Eeeee Gadssss - A Weed In My Garden!

Look at what had the nerve to plant itself in my garden! A Yellow Goat's Beard! This is all because no one did any weeding last year. The garden was allowed to do whatever it wanted! This plant started life as a small inconspicuous grass-like plant last year. Yellow Goat's Beard, you see, is a biennial. This spring I noticed its reddish grassy leaves. I thought that perhaps my daughter had planted some kind of ornamental grass in my garden last year. I decided to leave it until I had asked her about it. But it soon started to grow... and grow... and grow! It is now almost three feet tall! And it is starting to bloom! It even has some spit bugs on it. That is how I always think of this weed in the wild - with spit bugs! It is actually not an ugly plant, but the spit bugs... Yuk! Now is the time to pull it up! Because it has grown so quickly and really doesn't distract from the rest of the garden yet, I decided to feature it here, on my blog. Sort of as a last farewell! It is coming out later today!

This weed is kind of interesting. It's a biennial, but I already said that. It has large yellow dandelion-like flowers, only much bigger, about 2 inches across. It belongs in the aster family because of it's composite flowers.

Another interesting feature is that the flowers open in the morning and close again by around or a little past noon. This has given this plant the common name of 'Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon'. That's kind of cute. Another common name for it is Meadow Salsify. The seeds on this plant look a lot like that of a dandelion too, except much larger! They are spread by the wind, floating through the air just as a dandelion seed would. But that will never happen to my Goat's Beard! It is coming out...now!

Family: Asteraceae. Genus: Trogopogon. Species: T. pratensis

Common name: Yellow Goat's Beard, Meadow Salsify, Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon.

Forget Me Not - Myosotis

I love blue flowers! Maybe that is why I like Forget Me Nots so much! This plant has followed us as we moved. I took a plant or two with me each time from garden to garden. They continue to come up faithfully every spring. Some years everything is covered by a blue haze for a few weeks. I never pull them up before they have finished blooming.


Once they have flowered, I pull them out if they are taking over and crowding out another important plant. I always leave a few so that they can seed themselves and I will continue to be able to enjoy them in future years. Myosotis is a biennial. The seeds will grow into small plants and then go dormant until the next spring when they bloom.

There are all kinds of legends on how this plant got it's name. One is that when God was giving out names to the plants, he forgot this one and it called out to him, "Forget me not!" Other legends are love related. A medieval knight was walking along a river with his true love. He picked her a bunch of Forget Me Nots. Because his armour was so heavy, he fell into the river, but before he hit the water, he was able to throw the bunch of blue flowers to his lady, while yelling, "Forget me not!"

There are 50 species of Myosotis. I have no idea which one I have. The first Forget Me Nots that I planted were blue. And although these plants usually have blue flowers, sometimes a plant will have pink flowers. I usually leave the pink flowering ones to go to seed. I really like the pink ones too. Myosotis also come in white, but I guess my plants don't have any white genes. Maybe I should buy a pot of white Forget Me Nots this year! Add some new genes to the pool.

Family: Boraginaceae. Genus: Myosotis.

Common name: Forget Me Not

Lunaria

Now to continue the stroll through my garden. This beautiful purple flowering plant is called Lunaria.


About 20 years ago, my neighbour gave me a little unmarked packet of seeds. They were a gift from her sister, but her husband would not let her plant them in their garden. She told me that her sister had given her instructions on how to plant them. "Just sprinkle some of the seeds and let them grow," she told me. She didn't know the name of them or what they would look like. I planted them anyway and now I am ever so glad that I did! Each spring I am rewarded with a beautiful purple garden!


Lunaria is a biennial. The seeds are planted in the summer and grow into small plants during the first year. They go dormant over the winter and start to grow again early in the spring. These things are amazing! They grow about two feet in just a month or so. They are also one of the earliest bloomers in the garden. The plant goes on to create wonderful see-through seed pods. These can be dried and used in dried arrangements. This round, silver pod also gives the plant its common names of Honesty (because it is see-through) and Money Plant or Silver Dollar Plant.

I have never planted this plant since those first seeds that my neighbour gave me. The seeds just plant themselves. They come up all over my garden. I usually leave them where they are until they finish blooming. Then I pull them out or leave them, depending on where they are. I always make sure there are some healthy looking ones that are allowed to go to seed. I also look at their colour. For some reason those first plants were all purple, but since then I often get white Lunaria. I love the white ones and will usually leave them to go to seed in the hopes of getting more white flowering plants.

Family: Brassicaceae. Genus: Lunaria. Species: L. annua.
Common names: Silver Dollar Plant, Money Plant, Honesty