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Name That Plant!

Aquilegia or Yellow Clover???

8 years ago

Yellow Clover on left, Aquilegia leaf on right.

Hello,

I just want to start by saying I know what Aquilegia/Columbine looks like as an "adult" but as a seedling, I don't know. I have sprinkled the seeds about as a child and magically the next year there were more blooming Aquilegia, but I didn't pay attention to the sprouting and growing. I bought some seeds from Touchwood, and I also traded for them, and I'm having to transplant most of them from an area that was a very large "vegetable garden" located in part shade that I was going to make into a wildflower area, but we decided to let it return to grass. So now I'm digging up what I'm hoping is Aquilegia and NOT that yellow blooming clover - I have tons of that all over my flower beds I definitely accidentally ripped out handfuls of Aquilegia by my irises earlier this spring, thinking I was nipping my yellow clover problem in the bud, and I don't want to sacrifice any more, but I also don't want to be transplanting weeds. Please tell me I didn't lovingly transplant clovers and not Aquilegia. I ended up stepping on a buried, jagged wooden post and getting stabbed in the foot through my shoes and having to have a very large "splinter" pulled out of my foot. So I just want to know that all this struggle and worry is not in vain!

Below are my transplants.....

Above is what I hope is Aquilegia by my irises.

Thanks!!!

Featured Answer

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

8 years ago

could be a columbine on the right ... but definitely the weed clover on the left

or maybe a thalactrum??? ... whats in the general area ..... i am sure i slaughtered the spelling on the T ... and i dont know if they seed ... or run ...

you probably ought to think about some good mulch.. if you want to cut down your weed issues ...

ken

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Comments (8)

Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
8 years ago
In your hand is Oxalis stricta and leaves of something else. Exactly what else, I'm not sure from that angle.
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floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
8 years ago
Bad news, I'm afraid. You have not been injured in good cause. All the little plants in the 2nd and 3rd pictures are Oxalis. They are always an equal trefoil in shape whereas Aquilegia, apart from the cotyledons, are irregularly lobed. Oxalis also folds up at night.
queen_gardener
Original Author
8 years ago
aaaaagh . . . noooooooo . . . weeping . . . it's like I was planting Oxalis seeds all along instead of Aquilegia!!! EVERYWHERE I sprinkled Aquilegia seeds, there is this Oxalis, and I know the difference, but I've seen some of these Aquilegia sprouts not kinda look like Aquilegia, then morph into Aquilegia . . . so I was hoping they were just immature sprouts of Aquilegia . . . if there wasn't bad weather right now, I'd march out there and rip it out. Urg. So apparently I didn't have a very high germination rate. You don't want to know how many hundreds of seeds I put all around my gardens and in the woods behind the fence. How many spouted up? Maybe a dozen, MAYBE. So frustrated now. I also lost nearly everything I planted in September and October. Bummed right now.

Thanks for your help, guys!!!!!!
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
8 years ago
I totally feel your frustration! Seeds rarely sprout in my presence either, unless they're unwanted.

O. stricta is one that "gets" most new gardeners. There are well-behaved Oxalis, but this native isn't one of them. Too tall to be a ground cover (for my style, anyway.) Since the seed pods explode (explosive dehiscence,) a single plant can cause a patch the following year that can be amazingly large. The sooner you can get those pulled, the sooner you'll get control over their numbers in the future. There are some unwanted plants that I let grow a bit before pulling, to add more material to compost, but this isn't one of them because seeds ripen & start popping so quickly.

Good vibes!
queen_gardener
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks for the good vibes!!!

I do pull oxalis as soon as I see it, and I was diligent on it last year, so it's so strange that there is so much of it, especially to find that it is MOST pervasive where I sprinkled my aquilegia seeds. And it looks like none of my Touchwood seeds sprouted, so that really sucks - money lost. Plus lost postage money on many of the seeds I traded for. I did find some sprouts I hadn't seen before in one bed yesterday after I went over the whole yard with a fine toothed comb, looking for any Aquilegia sprouts. I do have Canadensis plants from sowing seeds last summer that I got from a relative, and a plant division of Green Apples is blooming now, so I do have some. It's just sad to have lost so many seeds plus the money, and to have gotten hurt while gardening - my foot still hurts!
macranthos
8 years ago
Here's a comparison pic of some aquilegia and oxalis, if that still helps.
queen_gardener
Original Author
8 years ago
Yes, thank you - I'm learning the difference now . . . err those oxalis are everywhere!!!!

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