A similar story came from Jean (who has posted here) over in Nashville. She lives in a long established neighborhood east of downtown and grows roses. The area has been civilized long enough that really unpleasant weeds had no homes there.

Then they had a tornado. Houses were left standing (goodly).

But next spring thistles came up in everybodys' yards. They had never had thistle problems before.

Storms just keep on giving.

Looks like a member of the Aster family....could be goldenrod or a little white daisy, also it appears to be perennial which means that by the looks of the multiple stems that the seed it grew from germinated last year. Goldenrod in its wild form can get 6' tall easily while the little white daisy is a little shorter, but covered in blooms. Both late summer/fall bloomers.

Moses

I took the liberty of scanning your picture with my plant identification app (called "Picture This") and it is in agreement with Kim

Thank you all! Meg - what a cool app! If it is Pride of Madeira, I will have to move it one way or another - I recognize that as something which grows around here, and they get HUGE! I will keep an eye on it, in case it explodes like the plant in the Little Shop of Horrors. In any event, I will let you all know when it blooms what it looks like.

Jackie

What a coincidence... that looks exactly like something that has appeared as a weed here for the first time in my garden since last year. I've been wondering what it is. Thanks to Kim and Meg for the i.d.! And thanks to Jackie for posting it :-D

It looks like a pride of madeira to me.

Pride of Madeira is actually something I’m somewhat familiar with, only because I helped with some cleanup of some coastal areas here where Pride of Madeira is considered invasive and hostile due to how fast and large it grows, crowding out native species on the coast. We were instructed to seek and destroy several plants like that. Funny that’s its cropping up randomly in people’s yards—it definitely fits the bill for invasive then!

I would let it grow, but you know me.

It reminds me a bit of evening primrose but not quite. please be sure to take photos if it blooms.

I would, too, Sheila. It's relatively easy to prevent seedlings. Just cut off the flower spikes as they bloom out. Of course that doesn't prevent others from wherever that one came from.

I've had two pop up in my front yard by the street. I pulled them out because they were inconveniently located. My neighbor has one growing that came up with the most gorgeous blue flowers. Usually I'm anti-plants that are non-native, invasive exotics. These, however, seem to attract so many pollinators and look pretty and create some privacy between neighbors here, that I'm willing to overlook these... One day I saw about 200 swallowtail butterflies congregating on just two of these plants -- and it was quite an amazing sight!

I am going to let it grow until it blooms, and then decide what to do with it. (can't leave it where it is as it would partially block a legal parking space on the street if it gets big). I will either transplant it in my garden, or give it away. I have a friend who has a 1/2 acre lot on a hill, and since they did their "fire prevention" removal of a lot of stuff, she is gradually planting some things, and there is plenty of space.

I will certainly post pics on here when it blooms - does anyone know when or how long that will take?

Jackie

Still would like to know what happened to Magpie…..

I think Magpie is fine. The forum has taken a *hitshow direction on some threads and she might be resting from that.

Orchid seeds can be blown all the way over the Atlantic during Hurricanes (riding on wind currents) and end up in the Everglades. They are always finding new species.

Coconuts float over the seas to then germinate on other islands. There is a tree morning glory which mostly reproduces by cuttings that is distributed around the Caribbean that is thought to have floated its way around that body of water. Air samples from the Jet Stream have been found to contain man-made, deliberately hybridized and selected strains of Bermuda Grass. Plants/weeds, etc. are going to make it where winds, water and animal/human assistance takes them. Your "gardener" is notoriously guilty for taking the weed seeds from MY lawn to yours to share with you what infests my lawn. Insects and fungal spores hitch rides on birds, animals and YOU to then be "shared" with every other place they/you visit. It shouldn't be surprising.

@oursteelers 8B PNW I'm fine, reading along once in a while. My roses are just now barely getting their baby leaves, so I don't have anything to contribute. I'll post my spring flush photos sometime in June or July I suppose.

Wonderful, wonderful photos, Sultry. They are a real happiness booster. Love the old gate and fluffy chickens. Diane

I like that farm gate too. And goldenrod is beautiful although I we do not grow it. It is really a heavenly view when they bloom along the road.

I know the name of that weed. It is called ’Giant Weed Disguised as an Ornamental’. I have seen other variants of it in my own garden.

Sultry, those photos of goldenrod are spectacular, especially the farm gate and chickens! That would make a fine calendar page for September or October.

Here's a pic of mine that's growing in one of my Christmas cactus pots. Same plant, right?

Here's a couple of Ben's weeds.

Fakia ornamentalus, or Audrey 3

and a second one ID'ed by Magpie

Alienia horribilus

Or maybe, Magpie named this one:

Audrey 4

Audrey 3, the first alien, is actually a mullein, which was sent back into outer space before it bloomed. Diane

Yours is different, Susan.

I loved that blue echium Pride of Madeira I saw in Carmel, but from enough distance that I couldn't identify the leaves. Digging Dog sells it. I would love to have it here, but it is z 9 or 10. I think Annie's Annuals sells it.

Thank you. The goldenrod gives good fall color here where we don't have a lot of trees with pretty fall leaves. The chickens love to go through that gate and go scratch around the pond pretending they are wild jungle birds.

I like the farm gate too but it does have some rust holes with sharp edges on the underside of the bars where the rain & dew collects. We will have to fix the holes and repaint or just replace it. We've fixed so many old gates around here I've lost count lol.

Some quotes about weeds:

* "A weed is a flower growing in the wrong place." ~George Washington Carver

**"The difference between a weed and a flower is judgement." ~Wayne Dyer

***"What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Haha this thread reminds me of my first attempt at sowing seeds from those big cannisters of wildflowers someone gifted me when I first bought this home more than 30 years ago. I watered & tended to the plot faithfully, my excitement growing by the day. I fertilized, they grew taller & buds appeared! Now they were over 4 feet tall now. The morning they were to bloom, I rushed outside...and realized I'd been growing tall robust happy weeds. So many varieties! I realized later that all the "real" seedlings I saw earlier were eaten by slugs. Didn't know about slugs & snails much either back then.

Kim - are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

Here's a video that may be useful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqtS9xyl0f4&t=3s

;-)

@comtessedelacouche (10b S.Australia: hotdryMedclimate) that's funny, thanks! But, yes, coconuts do "migrate" on the currents.

@comtesse - I was thinking the same thing!!!! 😆😜😁🤪

In California, golden rod is a valuable native for many kinds of pollinators. High Country Gardens used to sell fun ones for other parts of the country. My fav was little lemon.
My weed story - bought this very special high priced biodynamically farmed steer manure from rescued cows called Bu’s Blend. Couple of months later some interesting seedlings came up - not sure what they were but assumed they were flowers (this is in a well cultivated bed, and didn’t look like any of the weeds I’ve come to know well here). Went out of town. When I came back, saw the weeds had bloomed & scattered seeds & thuggishly taken over. So I went to pull a big handful. And that’s how I discovered stinging nettle!!!! I learned they have 3 chemicals 1 to cause itch, 1 to cause pain, and 1 to intensify the effects of the first 2!!!! The nettles are part of their “recipe” but clearly they had not killed the seeds! Five years on, I’m still pulling up seedlings from the massive crop that first time. A bit less every year, but still popping up. Now I wear gloves. And no more fancy cow poop for me! Lesson learned.

Fun names, Diane! I get a lot of the alienus.

DD, I think Kitty called that metalmanure. But seriously, nettles are nasty. I've been stung once as a kid, and that was enough for me. Diane

DD Stinging nettles are horrid here. Every spring they come up everywhere. This year, I found some in one of my raised beds among the Walking Onions. It will also magically come up in my rose beds. Hard to not get "stung" by these things. Today I stupidly went out in sandals and tried to tiptoe around some nettle that had popped up along a pathway. That did not go well grrr. Back to garden clogs. The good thing about the nettle is: once its cut back and dries out, it goes away until next spring.

The goats won't even touch it! Many people use it for tea and its supposed to be great for you..the catch is you gotta pick it first and not get stung. It went right through my gloves :/

Diane, Is your Alienia horribilus, Dog Fennel? It has an almost fennel ~ish /dill~ish smell when you crush the leaves. Its toxic to livestock though. I caught one of my goats eating big greedy bites of it -as fast as possible before I pulled her away lol. She isnt the brightest bulb in the barn.

The Dog Fennel can get 8ft tall. The stems dry into giant evil sticks that can stab you when you try to mow..its like a Jousting Tournament! We had gobs of it standing, dried out, in the field when we moved here.

Sultry, what an expert on nettles and Dog Fennel you are. I can't remember what we decided that horribilus stuff was--it was 2022. I got rid of it pronto, same as the other mystery aliens. Mullein wasn't much of a mystery, and it was trying to be pretty. When it's sold commercially, it's called verbascum. I grew it many years ago as Southern Charm verbascum, and paid for the stuff, which I didn't like. That's terrible about your nettles everywhere, but places with lots of humidity and rain grow lots of nettles. I never ever encounter nettles here, but when I was traveling with my parents as a kid, we visited a great aunt at her cabin in the woods of western Washington. I loved the place which provided so many kid adventures, including the curse of the nettle. My great aunt just poohed poohed the whole thing as I probably cried about it. Glad the potential dog fennel has never returned as well as the mullein. Diane

In Ireland they grow another plant right next to the nettle that takes the sting/pain away - I think it’s dock?

Back to original post - here’s a pic of the blue echium at neighbor’s house:

The kind of dock we have in Idaho isn't the pretty plant you show above, Deborah. It's a noxious weed that farmers hate. Diane

if you have an iphone you can take a pic and swipe up on the photo. It will give you an id, click “plant“, may even give the nane of the plant. Next it will give you some results from wikipedia. There will also be some links to some additional sites at the bottom. It works for pretty much anything, birds, insects, animals, inatimate objects etc…

Time will tell when it blooms.

I am definitely going to wait until my mystery "not a weed" blooms. I just went out to look at it, and it is easily 12" taller than it was when I took the picture at the beginning of this thread 3 days ago. It is supposed to be 80 degrees F today and tomorrow, and then get colder and rain all day Sat, so I presume that will help it along. I keep telling myself the saying about "watched pots", but can't seem to stop peering at it at least once a day.

Jackie

Speaking of weeds farmer's hate.. I found this evil looking thing while walking in the fields yesterday ...anyone have a alien name for it? lol

All Sass -- I love the plant ID feature on the iPhone -- but it doesn't always work! I have a weed growing and Siri keeps insisting it's something that I know it's not. On another one, I think I just have to wait to see if it blooms, and maybe the phone will do a better job then. Most of the time, however, it works.

@sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) -- is that some kind of exotic thistle? I hope you didn't step on it barefoot. BTW - I was thinking of you the other day. One of my students was telling me how her Dad arranged for the whole family to go do goat yoga together -- and her pictures were so fun! I think we're due for more buckle photos...somewhere. Maybe on the spring thread?

@susan9santabarbara About the weed growing in your Christmas cactus pot. Often tough to get scale from photos, but it looks smaller, less dense (more two-ranked than whorled) than Jackie's weed. Another common weed in California with opposite leaves is Epilobium ciliatum which, as you can see from my link to the Calflora database, is all over the place and is actually a native, a member of the evening primrose family. I get quite a bit of it in my yard, where it likes to hang out in moister areas.

DD, A lot of farms around here do goat yoga. I havent been to any. I get enough goat gymnastics around here lol. People do seem to enjoy it. I dont know how much yoga would actually get done. If I even sit down around these goats, they are eating my hair, my clothes, babies (and some older ones who think they are still babies) jumping on my lap and trying to butt each other to try to get the most attention. They are like perpetual puppies lol.

Catspa, thanks so much for the link to my possible weed! I wrote down the info, and will do more research to compare. That one is currently in full shade in the Zygocactus pot, and is loving the moisture so much, it's sucking it away from the cactus... gotta remove it soon :-D

Sultry, I love goats. When I was in college and grad school, I worked for a vet, and one of them raised pygmy goats. She'd bring the babies in and let them run around the office after hours. I also occasionally took care of them when they went out of town, including milking them.

susan, that sounds like you had so much fun working for a vet. Babies running around the office is fun too. We had "house goats" this spring. I had 3 bottle babies (2 were from a mom with quads and one from a different dam, was rejected). I finally brought in a large dog kennel to keep them contained. They were crazy lol. I'm not a fan of walking out to the barn in the cold dark multiples times to feed them at night so brought them in.

I do most all of my own "vetting" here: delivering babies that get stuck, treating a lot of different illnesses, checking for parasites (using a microscope), vaccinations, etc. Anything beyond my knowlege, I have to go to the vets here which dont seem that educated about goats (most dont nowdays) horses: yes, cows: yes, goats: nope! lol

These are the 2 bottle babies from the quads getting warmed up. They loved to watch this electric fireplace and feel the heat blow on them after drinking their warm bottles.

The "reject" with the silly ears. He looked so much like a puppy we call him Puppy Chow.

Did his dam reject him for his ears? 🥺

I'm not sure. His dam is half Lamancha & half Nigerian Dwarf (mini lamancha). Usually their babies will have small elf or gopher ears. Every once in a while they have one with Nigerian ears. The other Mini Lamancha does dont usually care one way or another. He was the first baby born. He was alraedy out when I got out to the barn and she was butting him. We tried different methods of getting them to bond. She wanted nothing to do with him lol. Then she had another one with tiny ears like her. She loves that one.

That is the first baby we've had that was rejected. His ears straightened out and look normal now. He is doing great and is weaned now.

I had pulled the other 2 bucklings from their mom because the mom had 4. I left the 2 doelings on her.

Oh that makes my heart hurt, Sultry