The well cared-for weed is pigweed. I know because I was nurturing some along this spring too until I found out what it was - LOL.

Not sure about the rest, I'm sure someone else will know.

First one is definetely Amaranthus retroflexus Pigweed.

The second one looks like some kind of Mallow... can you get a closer shot of the leaves and flower?

Same with the third one, can't tell, not a clear photo, I'm thinking Achillea ptarmica 'The Pearl' Sneezewort?

I guess I should download Firefox as Rick suggested ;)

Sharon

Hunnerbun,

Your second picture looks like a verbascum maybe V. phoenicium and I agree with Sharon on all the other pictures.

I know very little about verbascums, but the V. phoenicium's(2cvs.) I had looked a lot like that photo. Basal leaves lay flat on ground, gangly appearance, flowers withering rather quickly, never enough open at a time to add to a nice bouquet... I was unimpressed, and they deserved what they got: the compost pile.

Hi. I think the second one is some kind of Guara. Marg

Hehehe...PIGWEED....LOLOL figures...
Everything else is dying from tooo much fricken rain and this thing is growing like a...no pun intended....WEED!!!

MaryV I think you might be right on the verbascum, the flowers look like the ones on the verbascum I googled, but on my plant they are much further apart then on the photo.
Like leftwood said basal leaves flat along the ground with large spikes....and fast fading flowers.

I have no idea where it came from but maybe from a package I bought from Canadian Tire...I planted seeds for Cosmos and ended up with what looks to me like Marigolds...definitely not Cosmos, and I know for a fact I didn't plant any Marigolds!

hunner - But it is very nice looking Pigweed. Foliage is clean and lush. Pigweed in my gardens looks awful by comparison. I am jealous.....apparently I can't even grow a decent pigweed.
Jan

hunnerbun, are the cosmos possibly "Golden Cosmos"??? They look very different then the other cosmos. I had Golden Cosmos last year from an annual mix package.

I agree about the first plant (pigweed) and also think the second plant is verbascum phoenecium. This particular verbascum is much happier and puts on a very pretty show only when it is grown in a fair amount of shade. Even under the best of circumstances, it is a very short-lived plant.

I think the last plant is echium plantagineum or E. vulgare.

Kate

Hunnerbun,
If you have a digital camera, I think this could be pretty easily resolved by posting clearer close-ups of the leaves and flowers of the two plants. (Not the pigweed - that one's nailed, LOL!)

Kate, your experience with V. phoenecium is quite different - I find they are reliably perennial and do well in full fun, so that's why everyone needs to try things for themselves in gardening! Looks like a rather strange verbascum, but could be one.

Achillea was first thing that occurred to me for the second plant, too, but another couple of photos will probably clarify it.

"I love a mystery."

Lori

I am having issues with Photobucket...once I get them resolved I'll post the pics I took this morning.

Kate's right about the exposure thing. In Minneapolis I've grown V. phoenicum in the sun and in mostly shade. In the sun (or as Lori said: "fun"-I love it) sometimes the flowers hardly lasted through the morning!

Hmm, I always find it amazing to see how differently plants act from one situation to another! (Including in full "fun", the place I like to garden most, but unfortunately haven't gotten enough of this summer!) BTW, over on the Perennials forum, some folks are moaning about how there should be a book that everyone can rely on to tell them how exactly a plant will do for them. Sure, it would be nice but dream on!

(Okay, I think I've checked this over for typos so here goes...)

OK...problem with photobucket solved!

OK....here is a closeup of the plant from the second photo, it looks like the pics of verbascum I googled.

Here is a better pic of the third plant....it has 6 spikes coming from the base and one straight up from the center...

here is a closeup of the flowers...

and the seedpods...

Hope this helps!

Ohhhh and is this plant an Aconitum (the tall spiky one)? Hopefully it will bloom anyday now and I will know for sure.

Hunner that last one looks like a delphinium to me... of course I am no ID expert. I like that pink & white (verbascum?), it's very pretty!

#1 on the second set of photos is definitely a Verbascum, though I think one would need some very detailed picures of the leaves to tell if it is a white V. phoenicium or V. chaixii album (i.e. the purple stamens), which is also pretty common. The particular plant in question has a pretty loose, lanky habit for either, but nonetheless, that's what it seems to be (IMO).

#2 appears to be another Anchusa officinalis alba, I would guess. (Someone had one earlier...Ian in BC, perhaps?)

#3 Is there any hard-and-fast rule for distinguishing aconitum from delphinium leaves? I suspect delphinium too (from the flower head shape), but ??

And the winner is...northspruce! I am pretty sure that is a Delphinium....now that I googled the pictures, but boy did those leaves ever look like Aconitum! Its the buds that are the giveaway on that one.
On the Aconitum they seem to be attached halfway down the bud, but the Delphinium they are attached at the top....if that makes any sense, and thats where the ones on my plant are attached.

Lori, I think you might be right about the Anchusa too...I googled it and the flowers look like the tiny picture on the Gardens North site....and thats where I got the Zone 2 Perennial mix from, so that makes sense.

I think I have only a couple of things left that need to be identified from that mix....there are no flowers, only leaves. I'll try and get some pics of them among the weeds! LOL
One I know is some type of Iris Or lily...it has spiky leaves, I guess I'll have to hope it overwinters and blooms next year so I can find out.

True, and a more definitive observation would be that delphinium have spurs, aconitum do not.

And aconitum have hooded flowers, while delphiniums do not (at least not the ones in my acquaintance). Is there a reliable way to distinguish the leaves though?

What I noticed was the secondary flower stalks. In delphiniums they are recognizable in their size, shape and angle from the main stem.

From what I have seen, aconitum leaves seem to be a bit more finely divided where delphs are lobed. Both seem to be somewhat variable though. It doesn't help that the wild monkshood is scientifically named Aconitum dephinifolium - I guess someone else noticed the similarity - LOL.
I don't have any aconitum but I wish I did.