I imagine most gardeners have seen this annual alien wildflower weed. I also imagine most gardeners lacking a proper name use a bit of “French’ when they refer to it. It is an extremely prolific seed producer that can send off thousands of tiny seeds on the wind in a single season. Since each one seems to germinate in my garden my ‘French’ also gets carried away on the breeze. So in an effort to clean up America’s air waves let me give you the proper name of this weed while I zip my lips.

Galinsoga cilata

When life gives you Galinsoga boil it. The plant is edible, so if it’s sitting in your garden saying bite me, do just that after boiling it in water for about 5 minutes. Supposedly it tastes like spinach but I can’t confirm it. What I can confirm is the plant’s hairy nature if you take a close look.

Quickweed is a member of the Daisy family. The flowers are tiny, about a quarter inch across and the 5 rays are divided into 3 lobes. They’re actually pretty if you can get past the weed bit.

The very tiny seeds are encapsulated with an attached pappus that allows them to be carried by the slightest breeze. It was a still day with little or no wind so it must have been my breath that kept blowing them off my finger.

…and now for something completely different

How about a face full of cat? Look out, Stewy is ready to leap.

From cats

• Cat a log , Wildflowers
• Comments(5)

5 Responses

1. Beverly Seaton Says:
   September 22nd, 2011 at 1:56 am

   Well, thanks, I do like to know these things. One good thing, they are easy to uproot.

   And I love Stewy. Marmalade cats are my favorites.

   That they are. Weeding them is easy but unfortunately a never ending job around here.

   remind me never to have toast and marmalade if I visit ya

2. Marguerite Says:
   September 22nd, 2011 at 10:20 am

   Ironically this is one weed I don’t have. As I have begun identifying all the plants in my meadow I’m finding it’s 99% weeds and I’m becoming quite fluent in french, particularly when trying to pull sheep sorrel.

   I only find quickweed in the garden. The plant doesn’t seem to be able to compete in the wild.

   Oh jeeze, sheep sorrel has a nasty root system hard to pull. Definitively a top 10 weed, I mean lesson in colorful language.
   

3. Becky Says:
   September 22nd, 2011 at 1:59 pm

   The flower is pretty up close, but I star to sneeze when I get close to this weed. This is a plant that I would really like to banish from my garden. My German gardening friend claims this weed was brought to them by Napolean. She calls it French weed, but I’m quite sure she swears at it in German!

   Actually it is a native of central and south america and was introduced to Kew Gardens in England in 1796. So your friend should probably blame the British since I imagine the seeds could easily drift over the channel to the continent.

   But whatever – the plant deserve a little bit of colorful ‘french’, ‘german’ and plain ole anglo-saxon names thrown at it.

4. sharkbytes Says:
   September 22nd, 2011 at 7:24 pm

   Well, I have seen that and wondered what it was, but I don’t think I’ve seen it here. Maybe it hasn’t spread this far west. I can’t remember where I saw it.

   Stewy is one strange cat. I wonder what he thinks he is.

   You must have seen it in your travels in NY. I’ve seen it from Long Island to Buffalo to north of the Adirondacks.

   Stewy is strangely cool. He knows he’s a hep cat on the prowl for little chippies.

5. Beverly Seaton Says:
   September 25th, 2011 at 2:11 am

   No marmalade here–rhubarb jam from a little city farmette, as they called them 100 years ago.

   Welcome any time!

   Beverly,
   I’d rather have the cat marmalade I hate rhubarb in any concoction although I love it as a landscape plant.

   Thank’s for the sweet offerings.

Leave a Comment

Comment Feed
You might want to see my response to the stuff people throw in the box
 Subscribe in a reader