Oops, I meant Gypsophila, Baby's Breath.

Oh I found a really bad picture I took of it in the summer - it is the whitish looking plant at top-centre above the semps. It is actually pale pink but that didn't show up. You can see how small it is compared to the lobelia. Any ideas now?

I have no idea, Gil, but i want some! :) I have a piece of driftwood with small holes in it and was thinking that there must be some tiny plant that would grow up through those holes. It does look a bit like gypsophilla, doesn't it?

Sure Marcia, it would look cool in driftwood! I will check if it made any seeds, or if it's still there or what. If I find any I will save them for you. :0)

My 'Weeds of Canada' book has a picture of a weed that is called the pygmyflower (Androsace septentrionalis L.). Another name for it is fairy candelabra. The book talks about it being a serious weed in cultivated fields and row crops because its early growth in the spring competes with newly seeded crops for nutrients and moisture.

So...pull it out???

Brenda

Trust me to want to plant a weed... As if they don't plant themselves enough around here! LOL

Thanks Brenda, I thought the flowers were distinctly pink but I'm sure that's on the right track. Guess I'll pull it out... oh well!

Wouldn't it be great if some of the weeds that we get here would be great flowers/perennials for our flowerbeds instead? There are some beautiful flowers like the yellow dandelion and purple Canada Thistle and they have to be weeds :( ...so be it....

Brenda

just a thought ......but they say, the definition of a weed is simply a plant that grows were it is not wanted.

If you like the plant ...why not grow it ? Many of the grasses being offered at nurseries today are simply weed grasses that someone decided to promote. e.g. Switch grass . Another example which was kind of humerous....my aunt called me one day a couple of years ago .....she was excited to show me a plant that she had bought at a nursery..so I went to see.......I started to laugh when she showed me the plant that she had paid $8.95 for at the nursery. She got a little hurt until I explained to her that she could have just driven down the road a bit and dug one up on the side of the ditch. She didnt believe me so we went for a drive ....and dug up 5 or six more for her gardens cuz she really liked it . Just another example of if you like it .....grow it . Oh, the plant my aunt had fallen in love with was toadflax . A pretty yellow snapdragon type flower that grows along the ditch everywhere here and is considered a weed ...till some enterprising nursery decides to offer it for sale.

So I dont go by what anyone tells me ....if I like it , I grow it , weed or not .

Signet

That's a good point Signet... I haven't pulled it out yet, but I am keeping a close eye to see if starts to run rampant. Which is sometimes a problem with native plants, they can be vigorous and take over. I guess most people would not even notice this plant was there, it is so small.

I like toadflax too, it's very pretty. I also like red clover, and what's that bright yellow-orange stuff that grows in a mound in the ditch... is it puccoon?

I love tansy, but i can see how crazy it goes so i just enjoy it along the side of the road. :)

Hi Northspruce. I can't see it very well, but your little plant looks like it might be Petrorhagia saxifraga or common name Tunic flower. I have a Gypsophyla repens that looks very similar. Maybe it's not a weed.

echoes

A little note about toadflax - here in Alberta it is a noxious weed, on the same list as Canada thistle and purple loosestrife, because it is so very hard to kill. Pretty as it looks, it chokes out most other plants where it gets going.
Connie

I am almost sure it is Petrohagia saxifraga. Echoes, how did you know? No one in my rock garden group had ever heard of it before. Each of the five petals has an indent at the outer end, so the petal does not have a pointed tip. How much it indents seems quite variable, even on the same plant. Sometimes hardly at all. I get volunteer seedlings in my pots frequently, but it's never invasive. It will take a year or two to really show what it is like. Give it well drained, lean soil for best performance, but it is quite adaptable. Don't be afraid to shear it back after it's spring explosion of flowers. Keeps it nice and tidy. Surprisingly drought resistant too.

I have a nice pic of my plant on . . . er . . . uh . . . the other place, but I don't post pics of good quality here anymore.

Rick

Sorry Echoes, I forgot to respond to this thread. I looked up the two you suggested and it certainly does look like Petrohagia saxifraga. Rick's consensus makes me more confident that it could be that. It did have indents in the ends of the petals. And it could easily be an obscure rock garden plant, because the semps it came with were from the big local hort sale where serious gardeners contribute.

I guess it's just lucky that it is growing in my cactus trough, where the soil is definitely lean and well drained. ;0)

Thanks guys, I hope that's what it is.

Oh, I looked it up again and found some pics of the leaves - it's definitely P. saxifragia, for sure. It didn't actually have a basal rosette of leaves, that was a sow thistle growing nearby. (blush, LOL) Its leaves are like tiny needles and the stems branch a lot. I went outside just now and it's still there but mostly dried up for the fall. I will check if it has made any seeds. That was all good guesses with my crappy picture, thanks for the help everyone.

I think I collected seed this year, if anyone wants it. No one else ever does, I suspect because no one has a clue what it is.

I searched high & low to find this thread again - I couldn't find any seeds last fall but apparently there were some there... because this is what it looks like now:

{{gwi:702027}}

There's quite a lot of it! Goes nicely with the cacti anyways.

I love it!

How pretty!

That is so pretty! It goes wonderfully with the cactus.