Like weeds with purple flowers, weeds with white flowers are a mixed bag. Some can be helpful, but others aren’t good for growing in your yard because they spread easily, are poisonous, or don’t look good. Some weeds with white flowers can actually improve your soil while others have pretty flowers. You can choose to keep them or get rid of them, and we’re here to help you make that choice.
Ahead, we help you identify ten weeds with white flowers and whether theyre worth keeping or removing.
As a homeowner, you’ve likely encountered some tall mystery weeds popping up around your landscape. Some of the most frustrating ones develop delicate, fluffy white seeds that disperse in the breeze and spread the weeds further. But how do you identify the culprits? This guide covers how to spot and manage common tall weeds that produce white airy seeds.
Thistle
One of the most notorious offenders is thistle These prickly plants shoot up spiky flower heads covered in mini white hairs that detach to float off in the wind
There are several types including
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Bull thistle – Grows 2-6 feet tall with reddish-purple flowers. Spreading patches are found in fields, pastures, roadsides, and disturbed areas.
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Canadian thistle – Grows 1-4 feet tall with spineless stems and lavender flowers An aggressive weed of fields, roadsides, and gardens
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Musk thistle – Grows up to 6 feet tall with large nodding purple flowers. Invades pastures, roadsides, and neglected areas.
Thistles spread quickly once established and are difficult to eradicate. Hand pull small patches. Mow or chemically treat for larger infestations. Prevent by maintaining thick turfgrass or ground cover to crowd them out.
Dandelion
Dandelions are a common tall weed, especially in lawns and gardens, reaching 6-24 inches when in bloom. The bright yellow flowers mature into puffball seed heads dispersing hundreds of tiny parachute-like seeds.
For management, dig up plants by hand or spot treat with broadleaf herbicides. Maintain healthy grass and routinely mow to prevent dandelions from flowering and spreading seeds.
Common Mullein
Common mullein (Verbascum thapsus) towers in fields, roadsides, and disturbed soils on a single tall stem up to 6 feet tall. The woolly gray-green leaves give way to dense spikes of petite yellow flowers that mature into fuzzy seed heads.
This prolific self-seeding biennial is best controlled by hand pulling small patches before seeds develop. Mowing, repeated cutting, or herbicide application provides control of large infestations.
Musk or Nodding Thistle
Musk or nodding thistle (Carduus nutans) emerges as a rosette the first year before sending up multiple 2-7 feet tall stems topped with large, rounded purple flowers the second year. The egg-shaped heads are covered in sharp spines and white hairs.
An aggressive, invasive pasture and roadside weed, musk thistle spreads rapidly by wind-dispersed seeds. Manual removal, repeated mowing, or spot herbicide treatments provide the best control. Prevent by maintaining healthy competitive pasture vegetation.
Milkweed
Milkweed plants grow upright 2-6 feet tall in prairies, fields, and roadsides. The clusters of pink, white, or purple flowers give way to warty pods filled with gray seeds tufted with white filaments that catch the wind. Species include common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) and butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa).
Although the seeds can spread, milkweed plays an important role in gardens as a pollinator-friendly native plant. It’s the sole food source for monarch butterfly larvae. Dig up unwanted plants or cut pods off before seeds disperse.
Ornamental Grasses
Several Garden perennials also produce tall white fluffy seed heads, especially ornamental grasses. These include miscanthus, pampas grass, and maiden grass. These aren’t weedy, but can self-seed aggressively. Cut back dead foliage in late winter to control spread.
Identifying and stopping tall weeds before they seed will help prevent a fuzzy white seed explosion around your property next season. A quick response to young plants is key to limiting populations and avoiding headaches down the road. With quick control, you can eliminate annoying fluffy-headed weeds from taking over your landscape.
Weed Identification – Identify 21 Common Weeds in Lawn
What Weed has white flowers?
Yarrow is another weed with white flowers that deserves a closer look. Yarrow is characterized by its feathery, fern-like leaves and flat-topped clusters of tiny, white flowers. These blooms can vary in shade from pure white to creamy ivory. What makes yarrow particularly fascinating is its rich history of medicinal and cultural significance.
What weeds grow in flower beds?
Also, you can hand-pull clumps of the weeds from flower beds. Also called Queen Anne’s lace, wild carrot is a common biennial weed with large flat-topped clusters of white flowers. The upward-facing umbrella-like clusters (umbels) of lacey flowers grow at the ends of hairy stems 1 to 4 ft. (0.3 – 1.2 m) tall.
What does a flowering weed look like?
Weed flowers can be spherical heads with small colorful petals, star-shaped or funnel-shaped flowers, or small flowering spikes. In addition, flowering weeds are identified by their roots—taproots, creeping rhizome roots, or fibrous roots. Here’s a list of common flowering weeds, starting with white flowering weeds.
What weeds have flowers?
Dandelions are one of the most commonly found weeds across many hardiness zones. Dandelions are perhaps the most classic example of weeds with flowers on this list. They contain a flower head of bright yellow ray flowers. The outer bracts point down, with the remaining petals facing up. The dandelion produces flowers from March to September.