Any botanists on here?

These started growing in my back yard. Nobody seems to know what they are but they survived the winter.

Are they just a weed or should I leave them alone? Never seen this anywhere else.

Thanks.

It might be evening primrose. If so, it is not a weed. Let them continue to grow and flower.

A new strain of pot!

Yup common evening primrose, Oenothera biennis. Native but generally not desirable

Why is it not desirable? Just curious.

Evening primrose is invasive and hard to eliminate by hand. It puts out huge amounts of seeds that germinate well. When you try to pull it, the plant breaks and soon comes back from the roots.

Keith

X2. It’s one of the few native wildflowers that doesn’t require stratification for its seeds to break dormancy, as soon as they hit the ground they’re viable. A mature evening primrose puts out a ton of seed. I do like having some around though.

The seed pods look like 3/8" long bananas, and when the pop the seed look like ground black pepper. EXTREMELY viable and will spread like crazy.