Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Who Am I?

















Lately I've been finding some new friends in my various garden areas. As long as they look good, they are welcome to stay, but I just wish they would introduce themselves.

I'll start with the ones in the free plant area. I saved this plant (above) when we installed the vegetable garden on Lady Bird Lake, which--I will tease you a bit--is going to be on TV! More details to come.

Back to plants. When I removed it, this plant was about 2-3 inches high and seemed more like a groundcover than a plant. Since it's been in my yard, it's grown to about 5-6 inches. Here's a closeup of the leaves:
















Any ideas? On to number two mystery. I throw a lot of seeds back behind the fence and sometimes something grows, but I never keep track of what I throw back there so I am never sure if what comes up is a weed or a plant from one of my seeds.

I have several of these plants coming up.






















Maybe a closeup of the fruit (?) will help you identify this one.























The last one in the free plant zone is a true mystery and may be a weed. I don't remember throwing any seeds in the shady part of the area. If no one can identify them, I will be pulling them. No pressure, unless of course you care about the demise of a plant.























Here's a closeup of the leaves--they are heart shaped with jagged edges. These plants are next to the turk's cap, but I am pretty sure they aren't more turk's cap. The leaves are much smaller.
















Moving on to easier identifications. In a corner of my vegetable garden, I found this plant:























I think it is some sort of pepper even though its leaves are very different than the jalapenos it is growing near.
















This plant is perfectly placed distance wise from the other plants in that bed so I am actually wondering if it's a plant that I planted and then forgot I had! I know! I must take some notes some time. But I am not entirely convinced that I planted this one because it's at the end of a bed that I just put in, and I am fairly certainthink that my plants stopped before this edge.

At least with this plant, time will tell. As it will, for these plants in my new full sun bed.
















This plant is some sort of squash. I just wish I knew which one. I already pulled out one volunteer squash that showed evidence of squash bugs, the reason why I didn't bother to plant any squash in my regular bed. But if this one wants to grow and thrive without needing me to watch it like a hawk for the borers, I'm happy to have it.

I also have a volunteer tomato plant. It too is welcome to stay but it will not be getting its own condo. The full sun bed is already full enough.






















So any suggestions on the mystery plants? What surprises is your garden offering you?

6 comments:

  1. The top photo looks like fall aster. I'm having trouble viewing the other photos, but I think it's my server.

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  2. Hmm. I can't ID most of your mystery plants, though the one next to the Turk's Cap does look like some kind of mallow. Hopefully somebody else will recognize it.

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  3. Aster is also my guess on number one, Vert - and I think the one in with the peppers might be a Tomatillo.

    Sometimes you just have to wait and see while standing ready to quickly pull and destroy ;-]

    Annie at the Transplantable Rose

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  4. Thanks for the help, gardeners! Pam, I would have never recognized the fall aster. Mine in front looks so different, looser, less compact.

    Lori, I think you are on to something! My sister-in-law gave me some seeds from her Texas star hibiscus that I threw back there. I thought I threw them at the other end. We'll see, but you have definitely given those plants a reprieve.

    Annie, a tomatillo! That would be great, but it's definitely not something I planted. How nice of it come in such an orderly fashion.

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  5. I just checked. It's not Texas star hibiscus. Will keep checking.

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  6. Could #3 possibly be a rock rose (pavonia)? As Lori says, I think that's a kind of mallow.

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