Tall Thimbleweed and Carrionflower

I just sent in some plant samples to my UW extension office for identification.  I first try to use the 'net and my plant books to figure it out myself but sometimes I get stumped and need help. 

There are several Carrionflower vines on my gazebo;

I didn't notice any smell when they were in flower;

guess I'll have to check into next June when they bloom

For the last couple of years, I've had several weak vines popping up in my back woods and since most things in my yard turn out to be invasive and nasty, I figured it was too.  I reviewed the Wisconsin DNR's invasive plant list.  Nada.  Then I checked out some of the invasive plant sites on the 'net but couldn't find it there either.  So I sent in a sample and was told it's Carrionflower (Smilax).  Sure enough, it's on the Illinois Wildflower website.  (I swear I checked the Illinois Wildflowers site and some other wildflower sites but didn't see a match.  Why I didn't find it when I searched, I don't know.) 

I'm told it's native and not invasive so I've decided to keep it.  Hopefully that decision doesn't backfire on me.  A couple of days ago I was hacking through the undergrowth that has taken over my gazebo and I found it swathed in Carrionflower vine.  I wish I had found it when it was in flower!  I want to see if it really does smell like rotting meat.  If it does, it'll have to get moved.  I don't think it would be pleasant sitting in teh gazebo drinking tea and scarfing down cookies while bathed in the smell of roadkill.  On a tangent, I've recently found another plant that smells that same way but I think it's just a nasty non-native weed (I can't remember the name though.)  Another internet search to do and hopefully not another sample mailed to the UW!

Tall Thimbleweed in flower; once the white petals fall off,
the head elongates a bit and looks like a thimble



One plant I figured out myself is Tall Thimbleweed (Anemone Virginiana), a native perennial.  I believe Prairie Moon Nursery in MN carries it.  As far as I can tell it's not aggressive and I like its pretty palmate leaves.  Reminds me of a big wild geranium or even a masterwort leaf.  The flowers aren't anything exciting but I was happy to find a plant in my yard that isn't bent on world domination.  (Of course, I just noticed this plant this year.  I'll have to wait and see what it does.)

Last month I also found a Masterwort in my backyard that may have come from a "Sunnydale Variegated" masterwort (Astrantia) that I moved around a few times.  That's the only explanation I can come up with.  I'm pretty sure it wasn't there when we moved in.  However, the flower color isn't right and its not variegated.  Hmmm...

The Masterwort bloom is the purple-tinged flower
with the palmate leaves; in front of it is sweet cicely (I think)
and there's false solomon's seal in the upper left corner

Well, you must be thinking, "How bad is that woman's yard that she's finding full-grown mystery plants just popping up out of nowhere?"  I'll tell you; it's pretty bad.  I haven't done a good weeding since it got hot.  People who don't mind a bit of chaos look at our back yard and say, "Cool, it's like your own little forest preserve."  Neat, orderly people, however, gasp in shock and ask why I don't just hack it all down and put in a lawn.  It's a jungle, that's for sure, but I kind of like the wildness and disorder of it all.

So, anyhow, I still have some money budgeted for plant IDs from the UW, which I plan to use this fall on a plant all over my backyard that is tall and aggressive with unimpressive yellow globelike flowers that bloom in September.  I was thinking it might be some type of loosestrife.  I hope its something native and benign; I've already got enough plant invaders to deal with!

Yeah, I don't know what it is
but I know its aggressive enough
to choke out garlic mustard

Hope the heat isn't getting to you!  It won't be long before it's all snow and ice again.