Posted by Mary on May 1, 2004

Q: I have just noticed the last 2 years that any flower I plant in my yard ,,beside it, well come up a weed that looks just like the flower. I can tell the difference but it amazes me.

I have wild Violets. I planted them one spring that summer there were little weeds that looked just like the violets growing all around them Some sort of water plant it seems. In the other side of my yard

I had 4 o'clocks planted and there before long were these weeds that had the same shaped leaves and same height I could tell it was weeds even had stickers eventually but, what is going on? How can plants know to grow near look alikes?? is this possable??

A: You're obviously being very observant. From your description, I can't be

sure just what kind of plants are growing right next to your flowers but I

can make an educated guess. It would seem to me that if you're getting

plants growing right next to flowers you've planted, and they look just the

same but aren't flowering, they're probably more of the same. Your

flowering plants may be spreading and the new growth isn't producing any

flowers so they seem to be a different plant altogether. Keep an eye on

these nearby plants and see if they don't continue to resemble the flowering

plants you're talking about. I know of no cases where one kind of plant

"selects a growing location" next to another that it resembles simply

because it is similar in appearance.

John Wiessinger ( May 3, 2004)