They look like aphids. Since the plants are small you can probably just wash them off pretty well. I don't know what the plants are.

Plant looks like Epipactus helleborine, a weedy ground orchid that is considered an invasive species. And yes, the insects are aphids.

the fact that it is below a spot where a bird could drop the seed .. is a fair indication of how the seed was spread ...

that or the fence stopped a wind blown seed ...

my point being.. no one would have plated it there ... so my presumption would be weed ...

ken

Ken, birds don't eat these seeds. They are spread far and wide by the wind.

I had not completely ruled out the idea of it being a weed. I didn't want to assume and yank it immediately due to finding rose bushes and a couple other plants that were making a come back from the year before. There are three of these 'weedy ground orchids' that are ironically growing evenly with two or so foot spacing in between. Plus my neighbors sunflowers wiggled their way through the fence into our yard. Thought I'd do some investigating and ask around before I went ahead and pulled the suckers out. :)

Thanks for the input everyone! much appreciated