Liashi said:

I have this thing popping up in my garden now, and I think it's Cotton
Morningglory (Ipomoea cordatotriloba for all you picky folks. -_-) At
least, based on this pictu
http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/ipott.htm
I'm not really in the area this thing is supposed to grow in tho . . .

If the cotyledons (seed leaves) look like that, it could be one of several
'morning glory' species. You would have to wait for the true leaves, and
might even have to wait for the vine or flowers to clinch the ID.

The sprouts I'm seeing look like that however, but I have yet to see a
real leaf (like on the pic there.) What are the chances that this is
some kind of other plant? Is the first pair of leaves always enough to
tell a plant from others? (Within the same genus?) And I thought those
things were the seeds I planted. . . . Sigh.

With new-to-you plants that are directly seeded into the garden, it's very
useful to sprout some in sterile potting soil first so you can see what the
sprouts look like. That will help you differentiate them from almost all of
the weeds that might turn up in the garden.

Are the any resourses, paper or digital, that you would recommend for
identifying unwanted plants?

I've used everything from a field guide to wildflowers (in which almost
every weed you find will turn out to be 'alien' to North America) to the
Internet.

One place I have bookmarked is:
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/weeds_common.html

--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)