Time to play "Name That Plant" again

[Tom_Trees]

I've got two candidates for this game; the first one is a perennial; I've been calling it phlox for years.

It grows to 28 to 40 inches tall on a slender stem, with each flower on a seperate, short (3 inchs or so) stem. All the flowers cluster near the top six inches or so of the plant. The flowers are between one-half and five eigths of an inch in diameter and the trumpet is between three eigths and one half inch deep. Bumble Bees seem to love them. And, so far, they fit the descriptions I've got for phlox.

Except that all my write-ups and illustrations for phlox indicate FIVE petalss, and these only have four . . .

First view, a bit of a close up:

[Tom_Trees]

And here (if the image actually makes the trip) is a group view; these seem to form clumps, as close as three or four inches between plants, and they're quite common in the Middlebury, Indiana area. But no-one seems to know what they are.

Anyone?

Thanks - Tom

[Tom_Trees]

Ho-kay. Let's try that first image again! [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img]

[Tom_Trees]

Dot's better!

[img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

Now this one is a weed. Hoo boy is it ever!

The one in the photo is about three feet across. When fully grown, they can reach four foot plus, with the leaves nearly two feet long and almost a foot wide at the widest. It has a tap root that can reach up to four feet long, and it will get to be about 18 inches tall.

What is this ugly thing? And how do I stomp them out? [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Tom

[fivestring]

Here are a couple of links that might help you...

http://www.rce.rutgers.edu/weeds/index-thumbnail.asp

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/weeds_common.html

[DAP]

Tom ... here's what I can tell you (not much?). We have lots of phlox and if your picture IS phlox, then it's a completely different subspecies. Our phlox is more tightly clumped, shorter stalked and 5 petalled and those in your pic do NOT resemble ours in the least.

Unfortunately, the stems and leaves aren't terribly visible in the pix. It almost looks like a plant in the 'chicory' family, but I'd hesitate to say based on that pic alone.

The other pic of a 'weed' as you call it ... off my radar completely, but looks a lot like the swamp plants growin out of our pond banks ... kinda Hosta like.

Sorry I can't be of more help. Don't feel to bad, we have a tree in the back yard. I've take it's leaves and buds to 4 nurseries, 2 florists and various local so called experts and all have just scratched their heads - not so much as even a bad guess. Probably an imported species, but it has us stumped for almost 4 years now. Gets on my nerves it does. Pretty thing too.

One man's weed is another man's flower.
[img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

[NSbound]

Tom :

At first I thought it looked like Vinca Minor (periwinkle), but it's not - one more petal and also looks taller. Hope someone pipes up, I'm curious too!! It's not phlox, I'm pretty sure. My phlox is a lot more robust than that in the stem - maybe 1/8 inch thick stems and reaching 36-48" tall.

Periwinkle