Weed or plant?

[Christine]

Hey guys, I am new here and VERY glad I found this site!

I decided to plant a garden this year - just a small one to start with. Well, my husband dug out an area, weeded, tilled and leveled the ground. He even SIFTED to make sure there was as little of the unwanted weed roots etc. So About the time my leaf lettuce and cabbage was coming up, there was something else coming up all around the edges of the garden. Because it kind of looked like a cross between a fern and a palm tree, I thought I would let it go and see what happened. Besides it wasn't hurting anything where it was. Well here we are a few months later and my curiosity has gotten the better of me. I have spent DAYS trying to find a picture of this plant on the internet, have spend countless hours trying to decipher it's name on all kinds of plant identification sites and still no luck. So I was wondering if anyone here would KNOW what this is. And if it has a scientific name I'd be grateful for that too. The picture doesn't do it justice, so I took a chunk of one plant and looked at it under a 20X magnifier. This is what I can tell you about the plant (maybe it will help you make sure of what it is?)
~There are hairs on both sides of the leaves - though they appear to be on the edges and running down the spine. The hairs are short and bristly, not sharp but slightly noticeable.
~ There are three leaves per rotation and they appear to grow in a cylindrical pattern
~ The plants have reached a height of almost 6 feet (Thou I must admit that might have something to do with my 'Living Water', which always gives me FANTASTIC growth and production. - You should have seen last years tomatoes! OMG!)
I sure hope you can help me out - it would be a shame to waste this beautiful plant if it has any redeeming factors - I mean other than it's beauty. I'm wondering of it might be a native medicinal plant or something like that. Thanks so very much for your help. I look forward to hearing from you.

[KarenZone3A]

Hello there,

This mystery plant of yours will bloom I am sure and it will be easier to identify when it does. My money is on a goldenrod. possibly "solidago canadensis Var. scabra"
a fancy name for "tall goldenrod".
is it a weed? is it a wildflower? it's up to you.
I would not want it in my garden but I wouldn't mind it in a meadow or along the roadside somewhere quite a ways from my garden lol.
anybody else?
silver surfer?
form definately puts it in family asteraceae. unfortunately for plant ID, a very large family.

Where do you live? that helps a lot with plant ID.

happy gardening
Karen

[butrflywngs]

It is definately a weed or wild flower of some sort. I get these in my front garden. I have never planted anything that looks like this...so either seeds from someone elses garden blew over OR as stated before its a weed. I've done this before: dig it up and keep it watered and in a part sun location. See if it blooms. If you like it...let 'em grown in. If not - rip 'em out!! :)

[Christine]

Hello Karen, and thanks for your reply.

I was hoping that it might be Goldenrod - a very useful medicianl herb. Now I can hardly wait for it to bloom. :-)
As for what zone I am in - I'm not really sure, but I do know I am in the 'bootheel' of Missouri. an you tell I am not a native? LOL You'd think after 7 years though, I'd know where I was LOL. Oh well, I just blame it on old age and keep on trucking along <BG>

Thanks again, and nice meeting you. I hope we can get together on a regular basis around here.

Christine

[Christine]

Dear butrflywngs;

thanks for the reply, and the suggestions.

Karen suggested that it might be goldenrod, and i really am hoping that it is, as Goldenrod is a very useful herb. I guess I'll just wait and see what happens when it finally blooms. I mean, it's already pretty, so feathery and such a beautiful green, I'd keep it even if it didn't bloom. LOL