Spreading Plant - Weed?

[pinksand]

Ok, so I posted this plant along with quite a few others from my garden a while back. Now the plant has started shooting off small "ground cover" looking plants. I brought them to a local garden center and the lady said they looked like azaleas... they don't seem to be growing like a shrub though. Before I realized that the ground cover shoots were attached to the taller plant my MOH told me it looked like ajuga (bugle plant) in a green variety. Now that I realized how tall it gets (about knee height) I'm not thinking that's a possibility either. The leaves seem to narrow as it gets taller.

I kept waiting for the tall plant to bloom but nothing happened. It could be a Spring bloomer. It is scattered in clusters around the garden and now the offshoots are spreading.

Here is the taller plant
[img]https://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z379/pinksand11/Garden/Weed2b.jpg[/img]

Offshoot
[img]https://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z379/pinksand11/Garden/IMG_3048_zpsd6531d60.jpg[/img]

These long white main roots connect to the taller plant
[img]https://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z379/pinksand11/Garden/IMG_3049_zpsdb2cf8da.jpg[/img]


Any ideas? I could just wait and see what happens but I'm nervous that it will spread so much that if it is a weed I will have a big problem on my hands trying to get rid of it.

[rainbowgardener]

Don't think it is a weed. I think it is the basal rosette of something that will send up a flower spike next year. My missouri sundrops (aka evening primrose, oenethera) looks a lot like that, though maybe not exactly. If it were the sundrops, mixed in with the basal rosettes would be some very thin brown "sticks" that are the remains of this year's flowers, unless you already cut those down. The rosettes are evergreen. There are a variety of other flowers that have that growth pattern.

Other possibility would be a ground cover like ajuga, but I'm leaning toward the first choice.

My sundrops spread fast into dense colonies, but not invasively. The colony just gets bigger each year, it doesn't pop up in other parts of the yard. And they are easy to dig and divide if it is getting too big, spreading in to places you don't want it.

[pinksand]

I think you might be right on with the sundrops. Someone brought what looked exactly like the basal rosettes to the plant exchange and labeled them "evening primrose" and I took note and was excited to have identified it. Then I overheard people talking about how it looked more like ajuga and they thought it was mislabeled. When I got home I looked up evening primrose but the leaves looked different so I figured that was wrong and went ahead and posted it here. All of the photos online of course show the plant in bloom and I'm sure there are different varieties. What you described though sounds right on and I did cut back the brown crispy sticks left over. The first photo was taken about a month ago before they had completely browned up.

I'll hang in there with them through next season and see what happens then If some yellow flowers pop up then I'll know for sure! Thank you!!!

[rainbowgardener]

There are also pink evening primroses very closely related.

[applestar]

Good call, rainbowgardener. The super white taproot reminds me of evening primrose as well.

[pinksand]

When the first few popped up I pulled them out thinking they were weeds and was completely shocked by the root!

I'm just so glad to know that it isn't a weed because I'd be out there for hours every day trying to keep up with these things! I'm excited to see what's going to happen come Spring The pink variety is very pretty as well!

Thanks again RBG!