Weeds can be any plant which grows where you don’t want it to develop. Weeds are usually more aggressive and invasive than blooms that you cultivate yourself. When the weeds are full grown, it is a lot easier to tell they’re not something that you planted, but it is more difficult to tell when your plants are only beginning to grow and haven’t bloomed. Weeds blossom just like other plants. They’re broadleaf, grasses, aquatic or sedges and may be perennial or annual.

Produce a diagram of exactly what flowers you planted, where you planted them and whether they’re annuals or perennials. This way you can know what must be growing in your beds.

Take photographs of these flowering plants when they’re recently planted or as they emerge from the soil so that you know what the stems and leaves look like before the plant blooms. This phase is when they’re hardest to differentiate from weeds.

Check your diagram for the plant which should be in the spot and compare the picture to the plant that is suspicious. If it does not match the picture of the flower that has been growing in the spot the preceding calendar year, it is most likely a grass.

Note the location of the “bud” Weeds grow in inhospitable soils where your flowering plants would not grow well. Weeds also grow faster than flowering plants, therefore if it is several inches tall and in a spot where nothing else has emerged from the soil, it is most likely a grass.

Examine the suspicious plant to the plants. In beds where you planted only a couple of species of flowering plants, if you visit foliage that does not appear like the other plants it is most likely a grass.

Consult on the internet or print grass identification guides. Compare the pictures of the grass in the manual to the plant that is suspicious. Look at leaf structure and blossom characteristics to identify the grass.

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