I'm in Norfolk VA.
I intended there to be only tomatoes in this planter.
But now I have this.
The blue ruler shown is 6 inches long, to give you a scale.

http://home.att.net/~slither/Dcp16304.jpg

What on earth is it? I have spent an hour surfing for weed identifier
websites and they show nothing like it. Is this a weed? Is this an
annual? I planted pansies and marigolds and other common annuals in
nearby planters and this stuff is popping up in all of them.

Help! Thanks very much.

Lee

On 5/21/04 11:24 AM, in article
, "Serpica"
wrote:

I'm in Norfolk VA.
I intended there to be only tomatoes in this planter.
But now I have this.
The blue ruler shown is 6 inches long, to give you a scale.

http://home.att.net/~slither/Dcp16304.jpg

What on earth is it? I have spent an hour surfing for weed identifier
websites and they show nothing like it. Is this a weed? Is this an
annual? I planted pansies and marigolds and other common annuals in
nearby planters and this stuff is popping up in all of them.

Help! Thanks very much.

Lee

I can't think of the Latin, but I know it as Ladies Thumbs - its a weed, a
pretty weed, but a week.
Pull it out and throw it on the compost heap.

Cheryl

"Serpica" wrote in message
om...
I'm in Norfolk VA.
I intended there to be only tomatoes in this planter.
But now I have this.
The blue ruler shown is 6 inches long, to give you a scale.

http://home.att.net/~slither/Dcp16304.jpg

What on earth is it? I have spent an hour surfing for weed identifier
websites and they show nothing like it. Is this a weed? Is this an
annual? I planted pansies and marigolds and other common annuals in
nearby planters and this stuff is popping up in all of them.

Help! Thanks very much.

It looks like a very healthy form of smartweed (polygonoum). If so, they
you have your work cut out for you. I have this stuff everywhere and it is
hard to eliminate. It is an annual that forms spikes of very tiny
mauve/pink flowers.

It looks like some kind of persicaria or epimideum (sp on both could be wrong).


On 21 May 2004 08:24:15 -0700, (Serpica) opined:

I'm in Norfolk VA.
I intended there to be only tomatoes in this planter.
But now I have this.
The blue ruler shown is 6 inches long, to give you a scale.

http://home.att.net/~slither/Dcp16304.jpg

What on earth is it? I have spent an hour surfing for weed identifier
websites and they show nothing like it. Is this a weed? Is this an
annual? I planted pansies and marigolds and other common annuals in
nearby planters and this stuff is popping up in all of them.

Help! Thanks very much.

Lee

Vox Humana wrote:
...It looks like a very healthy form of smartweed (polygonoum)...
... It is an annual that forms spikes of very tiny
mauve/pink flowers.


That sounds like what we know as "lady's thumb" because of the
thumbprint on the leaves. However, our version has somewhat thinner
leaves than the picture. It doesn't get very tall, maybe 18". The small
flower clusters aren't much to look at. It pulls out easily, but there's
always more growing.

"dps" wrote in message
...
Vox Humana wrote:
...It looks like a very healthy form of smartweed (polygonoum)...
... It is an annual that forms spikes of very tiny
mauve/pink flowers.


That sounds like what we know as "lady's thumb" because of the
thumbprint on the leaves. However, our version has somewhat thinner
leaves than the picture. It doesn't get very tall, maybe 18". The small
flower clusters aren't much to look at. It pulls out easily, but there's
always more growing.

I've found that the better the conditions, the larger the plant grows (like
most things, I guess.) The leaves can be fairly small, to rather large,
like in the picture. The stuff I have doesn't pull out that easily,
especially in heavy, clay soil. The piece that remains happily continues to
grow. The stuff can be rather stealthy in that it will grow among my
astilbes and is hard to distinguish. It's nasty stuff that invades the lawn
and just about anyplace there is bare spot for it to germinate. Since I
live on a wooded lot, there is a reservoir of the stuff waiting to sow its
seeds in my lawn and planting beds.

(Serpica) expounded:

I'm in Norfolk VA.
I intended there to be only tomatoes in this planter.
But now I have this.
The blue ruler shown is 6 inches long, to give you a scale.

http://home.att.net/~slither/Dcp16304.jpg

What on earth is it? I have spent an hour surfing for weed identifier
websites and they show nothing like it. Is this a weed? Is this an
annual? I planted pansies and marigolds and other common annuals in
nearby planters and this stuff is popping up in all of them.

Help! Thanks very much.

Lee

It's a weed around here, although I don't know the latin name.
--
Ann, Gardening in zone 6a
Just south of Boston, MA
********************************

A very nice picture of Persicaria in its young stage, In good fertile soil
with adequate water it will grow about 2 ft tall and with a spread of up to
4 ft or more, stems will root when they are resting on the ground for a time
http://www.plant-identification.co.u...persicaria.htm

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

"David Hill" wrote in message
...
A very nice picture of Persicaria in its young stage, In good fertile soil
with adequate water it will grow about 2 ft tall and with a spread of up
to
4 ft or more, stems will root when they are resting on the ground for a
time

http://www.plant-identification.co.u...persicaria.htm


Yep. That's exactly what I have. It does root along the stem. Hateful
stuff!

Thank you everybody for the help. I'm heading outside to dig it up. So
far, it's not in too many places.
Lee

Vox Humana wrote:

"David Hill" wrote in message
...
A very nice picture of Persicaria in its young stage, In good fertile soil
with adequate water it will grow about 2 ft tall and with a spread of up
to
4 ft or more, stems will root when they are resting on the ground for a
time

http://www.plant-identification.co.u...persicaria.htm


Yep. That's exactly what I have. It does root along the stem. Hateful
stuff!

However, if you have horses, I've read that it's useful for keeping
flies off them. (No horses so I haven't tried it.)

"kate" wrote in message
...


Vox Humana wrote:

"David Hill" wrote in message
...
A very nice picture of Persicaria in its young stage, In good fertile
soil
with adequate water it will grow about 2 ft tall and with a spread of
up
to
4 ft or more, stems will root when they are resting on the ground for
a
time


http://www.plant-identification.co.u...persicaria.htm


Yep. That's exactly what I have. It does root along the stem. Hateful
stuff!

However, if you have horses, I've read that it's useful for keeping
flies off them. (No horses so I haven't tried it.)

What do you do, plant it in saddle bags? LOL!!