Friday, June 4, 2010

Plant ID Help Needed...

I try to maintain my garden & our almost acre of shallow woodland backyard in a way that helps the local flora & fauna. I pull invasive plants, limit exotic plants & plant for the creatures that live around here.

So I need some help and advice. If you can help ID some of these plants that are taking over the areas where the woods meet garden or grass. Really I want to pull them all out, but I am curious about them and their potential importance.

Here are pics I took this afternoon...








Above: young, no flowers until next year invasive garlic mustard plants (will pull!)







Above: I can't stand these ground vines, the way they lay roots and establish a new plant constantly...



Above: Wineberry: pinkish fuzzy sharp prickly stickers covering the stems of this one. Not nice (as Chloe would say).















Above: thought this was the mustard invasive plant. The seed heads are the same but the leafs are different shapes. Maybe the mature plants have varied shaped leafs...







This next one (the triangle-like one) seems pretty cool though and not quite as invasive as the other ones above...



Any help with ID would be greatly appreciated…
*August Update*
More invasives that I have discovered in and around my garden (while searching on the web for local resources through the National Wildlife Federation):
Japanese Stilt Grass
Japanese Barberry

Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas


-- Pictures Taken & Posted From My iPhone

9 comments:

  1. Pic 1-5 leaves but I don't think it's sumac or poison oak
    Pic 2- looks like a wild violet
    pic3-looks like a maple leaf
    pic 4-wild strawberries
    pic 5-I'm with Chloe, not nice.
    pic 6-wild rose, blackberry, or raspberry. I'm guessing it has thorns.
    pic 7-Poison Ivy! eek
    pic 8-Do't know but I have them and pull them, ok a weed.
    pic 9-Looks like a grape leaf
    pic 10-looks like a maple leaf
    pic 11-compound leaf, toothed....hmmm
    pic12-don't know but it is a cool triangle

    Not sure I helped at all but it's the best I can do. Don't know where my leaf book has landed.

    Good Luck!

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  2. Thanks Tari! I have a tree leaf ID book but not one for plants like this... I am, as far as I know "not allergic" to poison ivy and there are so many plants with 3 leafs that I think, oh that's it... no, maybe that one... So thanks for pointing it out for sure! I will grab a pair of gloves to pull it all out then get rid of the gloves because of the oils... Hope all is well!

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  3. Oh, and the pic #2... I used to let these grow because I thought they were wild violets too (all over around here - love it) but then saw them together in the garden and the violets have a spiraling type edge and a bit more of a point to the leaf. There are so many of both, that the ones I know that are violets I let grow, the others I pull... Just incase.

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  4. Here is the answer to pic 11 this guy says wild blackberry.
    http://poisonivy.aesir.com/img/pictures/pi-pics-may/index.php

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  5. pic #1 may be a Virginia Creeper. One has 5 leaves and I see another has 4.
    http://poisonivy.aesir.com/img/pictures/pi-pics-may/index.php
    I was trying to find out if it was sumac or oak.

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  6. This is sumac. Didn't realize this one was a compound leaf. Hmm
    http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=0000+0000+0508+0585
    This is one kind of poison oak. For some reason I thought it had 5 leaves.
    http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=0000+0000+0602+0236
    http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=0000+0000+0602+0239

    ReplyDelete
  7. I found this for you. I don't have time to look at it. Maybe you might be able to find a minute during nap time!
    http://www.ergonica.net/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=63_69&products_id=202&zenid=h1kc4o14micgg319se91f0t0s7

    ReplyDelete
  8. #1 Virginia creeper can have variable-shaped leaves
    2 common mallow maybe? an exotic weed
    4 Indian strawberry an exotic weed

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  9. Wish I were better at plant ID by leaves! I just know what we get around here so I pull them when I see them (we get wild blacks, false forget-me-nots, etc.). Thanks for participating in the Tuesday Garden Party!

    ReplyDelete