Question: The garden patch outside our house in a very wooded edge of Amherst, MA is often overtaken by mostly presumably …
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Question
The garden patch outside our house in a very wooded edge of Amherst, MA is often overtaken by mostly presumably native plants. I've been trying to leave as much as I can around our vegetable plots, especially if they'll flower and be beneficial to pollinators. I'm familiar with the morning glory vines and the wood sorrel, but I can't identify the lacy-leafed things here. It's quick-growing and familiar but I didn't introduce it. What is it? Will it flower?
Answer
Dear Jone, the plant you have photographed is Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed). It is weed native to North America but highly maligned by the public for its allergenic pollen. It will flower, though the flowers are not as conspicuous as many member of the aster family (to which this species belongs).
