Cleveland Weeds
I was pulling weeds in my yard today, and I thought it might be a good idea to catalog the weeds in my yard and write a little about each one. This is the intro post to this exploration of Cleveland Weeds.
Below I have posted some pics of the weeds in my yard. I am going to find out the name of each, the conditions they like to grow in and (most importantly) how to get rid of them. Hopefully this way, I can get rid of some from my yard and remember next year how to do it too. As I explore the traits of each weed in separate posts, I will link from this post to the individual posts.
I won’t get to them all in one go. I’ll just work on them when I have nothing else to post about. Feel free to leave the names of the Unknown ones or incorrectly labeled ones in the comments.
Here we go:
Unknown Weed 1
Hairy Bittercress
Quackgrass
Tall Ironweed
Skunk Cabbage?
Chickweed
Red Dead Nettle
Queen Anne’s Lace
Dandelion
Creeping Charlie
Catsear?
Creeping Jenny
Broadleaf Plantain
Garlic Mustard
I really don’t know how I fell here but I am so glad I did. I have finally been able to share more of my life with my family this Thanksgiving by sharing Cleveland weeds. Oh, oh, the crazies are out – you think. No, I still get homesick after 23+ years away from home. Wish I had the ability to send you pictures of “puncture weed” and “star thistle”. Puncture weed does that – puncture anything and everything including wheel barrow tires and star thistle is so bad here that County Extension begs us to spray. Goats like to eat them though.
So thank you for sharing this site with us. I’m coming back!
Your unknown weed #1 is an amazing weed, if it’s the same one I have! It kind of seems succulent related, and grows up where nothing else would (like in the area recently round-up’ed to destroy grass. I have taken to digging it up and replanting it in the window boxes along the footpath. If you ever figure out the name, I would be interested! 🙂
Hey, I need to update this list! I do know what that one is now. It is purslane. I even wrote about it last year. https://www.thisgardenisillegal.com/2007/07/purslane-if-you-cant-weed-em-eat-em.html
You can eat it, too and it is very tasty!
I think your “skunk cabbage” is actually burdock. see this site, click on wild foods in the side bar, then burdock, there is a picture that looks a lot like yours: http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/
“catsear” I don’t think that’s catsear (leaves are flatter to the ground, flowers taller & more spindly, leaves have much more fur.
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I have a weed with thorns an small tomato type fruit on it. Any suggestions with what it is and it has sopme kind of white flowers on them.
Hi All – Pretty sure unknown weed #1 is purslane. NOT A WEED!! Brought here by the pilgrims as food. It’s delicious. Michael Symon uses it at Lola! I make purslane pickles. They’re yummy.
Also in your list and entirely edible: Wild Garlic, Dandelion, Queen Anne’s Lace (just make sure it’s Queen Anne, and not Wild Hemlock, which IS poisonous), and plaintain. The Creeping Charlie is also known as ground ivy and makes an excellent tea.
I put clover seed in my lawn on purpose, like they used to do years ago. It fixes nitrogen and so is a no work fertilizer.
I have the idea skunk cabbage has very big leaves.
While some of the weeds mentioned are, indeed, edible, they are also highly invasive and considered to be major problems for the environment. Wild garlic is forcing out many of the native plants in this area and destroying this part of our habitat. The Garlic Chives are also on this list of invaders. I agree that many of these “weeds” are lovely and even tasty but I am more concerned about maintaining our native plants and these are driving them away.
The unknown weed is known as Hraho, Greek word for creeping.
did anyone ever identify “unknown weed #1”? Is it primrose?
The Unknown Weed #1 is a chickweed, see the small white flower, over to the left side of the plant?
Purslane has yellow flowers.
Chickweed is also edible!
Hey there, arrived here looking for pictures of hairy bittercress to confirm a weed in my yard. Thanks. I am doubtful though that the first picture is clover. That looks to me like the lookalike yellow wood sorrel, which has heart-shaped leaflets. Clover leaves are rounded.
If Unknown 1 has a milky sap when broken, it’s probably Spurge. This one loves the spacers and cracks in my driveway. I let one go in a bed once just to see what would happen, and it got *huge*, about 4 feet across. It was kind of pretty when I kept it watered, but I didn’t like it enough to divert resources from my veggies (I use a cistern for irrigation). I can’t tell you how hard I laughed the first time I saw Spurge for *sale* at the big box store down the road!
I’ve been in Chicago for over 30 years, but grew up
in the Cleveland area-in Lakewood. How enjoyable to see all the old familiar weeds from childhood-thanks.