I have a recently new client..the daughter of one of my current clients who just got married and moved into an older condo with her husband. There is a small patio out back, and someone at one point took some time to plant things out there, just from the looks of what I can see (small trellises, some hanging pots, and some plants/bushes) I need help identifying some things. I have no clue about some stuff, and I'd swear a couple of them are weeds, but they're SO deeply embedded that I don't think they can be. They just LOOK like weeds I've pulled from my own garden every year. This monster And a close up of the leaves: This bush: And this...snail eaten, but with berries? Well...shoot. Now I can't remember if this is a separate plant, or part of the one above... Any help would be appreciated. She'd like to work on the garden area to be ready to overwinter, and plant in next spring.
The first three pictures is a tree , that's why it will not pull up. I think it's a Melia azedarach (Chinaberry Tree) . It will have to be cut down and dug out. Has the second one every bloomed?... It looks familiar but I can not drag up the name at this time. The third plant is Poke weed Phytolacca americana (American Pokeweed ) It pulls up very easily, especially if the ground is wet. I just leave it alone, the small white flowers are pretty and birds love the berries. The fourth one is a separate plant (not part of the other one) I should know it but can not pull the name from the depths of my dark memory right now.
pokeweed is a terrible HUGE root if it is established. it will not pull out easily I have seen taproots the size of my arm. Plan on a very sharp shovel to whittle away at it last one is a weed also someone asked about it on here. I don't remember what it was though.
I have never had one with a root that large , I have a couple out back that are about 2-3 feet tall but I don't usually let them get much larger than that before pulling them up every fall cause I know there will be more in the Spring from all the seeds they drop and the birds miss.
maybe it is the difference in our climate. we have a lot more water in the Spring and they are huge. there is one shading the rabbit hutch and the hutch is taller than me.
With something that's tough to dig-out, like an older, established pokeweed root, pouring boiling water on it can usually accomplish killing without digging at all, maybe a little moat around the top so the water soaks down in, instead of running away sideways. But, like said above, first-year plants are usually easy to pull if unwanted.
I would guess the first picture is a weed tree due to the growth pattern. I don't think whatever it is grows around here as it isn't remotely familiar to me but the leggy growth usually means fast growth. and the other one... looks familiar and probably is a flowering shrub. does the foliage have any smell if you rub or crush a leaf? how tall is it? some angles of the photo makes me think of forsythia. but I am not sure. from the top it looks fairly compact and the leaves look like they are whorls but some of the stems look like alternating leaves... which are making me think forsythia. I wouldn't own one. they are weed shrubs to me. fast growing, weedy, hard to keep undercontrol....
Thanks so much for all your responses! I've learned a lot. Re: The chinaberry tree...if that's what it is. Sure sounds like it, but it seems like I just sort of sprung up which is why I thought weed, becuase of the fast growth. On the other hand, this is my client's garden and I only see her once every two weeks, and she just moved in after her marriage, so I just haven't been paying that close attention to what's going on in her garden, until she asked me to step outside and take a look. Assuming that is a Chinaberry tree (and I'm going to take pics of the base, becuase it's growing on several very strong limbs right out of the ground) and she doesn't want to dig it up, will it go dormant through the winter? Will it die back and regrow in the spring? Trying to figure out what to do with it.
Ronni, that 2nd shrub does look familiar. We may have to wait until it blooms for proper identification. Could it be clethera? Or calycanthus? RE that first picture, regardless of what it is or whether or was deliberately planted there, it clearly will become WAY too big for its spot in no time. It is actually too big already. I would start by cutting off the stems at the base so I could see how difficult it would be to dig up. If too difficult, then just keep hacking away at any new growth. Some people would paint the hacked stems with Roundup, but I did not write that. Re pokeberry, we have had discussions about that plant on this site. Remember the song 'Poke Salad Annie'? I have such fond memories of gathering the berries to make 'Indian' dye. It involved me and my best friend pretending we were squaws, gathering food & hunting in the woods! Woolgathering aside, in such a closed area, I would pull it out. Pokeberry is associated with wild areas or roadsides....not exactly suitable for a fenced in area. Looks great as a wildling though.
