” I do some of my best thinking while pulling weeds.”- Martha Smith

Volunteer-“In gardening and agronomic terminology, a volunteer is a plant that grows on its own, rather than being deliberately planted by a farmer or gardener. Volunteers often grow from seeds that float in on the wind, are dropped by birds, or are inadvertently mixed into compost.” (Wikipedia)

I have a couple of plants in my garden that are popping up without any help or encouragement from me. We did plant one of them but it is popping up in other spots. I have identified it as Sedum rubrotinctum aka Jelly Bean or Pork and Beans plants. Here are some photos of mine:

Sedum rubrotinctum from my garden

Another Sedum

Yet another Sedum r.

I think there were more that I pulled up when they were babies because I thought they were some kind of weed.  Another plant (tree) that grows like a weed are Palm trees. If you have a Palm tree anywhere nearby you will find little Palm tree seedlings popping up like weeds all over your yard. And you have to be vigilant in pulling them out or pretty soon you will have a tree where you may not want one. We ended up with a huge Palm tree against our wall, from a volunteer like that, and another one in our front yard.

This is what they look like if you catch them early:

Palm Tree Seedlings

As I was surveying the plants in my backyard,  I came across this hiding under some other bushes against one wall:

Small Palm getting established

Palm leaves

Another section closer up

We will have to dig it up or end up with a much bigger tree in the near future.

In a recent post I mentioned there was clover growing in my garden, which also is a volunteer. I was thinking a neighbor may have some clover in their garden and the seeds spread to mine. Well, while researching the type of “clover” it might be, I discovered it is not clover but something called “Yellow wood sorrel” or Oxalis stricta. It grows wild so it is a volunteer. In small amounts it can be edible and medicinal. It is sour tasting and  a thirst quencher if you chew a bit of it.  The leaves close up in bright sun. I noticed some of the “clover” leaves were doing that too.  I like the look of it but I don’t necessarily want it to take over the backyard, but it is pretty and has a pretty name ‘wood sorrel.’ I am going to have to look for a different ground cover to fill in the bare spots. I took some photos of the sorrel this morning. You can see some of the leaves partially closed. The yellow flowers are closed this morning. We had rain yesterday and the sun is not so bright right now, a little cloudy today.

Wood sorrel with leaves partially open

Pretty for a wild plant (weed)

Some good news is that we planted our Lime tree.

And the Sage plants are doing well and really blooming:

Our two sages

Really blooming

Featured Image of Sedum r. by Frank Vincentz via Wikipedia.  One Liner Wednesday is hosted by Linda G Hill.