This was a NOID I was given last year. It has small yellow flowers when it blooms.

Any ideas?


Thanks in advance for any help!

This is a very, very wild guess, but maybe it will at least eliminate something . Could this be a type of Broom? The family Genista? A search of Genista in the ATP database will give you lots of examples. I could be waaay off here.

It will be something like, I'm sure unwanted weeds
https://www.google.cz/search?q...

My first guess would be something in the Solidago genus. They have small yellow flowers and the basic look of the plant is right. The leaf arrangement, shape, venation, and leaf-margin serrations all look right for a species of Solidago. There are over a hundred (similar-looking) species, though, so it's not easy to say which one precisely.

However, plants are classified by their flower structure so you may not be able to get a positive ID until it blooms.

I agree with Goldenrod as well.

If it proves to be Solidago, I'm going to have a talk with what I allow to grow in my yard! Mine is relatively orderly and uniform, but not nearly to the degree I see in these photos. Mine definitely is inclined to sprawl a bit more than what is depicted here. I always look forward to seeing mine bloom, even if it does portend the coming of winter .

Thanks all!
I think Goldenrod possibly looks correct. Should I mark it as identified or wait until I can post flower pics?

Haha Donald!! It is still a young plant (I've only had it since last spring), so it might be inclined to sprawl. I will have to wait and see. So far it's been very well behaved.

I only wish I hadn't forgotten to take pics of the flowers last year...

Donald, a few of things to consider:

1- Some species of Solidago have a more clumping nature (as opposed to some of the rhizomatous nightmares.)
2- J.C.'s plant appears to still be actively growing upwards.
3- J.C. only obtained the plant last year so it may be politely settling in while it quietly contemplates strategies to take over the entire garden.

Unfortunately, in my yard I have one of those wild, rhizomatous nightmare species that's bent on world domination.

EDIT:
Oops, posted before reading J.C.'s last post.

Regarding marking the thread "identified"...You can do either. If you mark it "identified," you can always change it later if you wish. People can still make new comments regardless.

Danita. I think my conditions are normally too harsh for successful world domination. It'd have to compete with greenbriar for that and it would lose. I quite like it. I just wish the bloom period was longer. It's not very prolonged. Native plants don't always behave like those domesticated ones.

Donald, it may be lucky to have harsh conditions in this situation. Mine's currently in a battle royal with the poison ivy, wild blackberry and pokeweed!

Hopefully J.C. has a better behaved version or something else entirely.

My Goldenrods are 4 feet tall and growing with all the rain we are having, we are blessed this year, the lakes are full.
I usually cut the Goldenrod back by half in June or they fall over later in the year.

Thanks! Haha, you all are making me paranoid now.

There are dwarf goldenrods!

You are right Jennifer, and that plants appears to be close to the dwarf kind, my tall Goldenrods are single stem.

frostweed said:
...I usually cut the Goldenrod back by half in June or they fall over later in the year.

Thanks for this tip, Josephine! I won't mind my goldenrods trying to take over quite so much...if they don't flop all over everything else. I'd bet there are a lot of other things I should be doing this with as well. We have the Garden Planting Calendar, now we need the Trim It Back Calendar!

Ah, okay thanks Jennifer! Whew!

I have a goldenrod I purchased at a local plant sale hosted by the Master Gardeners. I would keep it for a while before you got rid of it, you may decide it is not a weed!

Sorry, didn't mean to make you paranoid, J.C. !
There are dwarf and well-behaved clumping varieties. Since this was gifted to you, I'd assume it was probably one of the nice versions. The one that I have issues with is a wild species that arrived on its own.

Here is the native Goldenrod that grows here. It's taller this year because of the rain measuring about 22" max. It won't get much taller and it won't bloom 'til fall. You can see that while it's a uniform and neat growing plant, it's clearly different than the one that started the thread! I can see where it might be a nuisance because it spreads underground, but it's taken a long, long time for this to spread this much around the propane tank. An advantage to having a native pasture staked off for a yard is experimenting with keeping plants that are already in place

Frillylily, yeah I believe it was purchased (not dug), so I'll definitely give it some time. I like the looks of it currently.

Danita, no worries!

Thanks for the pic Donald! I appreciate it.