No not a Lobelia. If you break a leaf is there white sap?

Let me check and advise re white sap. Also, here's another volunteer I'm trying to figure out... the larger green leaves...

always add your location.. sometimes it matter to IDs .. big city name

and it not a poekweed.. lol ..

ken

The second could possibly be Potentilla indica - Mock strawberry.

That first one does remind me of a milkweed, and the second definitely has a strawberry - or mock strawberry - vibe.

Ha! Thanks all. I'm in NYC, which I think is Zone 6b. And indeed, I DO often throw less than optimal blueberries and strawberries out onto my planters, for the local birds, squirrels etc to enjoy.

So that's cool...that maybe I have a strawberry seedling on my hands. I'll transplant it to another pot and see what happens (though I imagine nothing will come to fruition so to speak, this year...). I'm not as savvy re: fruits/vegetables.... are strawberries perennial...and/or do they re-seed?

Also, for peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada: Regarding the first plant ...my original question in this thread.... Bingo! Yes...as soon as I broke off a leaf, white sap. So...what do you think it is, then? Thanks!

Strawberries are perennial, yes, and they make a nice groundcover.

The plant with white milky sap is milkweed.

Yes Lynn I was thinking Asclepias sp. - Milkweed.

Common Milkweed?? Wow, that's interesting...perplexing... and exciting!! Let me explain.... the volunteer milkweed appeared on my 3rd floor balcony....in a planter... Just one floor above my balcony, and just a bit inward from the balcony, is our 4th floor rooftop, where the landlord allows me to keep additional planters. And up on the 4th floor is where I planted some Common Milkweed seedlings that I had successfully germinated, in April or so.

But here's the weird part....the Common Milkweed seedlings on the roof stagnated....once they germinated, the seedlings never grew beyond 2" in height. It's very odd. I'll post another pic here, of what my rooftop milkweed seedlings look like. Strange that the seedlings I Wanted to grow are stagnant, and yet, a volunteer version just a floor below, seems to be doing very well.....

Are those lots of orange aphids on your milkweed seedlings?

I've not seen any aphids. You just may be seeing that some of the leaves are a bit dried out looking (for some reason). I'm really stumped why these seedlings (on my roof) are so stagnant...barely alive...yet the other (volunteer) milkweed on my balcony are doing so well. Is it possible that the seedlings don't like something about the rooftop and being in such direct sun all day? (My balcony, on the other hand, gets direct sun until 100p or so, and indirect sun after that...) Otherwise, all the plants are growing in the same type of potting medium.....

Milkweed seeds are borne by the wind on silky fluff similar dandelions. They could easily reach your balcony from anywhere.

Even if the strawberries do fruit, they will not necessarily be much like the fruit you threw out. They may or may not be garden worthy. Named cultivars are propagated vegetatively. nb the genus name is FragAria.

@User.... I was looking at my original Milkweed seedlings...the ones that are stagnant and never grew beyond 2" in height and....I think you are right!...I observed some teeny weeny little orange mounds on the backs of the leaves... So, could that explain why those seedlings never grew...the aphids essentially killed the seedlings, which at this point are just barely hanging on?

Is there a natural remedy for aphids, do you know? I do have some neem oil/soap I believe... Thanks!

On seedlings a natural remedy would be your finger and thumb possibly aided by a spray of plain water.

Thanks. And could the aphids explain why the seedlings never grew beyond 2"?