Hi All, A few weeks ago, seedlings sprouted in my zinnia pot. At first, I thought they were self-sown from last year due to my little thieves (goldfinches). But now I am not so sure. The leaves don't resemble zinnias and I can't identify them. Please identify this plant. Thank you.
I'm not sure of the name, grab one of the leaves and sorta smash it between your fingers. If it smells like peanut butter, get rid of it, it's piosonous if injested by humans or pets. When I first moved to our new home we had couple plants that resemble your plants, they flowered and had pretty red berries, but we found out it is very invasive and hard to get rid of and of course poisonous.
Lamb's quarter?? Hi, thanks for getting back to me. I am frantic at this point. No odor when the leaves are crushed, and it definitely doesn't look like my mature zinnias. I purchased a book on common weeds, it might be lamb's quarters. Yikes!! Unfortunately...it's very happy in my zinnia pot. I will have to carefully evict it this weekend. Thanks so much for post a response.
Update: Not taking any chances. I am removing them from my garden (I hope I don't regret it) but I have a lot of time and money invested in blooming perennials and I don't want an invasive 'plant' to take over. Photos from the deck...coming this summer.
Yup-- common lambsquarters, Chenopodium album, as jryoung said. Not toxic, but a very invasive weed. Get it b4 it goes to seed!
Ick, I have some of that in my perennial beds too, along with few other invasive pain-in-the-butt weeds that I'm constantly doing battle with. Be gone with it!! :biggrin:
Thank you everyone!! You saved my butterfly garden!! Thank you so much for the confirmation. I was so surprised at their growth overnight after a day of sunshine!! I knew I was in trouble. Happily I have removed as much as possible and I will keep a vigilant watch over my butterfly garden as the summer progresses. Yikes!! I have heard of poke or polk salad, but not this stuff. My goodness! I am so glad you don't have to dine on these anymore. I am also glad you were able to identify them before they spread to any more of my containers!! My butterfly garden is safe for now!! Absolutely!! Sommer, I can't begin to express how happy I am that someone recognized these plants right away! I was certain they were zinnias because they came from the same container and I thought they were self sown!! Yikes!! Happily all containers have been cleansed, repacked with fresh potting soil and filled with perennials. I even added a shepherd's hook to this pot and put a humming bird feed above it! I hope I get a few visitors!! :biggrin:
