Thanks! Just what I suspected :-) Bee balm? Yes, I did buy some -- this is wonderful news!! Ok - out with the prickly lettuce :-) thanks, again.

The first one is a dandelion

bee balm should be very fragrant.. go pet it ... mine used to smell like earl grey tea ... im not sure if they all do though ...

there are some seedlings in it.. you might want to make sure those arent weeds ... get them out now ... see if a crushed one smells like the monarda ...

i seem to recall they spread underground.. not by seed.. in my MI anyway ...

ken

You must dig down deeply around that dandelion to get the entire root out. Any sprig left will just let it rejuvenate again.

Thanks, Harold! Although I'm going along with katob Z6 - they are not dandelions; I have lots of them but these are much different and are actually quite easy to take out - root and all. But I do agree with you, harold100 - you really do have get those dandelion roots (with one of those screw-driver type tools with a v :-) - but I also have an open lot next door with a field of dandelions - there is no avoiding them in my yard once they puff out. :-) What I hate even more than dandelions (their yellow flowers are quite nice) is wild onion - talk about something that multiplies the more you remove - even if you get the nasty onions themselves. Every year they seem to get more prolific in my garden. And they get smarter! They seem to know they won't get disturbed if they grow under and around a perennial - pretty clever little guys. Thanks all!!

Yes, the first one is a Lactuca as identified by katob. It isn't a dandelion. Check out the elongating bloom stem. Dandelions do not have that feature.

I'm kind of hoping someone on this thread still has their notifications on - otherwise I'll start a new post. But you all knew your weeds - so I'm hoping you won't mind one more. I initially thought this was a mosquito plant -- it looked very similar to one that I planted about 5+ years ago that did not come back last year, so I was surprised to see this emergence - and several others - scattered around my flower beds. However, doing a search to confirm it was a mosquito plant (citronella) all mentioned that it has a nice smell when you crush the leaves. These plants/weeds have no such smell - and so far have no flowers - leading me to presume this is a weed. But it does have a nice tidy habit and is quite pretty - so I'm hoping someone tells me it will produce flowers - I'm ok with pretty weeds, as long as it produces flowers for the bees. :-) Thank you!