squash looking weed????

Aug 10, 2014 08:23:27

I never planted this , I just planted a packet of wild flower seeds, and I have this "whatever it is" taking over the flower bed, it is not vine y like a pumpkin it is just a bushy spreading green thing, anyone know what it could be???

Aug 10, 2014 08:53:58

Looks like Hollyhocks, but can't say for sure.
Leave them awhile and see what kind of flower it produces.
Hollyhocks grow very tall, with a central stem that flowers its entire length, it self sows, and is a beautiful addition to a flower garden.

Google image, Hollyhock plant, to see how your mystery plant may turn out.

K

Aug 10, 2014 09:09:23

That almost looks like Creeping Charlie

Aug 10, 2014 12:57:20

I don't think Creeping Charlie/Ground Ivy quite fits - I'm going to guess some kind of Mallow, probably Common Mallow.

As with all IDs, getting a good picture of the flowers when they occur is going to help a lot.

Aug 11, 2014 01:01:03

an Alchemilla or a mallow family also have very similar leaves

Aug 11, 2014 10:02:12

a fourth vote for mallow family, which hollyhocks are very closely related to.

theres quite a few different mallows and hollyhocks, outside the most common ones.
leaves look too big to be common mallow - malva neglecta, and too wide and spreading to be common hollyhock, alcea rosea, which usually gets really tall real fast. but i am pretty sure its in that extended family.

cool thing about mallow family, including hollyhocks and hibiscus which are all related, is that every single member of the family is edible. also every single part of the plant is edible, leaves, flowers, stems, seed and root, of every mallow/hollyhock/hibiscus is edible.
not just technically edible i find the taste very pleasing, tho they are a bit gooey, but pleasantly gooey ish =)

Aug 11, 2014 14:45:32

Yep, I started eating our Malva weeds this year, usually mixed with other edible leafy weeds, and did like them. They have a little of that okra slime thing going on, but either that disappears when they're cooked, or it's mild enough gooeyness that that it doesn't assert itself when mixed with the other leafies. Our Malva weed is mostly Malva neglecta, I think, and some Himalayan hollyhock. Your picture does look like that family.

Aug 11, 2014 14:52:51

Looks like Hollyhock to me too. We got a volunteer this year in the greenhouse and it's gone crazy has actually grown through the roof vents.

It was a tommy gun. And now this tiny ad insists on being addressed as "Tommy":

better than composting toilets

https://www.richsoil.com/willow