What are some of the things you have planted?

Who knows, but we had some monstrous weeds that looked similar last year.

Ones that I haven't planted before: Rose campion, Lauren's grape poppies, liatris, cleome, fireweed.

Weeds! I think they're probably not actual dandelions, but in the milkweed family. The Weed Lot Neighbors behind me have ALL kinds of different milkweed in their yard--so now they're all in my yard too! That foliage looks VERY much like one of them--and they're coming up and growing like gangbusters right now. Tear off a leaf and see if you're getting the latex sap all over your hands!

I'm virtually certain that if you leave it grow and bloom it'll have a VERY long stem with small yellow flowers--and lots of dandelion-like FLUFF!

Have never seen chicory growing/blooming, so not sure about that!

None of the plants you said you seeded look like that--weed! And if they were seeds, none of them would be that big yet.

If it has latex sap I'd say Lose It!

Skybird

P.S. That's the main reason why I don't direct sow seeds--it's too hard to tell "what's coming up!"

Yes, I think you all are right that they're most likely weeds. Skybird, I'll tear a leaf but I hardly need to. I realize that none of the the seeds that I've planted are likely to look like that. They're obviously not poppies or liatris, they don't have fuzzy leaves like rose campion, and they're not in the spots that I planted the cleome and fireweed, even though they're in the same bed.

Speaking of seeds, last year I planted a bunch of larkspur seeds, which I direct sowed in January. They didn't even sprout till after my first flush of california poppies were done blooming (late May, maybe?). This year, it's coming up already. I thought that it was a self-seeding annual, not a perennial? Why so much earlier?

Hi Faith,

Skybird gifted me with larkspur one year. I let them self seed. The plants drop their seed, which germinate and take root in fall, then go dormant and somehow survive the winter. They begin to grow again in spring. Mine are starting to grow again now. I don't know why as I've also thought it was a self seeding annual. I've learned to look for them when weeding, they look a little like carrot seedlings when they come up.

Faith, "larkspur" is a common name for too many different things to be sure what you have! There's all the Delphiniums, which range from true perennials to some species that are called perennials but are VERY short-lived, and then there's the annual Consolida ajacis, and, I think, some other annual "larkspurs."

It sounds like you have the annual one, which is the one Barb has, and, yes, that is self seeding. If you have plants coming up "from last year," sometimes the seeds germinate in fall and then just sit there and wait to start growing FAST in spring. If you have plants coming up from the base of the SAME plant that bloomed last year, you might have one of the short-lived perennial ones! Without the Latin name, there's no way to know for sure! If you still have the packet, what do you have???

If you have the annual one and are just wondering why the difference in timing, when they germinate/grow in any one year is entirely dependent on the weather--both temps AND moisture--and other more subtle factors too! If it's seeds that dropped last year, they've been in the ground since mid/late summer, so they've been there longer than the ones you seeded in January--have had more time to "think about what they wanted to do!" And, except for the COLD we had after the first couple snows this winter, it's been a HOT winter, so a LOT of things are earlier than normal! You probably wouldn't believe all the things I have in bloom or starting to bloom already! I sure can't believe it!

So if it's the annual ones you have, they're just enjoying the warm weather--like most of the rest of us! And they'd probably also enjoy a good downpour or snow--just like most of the rest of us!

Mine are coming up already this year too, Barb. You have so many by now that I think it might just look like last year's are growing again, but with the warm winter I'm virtually certain that yours are just ones that germinated early and are maybe getting bigger already than you're used to seeing. With mine, I'm busy pulling out the seedlings where I don't want them, since they're so much easier to get out when they're still tiny!

If something in all that didn't answer your questions, Faith, try again!

Skybird