1. Solanum nigrum, Black Nightshade, weed

2. Phytolacca americana, Pokeweed, weed.

3. Hostas, Lily of the Valley, Virginia Creeper and pear sprouts.

4. More Pokeweed

5. Violets, pear sprouts, Virginia Creeper, possible Ampelopsis brevipedunculata, shoes.

6. Smartweed and one of the Commelinas

Basically everything except the Hostas, the shoes and the L o t V is a weed. And the latter is a nuisance to some people.

if you have kids around.. pokeweed is poisonous in every aspect ... but easily ignorable.. unless young kids are attracted to the seeds that look like grapes ... birds spread it everywhere ... and its reseeds like a rabbit.. you will learn to hate it ... lol ..

many nightshade are also the same ... youll have to research the names provided ...

interesting garden shoes.. lol ...

ken

Well, if we’re worrying about poisonous plants add Lily if the Valley and Virginia Creeper to the list.

Nightshade is awful. So is pokeweed.

I love lily of the valley but I can't grow it. I've heard I'm the only one on Earth who cannot. I have success growing almost everything else I try.

I love how floral_uk IDed "shoes".

ken adrian helped me with a oriental black spruce compacta years ago. It is gorgeous and thriving. It was a bit chlorotic back then. Now the iron I give my lawn keeps it happy.

"I've heard I'm the only one on Earth who cannot."

No, you are not :-) I also have a terrible time trying to get LOV established. Managed to get a small clump going in one garden but have given up after multiple tries in my current garden.

And I am a pretty accomplished gardener. It just doesn't like me. 😪

Good IDs, but tons of misjudgment here...

Natives like the Black Nightshade, Pokeweed, and Virginia Creeper are not really weeds. And they are also not as toxic as often believed (check the hyperlinks above). I mean, feel free to remove some Pokeweed if you want...but just not based on faulty reasoning. As all natives also feed a lot of wildlife and support the local ecology on the plus side.

If anything, the nonnatives like Hostas and Lily of the Valley are really more weeds. And invasives like Ampelopsis brevipedunculata (Porcelain Berry) are definitely weeds!

I know Virginia Creeper is native. I know it is good for birds and animals. I wish it all the best in the wild. I DETEST it in my city yard. It sprouts everywhere. It hides until it decides to climb and it and poison ivy evidently have a thing going on!

Poke weed must also be on their buddy list, because I cannot get rid of it.

Since the technical definition of a weed is a wild plant growing where not wanted, you are making some rather broad assumptions :-) And there is really nothing that elevates a native plant - wild or not - above the status of any non-invasive cultivated exotic species. That is purely a judgement call based on personal opinion.

Misjudgment is in the eye of the beholder.

"Since the technical definition of a weed is a wild plant growing where not wanted,"

I love violets. I adore them in my lawn. I have two kinds. One is the usual purple and one is a striped white and purple. However, when they over take the flower beds, they are yanked out. a few make the cut, but the other move to the weed catagory.

Even plants that are grown on purpose can become a weed.

The OP refers to this as an overgrown flower garden. A flower garden; not a yard, woods or natural area. So as far as I’m concerned this is an artificial, cultivated garden space and as such any unintentional plants, native or alien, can be considered weeds. As to toxicity I think it’s often overstated. Lots of the things we grow are poisonous to some degree. I merely added the extra names for completeness and to point out the illogicality of picking out Pokeweed in particular.

I have a love-hate, but more love, relationship with Va. creeper. I think it's beautiful and it's red stems with navy blue berries are gorgeous. The dislike comes in because it gets so out of control that I spend a lot of time pulling it out from all four sides of my house. It even grows out of cracks in pavement. It grows up one side of my wood house (have to pull it all off), It grows up my blue spruces (shameless). I pulled two big vines off one blue spruce this year and got a surprise. A mourning dove nest. One of the eggs was jostled out of the nest.

I felt awful. I took a leaf and wrapped it around the egg and put it back. The parents sat on and then fledged two healthy mourning doves so all was well. The young ones stayed behind my conifers by the house so I could watch them for a couple of weeks or so. I think they still visit by back yard with their parents.

Nightshade is loathsome to me. Ugly and grows amongst everything so hard to control. It is very easy to pull up roots and all though.

Pokeweed , on the other hand, breaks off so I have to dig out the roots. Before I knew what it was it was interesting to see the berry-like things form but I get rid of them all now.

Thank you all!! Wow. So if I do have young children...it seems pretty much this all should go and I'll start over? Even mildly poisonous is problematic with toddlers...

Do many children eat plants outside? Mine never did and my brother and I didn't. I haven't known any friends to mention anything about it. Maybe if children are at a nursery school and not monitored? Wouldn't it even be risky for kids to eat non-poisonous plants that are outside because of possible bacteria and viruses (not covid-19) or an adverse reaction?

haha, I'm not so immediately worried about it, but if there are actively poisonous berries that look like berries they enjoy right where they're playing that just seems like a greater risk than I need.

as a stay at home dad.. i handed the children a snack baggie of goldfish ... and told them to ONLY eat what i gave them ... and to bring the bag back when it was empty ... never did find a bag around the yard ...

and do note.. i noted the problem for me.. was pokeweed seed looks like tiny purple grapes .... lily of the valley wasnt an issue.. because it didnt look like grapes ...

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffsb&q=pokeweed+seed&iax=images&ia=images

bottom line... as the song goes.. teach your children well ... frankly.. you can not get rid of everything the will bother their belly ... because even if they fall face down in the grass ... and eat too much of it.. and they will get a bad belly ... so its much easier to teach yourself.. and then them ... where the food comes from.. at this age ...

it didnt take long for them to recognize the raspberry... mulberry.. strawberry ... etc ... when they went out in the morning.. they had a worn path to all the food plants ...

funny story.. boy.. maybe 3ish ... comes walking over to me.. he is covered from toe past ankle with mulberry ... elbow to finger tips ... and face nearly covered... and i say.. been eating some mulberry.. swear to God.. he looks me right in the eye.. and says nope ... wish that happened after gizmos pix came along ... i thought to myself.. this is all going downhill .. lol..

below.. is a pic of him about the same age ... i considered i won that day.. took it out of him .. lol ... he later said.. the blacktop was just so cozy .. lol... hes 18 now ... yikes ...

ken

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vnYKRacKQc

If you want LOV, try it beneath your outdoor faucet. It loves the drip.

Thanks callirhoe123, I will try that next spring. I had the mistaken impression that they liked dry areas. No wonder I failed.

Ken- what a funny story and a really funny picture. Good thing you mentioned the back story of the cozy blacktop or I'd'a thought the kid had fallen and couldn't get up!

lol.. that was my first thought as i came across the sidewalk ... bit of panic ...