The neighbors thought it was spiderwort (aka 'wandering jew'), but it doesn't really look like the photos of spiderwort I've found online. Although there seem to be a lot of species of that.
Help, please?
This is tree-of-heaven shoots; looks like what I remember from last year. That's not the same as the above at all, right?
Actually now, looking at those images side by side, I've calmed down a little, because I'm sure they're not the same. The lower has a shooting upright habit; the upper ones are creeping, for one thing. And the leaf shape and patterning is different. But I'd still like to know what the top-pictured plant is, as it's all over my yard. Is it invasive? Do I need to worry about it, or will it just work nicely in my to-be-mulched perennial beds, mixing happily with other plants?
Not sure what the top one is, but It does look like some sort of groundcover that was put there on purpose, like purple winterberry or something.
The Bottom one is Sumac, a voraciously nasty weed (and poisonous and stinky). Pull those early ’cause they’re a bitch when they get big.
I don’t know about that top one, but I’m with Christie on that bottom one. Dig it out, and make sure you get the roots or it will just keep coming back.
Send the picture to one of the master gardener programs and ask them. It looks like a weed to me, but I don’t know what the tree sprouts would look like.
Curious. The Lenape people from this area (Delaware) centuries back made bread out of sumac seeds. I have tasted it; it is pretty good.
Kirsten’s post reminded me: The people at the OP Conservatory (on East and Harrison, across from Rehm Pool) are very knowledgeable. Maybe you can take your photo over there and see if they know what it is.
The bottom one (in my viewer, at least) is definitely tree of heaven, and they must be stopped. They STINK. The creepy one, I have no idea.