One of the things that I think can be a struggle for every native plant gardener is “what to weed”. We want our wildflowers to spread, but not our weeds. As part of that I thought I’d try to start doing comparisons. It’ll help me remember and maybe someone else.
I’m going to start with Gayfeather. It’s a plant you usually have to leave until fall before you see blooms so there are lots of opportunities to accidentally weed it.
I have two other plants in my yard that look like it. Here are the three:
Gayfeather
Horseweed?
Ragweed
Gayfeather’s leaves are very distinct and separated from one another.
In Horseweed the leaves are tightly packed.
Ragweed is apparently an artemesia and definitely has those delicate lace-like leaves. I find that when it’s short its color makes it blend in with Greg’s Mistflower.
Please excuse the pictures, but hopefully this is a helpful comparison.