Yes, I agree that although I am sure all plants have a purpose, such as food for wild life, medicinal, or erosion prevention, but some are much more desirable than others in the home garden.
Knowing their names and properties is very helpful for people who want to make the right choices.

In my opinion the 'All Things Gardening' Forum is the place to discuss weeds; using the ID forum if we first need help with the identity of a given plant.

The database is the place to put plants - all plants - whether they be desirable (by some) and popular plants or despised (by some) weeds. All plants deserve a place in our database. "One man's weed is another man's wildflower..."
http://njconservation.org/blog...

Just a few days ago I asked if we could have a check box in the database for the word 'invasive' and was told the comment section is the place to indicate one's facts or opinions as to the nature of the plant.

The thread "Invasive check box?" in Plant Database forum

The thread "Adding Noxious/Invasive to misc.info." in Plant Database forum

I have a folder on my laptop labeled Weeds & Wildflowers, some of the plants I consider weeds (that I'd love to see disappear for good) while others I really enjoy and wish I could see them pop up more often. Since they are all plants, I upload photo's to the database whether I consider it a weed or a wildflower.

For instance: Spanish Needles (Bidens pilosa) is an important source of food for butterflies and bees etc. but it can spread and take over here in Florida and many around these parts think of it as a weed.

Although I used to have a love/hate relationship regarding Vinca (Catharanthus roseus) I've learned to live with them. The flowers are pretty and they are fairly easy to yank out when they pop up in sidewalk cracks and in the flower beds. I never planted them, they are gifts from the birds ... and I have seen mass plantings of them that are really gorgeous!

I have a neighbor who considers Blue Toadflax (Nuttallanthus canadensis) to be a weed. I tell her that they are wildflowers but she doesn't like the look when they appear in her yard every March and says they look too messy and weedy.

Same for Asiatic Dayflower (Commelina communis). It tends to spread through turf grass sometimes but to me it's kind of pretty. I even dug a bunch out of the lawn one time and potted it in a hanging basket ... very pretty but again, some consider it a noxious weed.

Another lawn weed here in Florida is Doveweed (Murdannia nudiflora) but the dainty flowers are really pretty and it's another that I wouldn't mind having take over and replace the sod in my yard.

How interesting! We purchase Madagascar Periwinkle for our gardens here (I have never seen it misbehave at all) and I absolutely adore the Commelina (stays where I put it for the most part). I guess it is true that one man's weed is another man's treasure!

I've included many 'weed' plants in My List and/or added them to the database. How one determines if a plant is a weed, a native, an invasive, or a welcome addition is largely a personal judgment.

Bonehead said: How one determines if a plant is a weed, a native, an invasive, or a welcome addition is largely a personal judgment.

How true! Basically a "weed" is something growing where you don't want it to...

totally there, Sandy. That's always been my definition of a weed - any plant growing where you don't want it.

So it then begs the question, why do you need to know what your weeds' names are? If it's a weed, yank it out! Anybody putting up headstones on your compost heap? "Here lies crabgrass, such a pain in the - - -" Hm, might be fun!

If it's pretty, a native wildflower or attracts bees, and you think you might want it, leave it be, nurture it, pot it up and move it - it's then no longer a weed.

JMHO You really only need to know the ones that can hurt you, like poison ivy, stinging nettle, etc. and most people know those if they are living near them.

You can't see my house for weeds but I like some of them better than others. I like Soladago but I'm trying to edit out the tall one that spreads by rhyzomes and keep the S rugosa which forms clumps. I want to get rid of the mugwort as it produces clouds of pollen when it blooms. And I want more echinacea although it's not really native around here. I introduced liatris and orange milkweed by the coneflowers and I can't bring myself to remove fall aster which will soon be blooming. I saw Ironweed blooming beside a mall parking lot and really want that back of the Goldenrod, Some cultivars of weeds are far better behaved, I have a clump of phlox by the Echinacea that is perfect this year. On the other hand, I planted a wild phlox near the woods that is a nightmare--spread twenty feet from a small start and is still spreading, wiping out all in it's path. You can't pull it out, every root grows while I wish I could get cuttings from my more tractable cultivars, Laura and a late white. Idid manage to cross these last year but didn't figure out how to germinate the seeds. Maybe next Spring. On the other hand, sometimes the weeds engulf the daylilies which I also like to cross, and the lilies get lost.-Weedy

Yikes. There are some people who consider the daylily a weed. Go figure.

I keep a small patch of dandelions for a friend to feed to her lizard. That's not a weed; it's pet food.

I regularly dig up plants and collect seeds in the wild and bring things home to grow in my garden. A weed by the roadside becomes a wildflower if I plant it in my garden. However, if anything misbehaves (like the Bidens ), I give it away or compost it.

My neighbor grows a high maintenance grass lawn. Whatever comes over the property line into my yard is a WEED, period. I will not tolerate grass growing in my yard.

Those orange ones they call ditchlilies, right? They do behave like a weed! I love them, and wish all the other daylilies were as easy to grow.

:D

But I just cleared out two smallish sections where they'd taken hold, and I have planted out fans in two other, larger sections, potted up about fifteen I didn't have room for, and there's still a whole dishtub full that I am tempted to throw in the ditch!

Anyway. I would love a "Weed" forum, for all the reasons Keith mentioned here: http://garden.org/thread/view_.... We can all acknowledge that what is a weed to one is a desired plant to somebody else. I have periwinkle here, (vinca) which is considered invasive elsewhere though it is sold as an ornamental groundcover. To me it's a weed, but I don't need to ID it.

When I lived in CA I owned a copy of the Weed Book (I believe it was called that) -- a tome put together by some UC Davis botanists, and primarily to ID invasives for farmers and livestock people. But it was far and away more valuable for IDing wild plants I ran across in my wanderings than any fieldguide. Wildflower fieldguides don't tend to include things like the spotted spurge mentioned above, for instance.

Just wanted to add a minority voice to the discussion.

Kyla maybe that's how they became "Ditch Lilies" lol. Someone had to many and just threw the extras in a ditch.

I have those lilies they do take over a garden quick but produce more blooms eachyear. I found a wild double petaled flower and transplanted it to my garden its so pretty! http://www.projectnoah.org/spo...

Yep, that's probably why, Cat, and I love seeing them in roadsides, they brighten up the world.

Keith, that's a glorious double bloom in that picture.

This thread brought back memories. Years ago one of my favorite catalogs was the Thompson & Morgan Seed catalog.

I was really in to annuals. What I did not realize was that it was really the Thompson & Morgan weed catalog!

The plant descriptions were so enticing. At the peak of my seed obsession, I was planting (starting indoors) over 30 trays of annuals each year, hundreds of varieties:)

However, many of those annuals would come back year after year ( without invitation). Very difficult to eradicate.

Some of those volunteers are still with me:)

I like the idea of a Weed/Invasive plant forum. Totally true, definitions of 'weed' vary and experiences of invasiveness vary as well. Still, I would enjoy it. That wildflower growing in my lawn--what is it? Do I want to let it propagate or do I pull it out? Knowing what it is-- and other people's experiences with it in different parts of the country--could help me decide.

Why not take a bit more time to learn your way around ATP. There are many good discussions about plants which are considered to be weeds by some people and are valuable plants to other people. Many of the members have written articles and ideas about 'weedy' plants and the discussions in All Things Gardening are often about 'problem' plants.

If an apple tree were to grow in a wheat field it would be considered a weed. So the term 'weed' only means that the plant is growing where someone does not wish it to grow. All plants deserve a place in our database; it may be difficult to positively name a plant as a 'weed' and have everyone agree.

If you need an ID for a wildflower growing in your lawn, post a photo in the Plant ID forum and give as much information as possible; the members will provide any and all information to help you decide if you should pull it or cultivate it in your area.

Adding photos and data to the database and information in the 'Comment' section would help readers to know which plants have a tendency to be weedy and in which parts of the country/world so they may be forewarned.