CAN YOU IDENTIFY THESE WEEDS FOR ME?

I'm trying to bring my yard back from the drought, and I need to identify these weeds. I'm new to lawn care, so any information on helping my St. Augustine grass spread again would be very helpful.

So far, I've been pulling out the weeds, and clearing the ground to make way for the St. Aug to spread. I spent Saturday morning ripping out some tall tufts of "Johnson" grass. So far, I've applied Scott's Turf Builder with Iron over the winter, right before our very few rains, to help build up the root system. Last month I applied a bit of fertilizer to give the lawn a boost. I've also applied Epsom Salts once or twice since December. I'm happy to report that the St. Aug is slowly spreading to the patches I've cleared up. The lawn is also greening up nicely. It still looks like a patchwork quilt, but it's better than all the dry brown patches from last summer.

But, with the onset of this heat, the undesirables seem to be picking up speed.

I'm not above using Roundup either, if it won't hurt or choke of the St. Aug grass. Please lemme know what I need to do with these weed, what they are, and what I can maybe spray on them without hurting/killing the St. Aug grass.

Much appreciated in advance. Here are the pics. I suspect pic #1 is milkweed, because I had a herd of Assassin Bugs take up residency in these last summer. They helped keep my bug population down to almost ZERO. Really. Which is why I didn't pull it out. Now, I've learned that it is an invasive, and it's spreading inward from the fence line. Surely don't want it all over!

Linda

Starting from the left #1 Mexican Primrose not a weed; http://wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=OESP2
Beautiful Native but it does spread, we use it as ground cover.
#2 Looks like Winecup; http://wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CAIN2 Native
#3 Carolina Geranium, http://wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=GECA5 Native but a pain
#4 Buttercup http://www.backyardnature.net/buttrcup.htm not native but very pretty
#5 Bedstraw; http://wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=GAAP2 Native but a real pain.

I hope that helps, please post a picture of #2 when it blooms to see if i have it right.
Josephine.

I will second #5 as pain!!!

Since you began this thread on weed ids.....what about this major pain? It has major spreading ability! I had not seen it until after a minor flooding about two years ago, now it is everywhere in my yard. This is the way it looks all across the lower area where storm water flows through. That is a canna stalk for size reference. The sun is not out today, so all I have is an old pic....the flower is a bit more blue, but not much.

Thanks, Guys!
The stickywilly patch is gone. pulled it on the weekend.

Most everything is under control except #1. I thought it was milkweed, because last year my Assassin bugs set up residency there, and I read they loved milkweed. They were so helpful, I wanted them to come back. But that Mexican Primrose is working its way into the yard -- fast.

Frostweed,
How do I corral it?

Just pull it where you don't want it and pot it, some people will be very grateful to have it, that is what I do.

Sheila that one is Corn Speedwell, Veronica arvensis, not native.
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=VEAR&photoID=vear_003_ahp.jpg

This message was edited Mar 8, 2012 5:35 PM

Or it could be Creeping Speedwell http://www.msuturfweeds.net/details/_/creeping_speedwell_2/
What do you think?

#4 looks more like that nasty false strawberry that takes over our St Augustine yards, but #5 seems to going gangbusters down here this spring

Thanks Josephine for the id on my thug. I wouldn't name it creeping...more like rushing! It must have came in with flood waters at first. Since I try not to use any pesticides or weed killers near my flower beds, I don't think I will ever get rid of it.

So you think it is the Creeping Speedwell, not the Corn Speedwell, right?
We have a lot of that at the Wildscape too.

Kit,
I think you nailed #4. I do remember what looked like tiny strawberries.

Grim stuff that false strawberry, just keeps on coming back, grrrr

Sheila, what were you doing posting pics of my weeds??? LOL

Kit, I have been wondering about the false strawberry, and I think I focused on the center of the picture where most of the leaves are, but now I can see on the lower right a small plant with triplet leaves which I hadn't noticed earlier.
Here is a picture of False Strawberry, ; http://www.missouriplants.com/Yellowalt/Duchesnea_indica_page.html
and another; http://www.sierrapotomac.org/W_Needham/IndianStrawberry_080617.htm

LOL! Stephanie!

On my weed above, I do think it is the Creeping Speedwell due to the more rounded leaves.
A link on one of the pages you referenced showed Corn Speedwell having pointed leaves, which this one doesn't have. http://www.msuturfweeds.net/details/_/corn_speedwell_39/

http://www.msuturfweeds.net/details/_/annual_bluegrass_47/

While we are on the subject, I have this grass-like weed in every bed and in the turf. In the past I have labored hard to pull it all up. No such thing. Paid attention last year and it died out when the temps rose. Still not sure if it is the bluegrass mentioned in the link.

I have the thing called "strawberry" in my yard. I had a lot last year but not much at all this year. I potted some up in two strawberry jars last year and they faded pretty quickly in the heat. Thot they were dead but these are beautiful strawberry jars this year and about the only ones I have. I'll take pics and post later.

LouC- I dont think you get our vicious water grasses, but that area is prone to dallas grass-or nut grass- and it is irritating. Our false strawberry after 10 yrs of roundup still comes back, but it is slow here this year, tho up

I have a kinda strange attitude toward weeds I guess. Once when I was poorer than I am now, I landscaped my whole yard with weeds by just moving them around to where I wanted them and sort of letting them shine for a moment on the stage and especially spring weeds because here, they are dead by end of April due to the heat. If they were terribly aggressive, I just potted them up and things like bedstraw I discarded. I guess I take the position that weeds are OK depending upon where they are located and how much they contribute. I have lots of Oxalis right now and it really contributes to my Spring landscape. It disappears by the time other perennials crank up and get going. Meanwhile, My yard is a riot of pink in beds and pots. I dont have a lawn, having converted 6-7 years ago so I dont have to worry about contaminating a pure culture of my lawn grass. Im kinda a live and let live, how-can-I-work-WITH-this kind of person. An ancient Chinese proverb says, "It is easier to lead a horse in the direction it was going". I take that to mean that working with nature is easier than fighting it. Just my take from "left field" where I mostly live. Chuckle.

That is an attitude that is to be desired. In my innocence, when we moved here 45 years ago I planted "violets" from MIL's yard. That and 4 o'clock now pretty much dominates the flower beds. Neither of them can be eradicated. Right now the violets are blooming and look so sweet......not at all like the thug they are. If I don't vigorously fight them, they will choke out everything else. At this time the poppies and larkspur that I encourage are also everywhere and loaded with buds. A few are blooming but today is rainy and dreary cold. I expect when the sun comes out Sunday afternoon my entire back yard will be ablaze with blooms of all ilk. Oh, many of the purple coneflower are already blooming a bouquet.

Just mow everything up neat and tidy, no one will ever know...

The false strawberry takes over everything, yard or no yard, is considered an invasive much like water hyacinth, is NOT pretty after first establishing, and then there are the stickers that grow when it leaves bare patches

In Houston, the wild strawberry disappears rather quickly and does not reappear until the following Spring. I dont know if it's a zone difference or maybe we are not talking about the same plant. It sounds like it tho, yellow flowers followed by tiny tasteless strawberries.

I second the violet thug thing. I got some at last years RU and now they are all over. Pretty today but not at all well behaved. I still think my favorite weed is nutgrass. No matter what I do it is everywhere. I dug some up one time, very deeply and found a nice little bulb like structure. I think thats what makes them so tough.
C

You can eat those little bulbs.

Hmm, well they were pretty small, I would need many hundreds to make a snack. Still, if things get bad I do have a food source out there, unfortunately. Plus they were quite deep in the ground and difficult to reach.
C

That is a great weight loss activity! I agree with you Cheryl. Nut grass is so hard to get rid of. I was raking out some leaves and saw some growing already. Yuck!
I will have to post a picture of some low growing spreading sticky like weed with tiny white flowers. I just hope it dies soon b/c it is smothering the grass.

Here is the plant Im calling wild strawberry.

Cheryl, if Violets are giving you trouble I can send you my squirrels, they have eaten all of mine, and i was so looking forward to their flowers this spring, honestly I was.

I think my dog takes care of that for me. Sorry about that, I know how it is to expect something in the garden only to have it not happen. I can bring you a few if you like?
C

BTW my problem last year was skunks, dug up most of my beds.

Thank you Cheryl, I do have access to violets if I want to replant, but I am wondering if i should.
Wow! skunks could be a big problem.

Oh they certainly were!

Our false strawberry doesnt die out, grows all winter, we never got a frost as far as I know here, but the lawn is totally anything BUT St Augustine, don't know what the kids want to do, but I doubt seriously they care at the moment. this rain is so gentle, so slow, but I can hear water under ground echoing thru the lawn, and see water standing soaking the ground unable to go anywhere now, we had armadilloes, killed some but they just came on, the fires were so close to us that I guess they were searching for food, a few skunks too,

If you really don't want the false strawberry coming up in the spring, spread agricultural cornmeal which suppresses the growth of annual weeds. You have to spread it BEFORE the weeds sprout, though. For me, the Mexican petunia is a horrible thug; even the Katie ruellia cultivar. I have some of the Katie, but spend half my life getting rid of its seedlings. You really do have to dig up the buttercup weed because it will totally destroy a San Augustine lawn. False strawberry just goes away when it gets hot. As for the wild violet, it is a major thug. I didn't recognize it at first because its leaf is similar to that of the cultivated violets I grow. I tried to let it be for a while as a butterfly food source, but had to give this idea up - wild violet crowds out everything else (including grass). I grow other butterfly larvae/adult food.
Leslie

This thread is taking off, huh?

Thanks, guys for all your help. Soon as we dry out, I'll be after those native plants!

If the "weeds" are in the flowerbeds, I pull them out by hand. In my St Aug yard, I put down pre-emergent. This has worked extremely well every year ... except this one. The warm winter + neighbors' weedy yards had contributed to way more weeds than usual in mine. Normally I would spend a weekend pulling the weeds and be better for it, but this spring the weeds are just too much. I ended up buying a pre-emergent + weed killer at Calloways. I mowed on Friday and put it down, and I'm hopeful that the nice soaking rain we got on Sat and Sun will see those weeds soon extinguished.

Carla in Rowlett

I have poppy in the beds, in the front, in the back, in the alley, between the stones on the patio, in the cracks of the driveway, in the lawn.

With the wonderful warm sun today they are beginning to bloom. The larkspur is mixed in and it is also loaded with buds. For now the violets are blooming and will get their 15 minutes of fame and after that they create nothing but despair. The leaves on the Japanese Bloodgood are a brilliant red. Thank you, God.

Loonie!,
WHICH pre-emergent did you put down that won't hurt the St. Augustine grass? I've been pulling up small patches of "weed...er...unsolicited native growth" and clearing out the bare patches to encourage the St. Aug to move in. It's moving steadily, but slowly, and I need some help holding the natives back.

Lemme know.

Linda

Linda, did you try ST Augustine Weed and Feed. It always worked for me, (when I used to have a lawn).

Sorry Gymgirl....I was the first to highjack your thread. LOL! Guess it is all related though.