens those spots.

there are few weeds I don't like, even poisen ivy is not a problem as I seldom react to it and when I do I do so only very mildly.

I love virgina creeper for it's leaves and how it changes to red in the fall and how it tally's up the trees and is red while the trees are still green, quite beautiful.

they also hide the ugly posts that line the pasture. Anyway weed I would love to have around is the queen of the prairie it is quite spectacular, and of course I would love the giant reed type grasses I see growing around here they grow more than 10 feet. I feel like I am walking in a jungle.

RR

Well, it's getting so my least favorite 'weed' in my yard and garden is grass. Not just the bermuda grass and crabgrass but the stuff most people want for lawns. The blasted stuff needs too much mowing and watering, spreads its seeds into my flower beds and vegetable plots, and interferes with the yarrow, wood sorrel, violets, and clover and other ground covers in my yard. ;-D

Other 'weeds' I've come to love include columbine, phlox, a hosta (I think) with little purple bell flowers in spires, something that looks like a wild geranium (sometimes with bright purple or pink flowers), and another that looks like a large, deep maroon celosia. (I don't yet know the names of all my weeds, but I'm trying to identify them.)

Purple Deadnettle (an undisturbed clump is just gorgeous!)

Honeysuckle (still brings back memories of licking the yummy nectar as a kid)

tree seedlings (it really breaks my heart to pull these out, but I have too!)

horseherb

Here is a link that might be useful: Horseherb

Oxalis, the leaves look like clover and it has pretty yellow flowers.