Eeek! Yes Christopher’s right! A terrible weed, runs amok in PNW gardens. We call it ”pop weed” too because once its small white flowers appear & start to go to seed, those seeds literally pop off & fly everywhere when you barely touch that plant. Be aggressive with pulling out of your landscaping whenever you spot it.

I have the same in my containers, tried to identify it, seems like hairy bittercress but it never grows in rosettes like I see in google search photos. It seems to stay small, only a few (3-4) leaves per stock, grows upwards and if allowed hundreds of little plants come out in the same container. also the color is a bit lighter green. here are some pictures i just took, it’s like this from spring into fall. definetely some type of weed because nothing seems to stop it. I want to confirm if it’s indeed hairy bittercress and not a look alike plant. thank you

@Me 1 (zone 7b NY) looks like bittercress weed to me. Thise seed pods in your 4th pic are what pop right off the plant when ripe & you touch the plant anywhere. The fact that it’s thriving in those pots you have further confirms, for me, that it is an undesirable.

Yes that is Cardamine hirsuta, Hairy Bittercress. Different growing conditions (crowded in a pot sitting where) will make for adjusted growth patterns and looks. All the pots look empty, so I am not sure why it matters.

Thank you for your responses. it groes in other pots with flowering plants but I keep weeding these out.

It only matters because it’ll freely spread away from those pots! I hate that weed… if the pots are empty as Christopher noted, why not clean them out & get rid of weeds?