I have to say I've been preoccupied with my daylilies and this "weed" popped up about a month ago and I just haven't gotten around to killing it. It's grown quite a bit. Looks to me like a member of the Tradescantia family but I don't know. Anyone have a guess? The chevron on the foliage is kind of pretty don't you think?.............Maryl

We see those here, too, and they are pretty. Common name, Lady's Thumb.

A little bit about it.
https://www.lewisginter.org/un...

Spot on identification Valerie. I've been warned about anything in the Knotweed family ages ago when I first started gardening. I went to the Tulsa Rose garden and there was a huge patch of those flowers blooming looking just like those shown in the article you posted. They were very pretty en masse'. I went down to the Horticulturist office to see what it was and was told that it was Knotweed a member of the Polygonum family - a family best left alone by new gardeners............Too bad it will have to go. As was my first reaction 30 years ago, it is attractive, but not enough that I will let it eat my raised beds...........Thank you for the information...........Maryl in Oklahoma

Valerie, your link was very helpful. After seeing the pictures on that website, I realized I have 2 large bushes of Lady's Thumb growing on a mound on my acreage.

You are welcome, Ian. We have it growing around here, too, but it has never become a problem.

Yikes! I would have kept it
It's a bad habit I learned from my mother that I'm trying to break:
If it's interesting or pretty, let it grow.
This is how I've ended up with spiderwort everywhere and will probably be pulling it out for the rest of my life.



[quote="touchofsky"]A little bit about it.

I learned my lesson from spiderwort too. I just pulled out a start that was blooming out of the edge of a daylily. Yikes! I can't seem to get rid of the spiderwort except to pull it out when I see it. I can't tell if those small starts are daylilies are spiderwort. One of the worst plants (other than nutgrass) to have growing next to a daylily.

Exactly my experience too, Vickie! I was so thrilled but surprised when a rather new daylily came up in the spring with all these new babies right up next to it. I thought what a good plant this is going to be, taking off so well. I did realize when they started budding what it was, but til that year my spiderwort was pretty well behaved. I had hoped the hybridizer ones did not reseed as much.

blue23rose said:I learned my lesson from spiderwort too. I just pulled out a start that was blooming out of the edge of a daylily. Yikes! I can't seem to get rid of the spiderwort except to pull it out when I see it. I can't tell if those small starts are daylilies are spiderwort. One of the worst plants (other than nutgrass) to have growing next to a daylily.

I have a spiderwort plant that appeared out of nowhere in my shade garden a few years ago. I just left it alone. After a couple of years of that plant being in the shade garden, I made a conclusion that spiderwort doesn't seem to spread as much in the shade as it does in full sun. I already have two other clumps of spiderwort appearing in the shade garden.

EDIT: made a quick google search on Spiderwort, I did not know they were part of the iris family. Probably closer related to candy lilies.