If you saw my other page “WTF Did I Plant?” but you’re dealing with first-year seedlings, you’ll notice that seedlings don’t look like that. Sometimes you end up with “jumpers,” aka seeds that manage to leap from one pot into the next when sown outdoors. Or maybe you’ve let plants self-sow (or direct-sowed), and now you’re not sure what’s supposed to be there, and what isn’t. Maybe the birds played a cruel prank you and pulled the tags out of your pots. Or the sharpie on your milk jug faded because nobody warned you not to use sharpies (use grease pencils instead, affiliate link).
The point is, sometimes you wanna know if the thing that’s popped up is actually the thing you’re looking forward to, or a weed. If so, this page is for you. I’m splitting them up alphabetically, but it’s botanical names, just FYI. I am also including a few cultivated veggies (with botanical names, not focused on specific heirlooms). After watching Randi’s lecture (link below), I’ll try to catch some of the weed seeds as well. I should have some for garlic mustard I need to dig out from last year, which remind me of Mike-and-Ikes with their perfectly pill-shaped cotyledons.
The Native Plant Society of NJ recently posted a lecture by the wonderful Dr. Randi Eckel (past president of NPSNJ, owner of Toadshade Wildflower Farm, and personal inspiration of mine as a nursery grower) titled Curious Cotyledons: Identifying Native Plant Seedlings. I highly recommend checking it out!
A big thank you to Red Trillium Gardens for contributing some of her photos to this visual library!
