I love seeing a swath of dandelions in bloom - so pretty, especially when coupled with lawn violets = stunning. I also like Queen Anne's lace, I think it is quite pretty, and the pollinators enjoy it too.

^^ Lovely!

I’m beginning to think that Johnny Jump Ups are a weed. I do love them but they are now all over my yard.

I like to "edit" my garden rather than fixate on a plan or putting things in exactly the right spot, so weeds and volunteers are always getting me in trouble. Last year I thought all the jewelweed might be nice since the bumblebees and hummingbirds like it so much... and then ended up with a forest of jewelweed. Another year I thought all the sunflower seedlings looked so promising... and then ended up with an even bigger forest of sunflowers.

Fennel is a weed here, oxeye daisies, dandelions (which I do rip out of the beds), verbena bonariensis takes over, some amaranthus take over, jimsonweed, milkweed... all of which are sometimes tolerated.

But I think my favorite weed this week is the purple dead nettle I see with your erodium. I just like the color, and it seems to fade away once the weather warms. Fancier people have pansies or wallflowers with their spring bulbs, I have purple deadnettle.

Right now, hands down winner is jewel weed. First, the hummingbirds love it. Second, it is SO EASY to pull where it's not wanted. Third, it really complements the orange centers of my echinacea, like it was planned that way. And, fourth, once you've got one plant, you'll never be without.

;-)

Very nice 'weeds' everyone - they are really pretty! There is the old saying that "weeds that are weediest are often the seediest"

Katob you would be in heaven here, this is my 12 acre cornfield and the predominant weed growing in it now is nettle. I have the purple and the white flowered one - fancy!

I love wild purslane in my veggie garden. Living mulch, doesn't compete much for nutrients, yummy in salads plus I make relish from the crispy stems.

I think that cornfield looks great.

Deanna I feel like there are jewelweed seedlings everywhere this spring. We've had two wet summers and they've decided my whole garden is wet enough to give them the damp soil they love... until August when it's not and I end up with dried skeletons.

They do annoy me though, since we had a couple late freezes and it's insulting when the hydrangeas lose their buds, the hostas are singed, but these little impatients seedlings just shrug it off.

Does anyone else put the jewelweed juice on mosquito bites and poison ivy?

"Mxk, have you been spying on my yard?..."

That's my line! the purple violets have taken over most of the shady areas. I have to admit; it was especially pretty this spring!

I think I need to take katob's view and not fixate on the weeds, though!

I suppose Lunaria is a weed around here, but I don't know anyone who doesn't like it. It grows wild and will end up everywhere, but is easy to pull out after flowering in spring. And it smells wonderful!

sandyslopes: I grew this a couple of times, and it blooms early spring and was gorgeous! I just need to get me some more seed. I don't know what happened to the seed I collected.. When I did have it, my neighbors commented on it! I wouldn't mind a weed like that!

Another favorite weed of mine is White or Dutch Clover, I've used it between rows of things as the path in the garden, it kept rain from splashing onto produce and cut flowers and enriched the soil. Really good bee food too!

A clump of clover in my lawn here produces a regular crop of four and five+ leafed specimens - no kidding! I've got some books fairly full of pressed clover - it is my understanding that four leaves is for luck, five is for luck AND wealth!

P.S. Scatter Lunaria seeds around as soon as they are ripe in the summer - they are biennial plants so get 'em growin' before winter sets in!

I've let a few burdock weeds grown in my beds. They have such large leaves and look neat.... until they try to bloom.... then i just lop off the flower stems.

Cool clover. I don't think it would be crazy of you to pot up a little bit and grow it just for the novelty.

And btw, a quick online search finds that dried and laminated four leaf clovers go for 19.99 while the five leaf are available for 29.99. You might have a goldmine there lol

I had a patch by the driveway that always threw a couple. I was bummed out when I realized I forgot to save it when the driveway was redone, and have never found another good patch.

Nevermore that's too far. Burdock is a weed.

Ha. Ahh come on... giant nice textured leaves look great intermingled with other perennials.

Like a hosta, right? Does the burdock die after you lop the top off? I do have a couple spots where they seem to do well, but those taproots scared me.

Lunaria is a weed? I've had it in my yard for 40 years. [g]. I love it. I never pull one seedling anywhere it pops up, it's welcome. I have an area that is hard to grow anything near a group of the neighbor's spruce and sycamore trees, and that seems to be where the Lunaria take up residence. They do reseed even over the other side of the yard, but barely. I couldn't even tell you if they are easy to pull, because I never pull them.

Some years I'm disappointed when I have a smaller crop of them. By the way, they look great with white bleeding heart that bloom at the same time.

Jeb, I looked up nettle and I didn't see a photo of any with that purple flower. Your field reminds me of ajuga. That's not ajuga is it? And that Erodium is very sweet looking too.

Prairiemoon, look up Purple Deadnettle, Lamium purpureum. It is a biennial weed (or wildflower depending how you see things) and it is one of the first things to flower here in April. Once the temperature warms up it quickly goes to seed and the plant completely dies and disappears for the season. By late summer/early fall the new seedlings are growing to produce the following year's crop of flowers... and seeds...

There is enough Deadnettle in my field this spring for the whole tri-county area!! At least it is nice to look at.

https://www.bbg.org/news/purple_deadnettle

Common names confusion strikes again. Dead nettles, ie those without stings, are not the same as Nettles. If you use the botanical names to look them up you'll find the information you need. The plant in the field was correctly identified from the get go as Lamium purpureum.

I like white clover in my lawn

That's really interesting. Where are you located Jeb? I have lamium in my garden. Three different varieties and they are all silver leaved. One is called Lamium maculatum 'Orchid Frost'. In my garden, they have petered out in some instances. Of course, I got them because they were said to excel as ground cover in shade. With a lot of things expectations in my garden are often surprising. I have clay/loam soil with a neutral PH and I'd think that is pretty average, at least in my area. Whatever doesn't thrive in my garden, I blame on the many mature trees - Maples, Sycamore, Spruce, one Pine, that all suck the moisture out of the soil. So while I used to avoid anything that might turn into something invasive, now I am more open to things that might have a little more vigor. Within reason. [g]

This is a fun thread! I guess one man's weed... I never thought of dayllies (ditchlilies) as weeds. I know many people dislike them but in the right setting, like Jenn's lovely photo above, they can be spectacular. Similarly, I grow Queen Anne's Lace on purpose, starting some from seed every few years.

I have a very... relaxed... yard, and there are a few things I let go. I have patches of bluets and buttercups in my lawn that get mowed around until after bloom. But I should clarify that my "lawn" consists of at least a dozen things - some grass, clover, some escaped lamium, wild strawberry (I think that's what it is), violets (including some Freckles and white ones that are just lovely in bloom), moss, large swaths of haircap moss which is absolutely luxuriant in the perfect circumstances (and lots of little bits of it mixed in all over as well as the large swaths.)

One thing that is also in my lawn is something I forgot the name of. It is a little green leaf about two inches tall, similar to a lettuce leaf, and then there is a little white flower that comes up in every leaf. These single little leafs (leaves, lol?) are everywhere in spring, then disappear. I seem to remember it being identified as Canadian something but I can't grasp the name from my memory ( thought maypop or mayapple but a google search shows me that is not it). I really love when it's in bloom in spring!

One blooming weed I do allow is Venus's Looking Glass. It's a pretty little bloom and not overly aggressive so I let it stay in my garden.

:)

Dee

Your description sounds a bit like miner’s lettuce?

"One man's weed..." is right. Here in So Cal we ha e to pay for plants as beautiful as your Dead Nettle, or Daylily, or Lunaria. LOL! I spent a little time in mid Florida and was laughing all the time at the "weeds" growing in the wet areas that cost a lot of money here in our semi-desert. I am often accused of growing and spreading "weeds" around. Some of my favorites are edible and much more nutritious than most veggies we grow on purpose. Great for compost, chickens and worms too!

I have a lot in our lawn too. Dandelions, violets, clover and at least 3 different NOID weeds. I've added some bulbs to the lawn too. If I ever get the work I need to do in the borders, I keep thinking I might work on the lawn a little and add some more 'weeds'.

Denise - what are the nutritious 'weeds' you grow?

My favorite is blue toadflax. I think it's charming. I can never pull it and it seems pretty harmless.

I happened to find an unusual Lunaria in the garden this week. It is HUGE. I can't remember ever seeing one particular plant that large. It is all the way over the other side of the yard from the usual location I find them. And it seems to have this corner all to itself, so it made itself at home. This is a corner that is not easy to grow a lot. It's on the north side of a 50 year old Silver Maple, just on the other side of that fence. So pretty shady most of the day too. I will be very happy if it drops a bunch of seed there after it blooms. :-)

You can see a small version of the plant in the foreground. That and maybe double that small size is what I usually end up with.

There is also a variegated version of this plant that is very pretty. I had some, but for the most part they have petered out. I find a few every once in awhile.

Creeping Charlie and it's delicate little leaves and lavender flowers. I even pulled some up from a weedy parking lot and planted it in a pot in my garden.

Creeping charlie drives me crazy. Erigeron philadelphicus and wild violets are nice weeds to me. This little annual is alright too, some kind of veronica I think. If only it stuck around long enough to block out crab grass.

Skip1909 Oh so that's what those little daisies are called "Erigeron philadelphicus" I had to google that. Wild Violets don't even rate as weeds, at least not to me. That photo of what you say looks like some kind of Veronica is rather interesting in a group like that with those little blue flowers.

I knew someone that once made a "weed garden". ..I think it's a pretty creative idea.

I never got to see her weed garden, but I can imagine it could actually be interesting...any plant en masse has visual impact.

Like Creeping Charlie...in your lawn it will drive one crazy but in a pot has impact. LOL!

Oh yes and Purple Dead Nettle! I just had someone on the garden forum here ID it for me a few days ago so now I know it's name!
katob Z6ish, NE Pa ...I also dug some up out of the lawn and put in a group in pot because it is so interesting. Disappointed it's an annual and not a perennial that will come up from roots, but it's pretty.

milkweed is a favorite of mine

All my plants are weeds ; or most of them. Palafoxia callosa ; sedum nutallii; skeleton leaf Goldeneye. Lygodesmia texana ; Aesclepias asperula; silphium gracile penstemon cobaeia; Delphinium carolinanum.......... I never planted them and they give me such joy. I could go on and on windflower anemone; Crow poison; wild alium; Blanket flower: Horse mint : damianita: Liatris muncronata. Bring them on; They are always welcomed here. Some call them wildflowers.

I'm with some of the others regarding the dead nettle. I saw a lot of it in my garden this year and thought to pull them out until I also noticed the cute purple flowers. Since it was still early in the season here in NJ, the ambitious worker bees that were getting a head start had little to forage through - but they were enjoying the dead nettle. So all remained. :-) Now they are spent and look brown and crummy - not sure whether they should go or not - since I'd like them to return next year. Probably just cut them back, since I'm sure they have already dropped their seeds.