what ARE these? mystery seedlings

[rainbowgardener]

I swore that this year I would keep everything correctly labeled and I seem to be failing miserably. These are labeled Russian tarragon, but they are pretty clearly not. They have no scent what so ever. They all came up together, not randomly like weeds. They don't seem to be anything I thought I planted. Most of them have the three lobed leaves, but some (see bottom left corner) don't.

Any thoughts? TIY

[tomc]

Maybe parsley?

Scratches head I'm not very good at this.

[rainbowgardener]

bump.... anyone else?

[applestar]

I was going to ask if you've smelled each one in case some have scent and some don't, and if the seedlings look like Russian tarragon and started searching --- and Russian tarragon seems to have a very bad reputation as many have no scent and if they do they smell nasty in some way. Some go so far as to say growing even French tarragon from seeds is not recommended BECAUSE some seed companies will intentionally or unintentionally mix in with/use Russian tarragon seeds. (Seed packets marked just "tarragon" is apparently suspect)

Russian tarragon is also described as winter hardy and aggressively persistent if you plant them in your garden.

...so the good news is that you may not have mislabeled at all... Bad news is Russian tarragon from seeds may have been a dud choice this year.

[applestar]

BTW I grew Mexican Mint Marigold aka Texas Tarragon last year and the seedlings were scented from the getgo -- cotyledons were strongly scented as soon as they came up.

I tried overwintering some of the plants (even though I think they are supposed to be annuals) and there is one last one still growing and blooming in the Cool Gang, and I started some more from saved seeds this spring. -- HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

[rainbowgardener]

Thanks very much, applestar, for all the information. I haven't checked every one, to see if any have scent. The ones without the three lobed leaves seem to look about like tarragon seedling pictures. There aren't any pictures that look like the three lobed ones. They all came up together. I need to make sure I have checked for scent on the non-three lobed ones.

I may pitch most of them (whatever it is, is easy to grow from seed-- I have a bunch of them!) and just save a couple to see what they turn in to.

[Susan W]

It looks like it may be one of the Artemesias. For tarragon, I get starts of the French Tarragon. I do have some starts coming along of wormwood, one of the artemesias, and leaf is similar.

[imafan26]

It looks like a marigold or some other type of composite. They are too deeply cut for parsley. Mexican mint marigold is a possiblity. If it is that it will have a scent.