16 Stunning Weeds with Delicate White Blooms to Brighten Your Space

White is a very common color for flowers in spontaneous and cultivated plants. In fact, maybe it is the most widespread of all! So, it may happen that you see white blooms appearing in your garden and you don’t know what they are… Yes, because many weeds too have blossoms in shades of snow, ivory, cream or vanilla…

In fact, no plot of land or yard is immune from spontaneous blooming weeds, not even the most secluded… Birds and wind spread seeds far and wide, and when they germinate, they can be a little surprise, and even a pleasant one when they blossom, in yellow, red, blue, or, very often, white indeed!

But this can go both ways… The weeds with candid flowers you are looking at may be a welcome addition to your flower beds, borders, lawn or field… But they could also be an invasive species, and push your decorative garden varieties to the side, with their innate natural strength.

The choice you have is whether to keep these white flowering “intruders” on your land, or weed them out – without herbicides, of course… But you need to know two things first: you need to recognize them and identify them, and you need to know exactly what to do with them if you wish to eradicate them.

So, the white natural beauties (weeds) we will see all come with a clear description, and simple but precise instructions on how to deal with them, and much, much more. They are all different and some are very useful indeed, while others can be hard to weed out. And the first one is arguably the most famous of them all; for sure you will identify it straight away!

1. English Daisy (Bellis perennis)

Yes, English daisy is a widespread and well know weed, but also one of the most loved flowers in the world, possibly even competing with roses themselves! And you will recognize it at once when its lovely flowers, never more than 1.25 inch across (3.0 cm) open in early or mid spring!

They are the most classic blooms ever, un fact! With a golden yellow center and many white elongated petals like the rays of the Sun, these flat inflorescences look up to the sky from lawns, and sometimes they even call gardens their home… Look closely at the ray florets (the so-called petals) and you will see that the ends are flat and dented, and sometimes, as the blossom matures, they blush to purplish shades at the tips. The rich green leaves at the base of the stem are spoon shaped, crenated at the margin and they often form rosettes that can be prostrate.

What you may not know, though, is that English (or lawn) daisy is hard to eradicate… It has short creeping rhizomes that help it spread and are hard to remove. They also have a taproot with many lateral rootlets, and if it is left in the soil, the plant can grow back.

You will need to uproot them all, maybe even dig the ground to do it and over successive years to eliminate it. But the real question is: are you sure you don’t want to keep it? It can only be a hassle to lawns, in the end, and only of you want yours as uniform and “full English”, or like a football pitch…

• Invasiveness: invasive in lawns and low grass fields.
• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 8.
• Light exposure: full Sun or partial shade.
• Flowering season: early spring to early fall.
• Size: 2 to 8 inches tall (5.0 to 20 cm) and 4 to 6 inches in spread (10 to 15 cm).
• Soil and water preferences: it grows in fertile to average and organically rich, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.
• Weeding method suggested: pull each plant from the soil, even digging, and uprooting the whole taproot. You may need to do it over a few years, or to dig up the whole area.

2. White Clover (Trifolium repens)

White clover is much more than a simple weed with lovely white flowers! It is a harbinger of Mother Nature, a message to you, a magnet for pollinators – and it may even bring you good luck! The fact is that this endemic perennial is indeed invasive, but usually on impoverished soil and disturbed land… It comes when nitrogen is low and it fixes it back into the ground… It has come to regenerate the ecosystem!

It is excellent fodder too! With its snow colored inflorescences that rest above the dense foliage, like little snowflakes on a fresh grass field, it can be very attractive indeed. The leaves with three leaflets (sometimes four) are easy to recognize, and they are rich green but usually with maculation in silver or paler shades, often in the shape of a V… Very strong and adaptable, it is actually invasive in every single US state including Alaska!

While white clover can be really welcome on impoverished open fields, it can take over from a well kept English lawn… its stolons allow it to creep and spread fast. Cutting it down to allow other grass varieties to grow is a simple response, but usually ineffective in the short term. But it will take a few years before it has gone, and it will even spontaneously, as soon as the land is healthy again. For a drastic treatment, dig up the whole area and remove roots and stolons. The good news is that the radical system is shallow.

• Invasiveness: invasive in open fields, grassland and lawns and on impoverished soil.
• Hardiness: USDA zones 3 to 10.
• Light exposure: full Sun or partial shade.
• Flowering season: late spring to early fall.
• Size: 4 to 8 inches tall (10 to 20 cm) and 12 to 18 inches in spread (30 to 45 cm).
• Soil and water preferences: it grows in medium fertile to nitrogen poor, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.
• Weeding method suggested: wait till it regenerates the soil, or dig the whole area and remove all stolons and roots.

3. Chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium)

You will easily identify chervil because it looks like the wild sister of yarrow… It has a very harsh appearance, but the large compound umbels have lots of tiny cream white flowers which attract lots of pollinators and especially small beetles.

They have a flat top and they can be about 5 inches across (12.5 cm), sometimes more. Usually blossoming from late spring to early summer, it then produces seeds that are similar to those of parsley (a close relation), and they are an edible part of the plant, with an aniseed flavor. But foliage and roots are used in cooking, especially in France. The leaves are sparse and fern like, very similar to those of carrots. It is invasive in waste lands, as is Anthriscus sylvestris, another similar species in the genus.

While you could like chervil for its fine texture in both blooms and foliage, it may not suit your garden overall theme. It will not usually disturb your flower beds or borders, but if you wish to weed it, you need to dig down next to the taproot and remove it whole before it seeds. If it grows in a naturalized area, it will bait slugs away from your decorative varieties

• Invasiveness: invasive in wastelands and meadows.
• Hardiness: USDA zones 3 to 9.
• Light exposure: full Sun or partial shade.
• Flowering season: late spring to mid summer.
• Size: 1 to 2 feet tall (30 to 60 cm), sometimes up to 3 feet (90 cm) and 10 to 18 inches in spread (25 to 45 cm).
• Soil and water preferences: it grows in average fertile to poor, well drained and medium humid to dry loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.
• Weeding method suggested: dig down next to the taproot and pull it all out before it seeds.

4. Chickweed (Stellaria media)

Native of Eurasia, then naturalized all over the world, chickweed can pass unnoticed as a small and uninvited newcomer to your garden. It is also a strange species, because it can be an annual in cold climates, but it becomes perennial and even evergreen in warm countries! While the plant itself can grow to 16 inches tall (40 cm), the flowers are quite small, but very distinctive and easy to identify.

But you need to look closely, because you will see a lime green center and what appear to be 10 ray like white petals with rounded tips. But they are actually only five, but with very deep lobes in the middle of each of them. They open above a star shaped bracts and they close at night, and the leaves, of the same bright green shade, are ovate opposite and slightly hairy. Edible and used in traditional medicine, this little delicate beauty can be invasive in woodlands or in damp soil.

However, chickweed does not usually cause problems; it prefers naturalized areas and if you really need to weed it, you can just pull the plants out of the soil, easily and by hand, as it has shallow and fibrous (not woody, so weak) roots.

• Invasiveness: invasive in woodlands and damp soil but not problematic.
• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 11.
• Light exposure: partial shade.
• Flowering season: late spring to mid fall.
• Size: 8 to 16 inches tall and in spread (20 to 40 cm)
• Soil and water preferences: it grows in average fertile and preferably nitrogen rich, well drained but medium humid to damp loam or clay based soil with pH from strongly acidic to neutral.
• Weeding method suggested: just pull each plant from the base and out of the soil, it comes off easily and it has shallow roots. Parts of the radical system left in the ground will not usually germinate.

5. White Campion (Silene latifolia subsp. alba)

White campion is a very common spontaneous weed in wastelands and fields, and it is also called bladder campion, which will help you identify it. In fact, look at the flowers and you will see what looks like a little green urn… It is actually the inflated calyx of the bloom, and the snow colored petals grow out of it, each deeply dented, to the point that they almost divide at the base.

The whole looks very frail and light, almost as if the little blossoms are about to fall off any time. They come in late spring and summer, and they are also slightly scented. The semi evergreen leaves are lower down the tall and narrow stems, oval, elongated  and green.

Similar varieties that may appear on your land are starry campion (Silene stellata), with carnation like petals, real bladder campion (Silene vulgaris), with such thin and smooth calyces that you can almost see through, very pale as well, or African dream root (Silene capensis) with narrow calyces, but fat roots that give you lucid dreams if mashed and drunk.

Relatives of garden varieties of Silene, these white campion varieties usually cause no problems to gardens, as they grow in naturalized areas of agricultural fields and meadows… they are listed as invasive and the roots are woody and strong. So, if you wish to eradicate it, you will need to dig them out.

• Invasiveness: invasive in fields and wastelands, not problematic.
• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 9.
• Light exposure: full Sun or partial shade.
• Flowering season: late spring to late summer.
• Size: 1 to 2 feet tall and in spread (30 to 60 cm).
• Soil and water preferences: it grows in moderately fertile, well drained and medium to lightly humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline. It is rocky soil and fairly drought tolerant.
• Weeding method suggested: usually not necessary, but dig down and remove the whole taproot before it seeds.

6. Wild Garlic (Allium ursinum)

If you find wild garlic in your garden, the best option you have is to take advantage of your luck and eat it! Yes, it is a weed, native of Eurasia, bit it cannot be called invasive, and it likes to grow in deciduous woodland areas. The whole plant is edible and it even has medicinal uses, but it is also very beautiful indeed.

The little flowers that come in umbels on upright stems are star shaped and very white, blooming from April to June. You will get about 20 in each cluster, with long and pointed tepals and a glossy lime greenish to yellow center. It will spread naturally also thanks to rhizomes and its delicious bulbs, giving you excellent ground cover.

The foliage is different from related species though; it is broad, pointed, elliptical and ribbed, and you only get two or three leaves per plant. It is also known by many names, which proves that it is not just very widespread as an endemic variety, but also much loved: ramsons, bear leek, cowleek, buckrams are just some of them…

Weeding wild garlic is usually unnecessary; you may just wish to thin it out if you wish to grow other varieties; just collect the bulbs and use them for cooking, in case.

• Invasiveness: it can become endemic in deciduous woodlands, but it is not problematic.
• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 9.
• Light exposure: full Sun or partial shade.
• Flowering season: mid spring to early summer.
• Size: 6 to 12 inches tall and in spread (15 to 30 cm), it exceptionally reaches 18 inches tall (45 cm).
• Soil and water preferences: it grows in fertile, well drained and medium humid loam, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline. It is drought tolerant.
• Weeding method suggested: pull the bulbs out of the soil, the roots are shallow.

7. Meadow Anemone (Anemone canadensis)

Another welcome surprise you may get to your garden from Mother Nature is a very beautiful weed indeed: meadow anemone. Considered invasive by some, bit not by others, also called windflower, it can propagate fast, thanks to its underground rhizomes. And it could give you excellent ground cover, with its upward facing saucer shaped white flowers with a a small cream yellow center and five rounded petals, sometimes dented at the tips but with fairly irregular shapes.

They will blossom from April to June popping up above a dense clump of deeply lobed and vibrant green leaves. Especially welcome in prairies and meadows, it can take over if other varieties are not as strong. But this low lying perennial can also grow well in very wet soil, like near streams and ponds and even in woodland areas.

While it is very beautiful, and you could easily treat it (and grow it) as a decorative variety, meadow (or Canada) anemone is hard to weed out. Its rhizomes will sprout even if you leave a tiny bit in the soil, so, you need to dug up the whole area. Unless you just want to thin it out, that is…

• Invasiveness: fast spreading but not necessarily invasive and usually welcome.
• Hardiness: USDA zones 3 to 8.
• Light exposure: partial shade and full shade.
• Flowering season: mid spring to early summer.
• Size: 12 to 24 inches tall (30 to 60 cm) and 10 to 30 inches in spread (25 to 75 cm).
• Soil and water preferences: it grows in average fertile but humus rich, well drained but moisture retentive, medium humid to wet loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline. It is wet soil and heavy clay tolerant.
• Weeding method suggested: usually not necessary, but to weed it out you need to dig up the whole soil and remove all rhizomes. It has shallow roots.

8. White Wild Indigo (Baptista alba)

Native of the USA, white wild indigo has become endemic all over North America, and it can become invasive. But shrubby this perennial can also be an excellent decorative variety for borders and wild meadows. And if you see it, you will soon understand why… Its long spikes filled with white and pea shaped flowers, like those you find on lupines, will certainly attract your attention as that of many pollinators.

Reaching a height of 4 feet (120 cm), the blossoms will last from late spring to early summer, but then… They will soon turn into green olive like fruits, or better seedpods… Well, they may remind you of a baby’s bottom, actually, or an elongated apricot, thanks to the middle line… These will ripen to burgundy and almost black, before they fall. The very dense foliage is really beautiful too, packed with trifoliate leaves (like clover), which can be bright green or even bluish!

You can easily incorporate white wild indigo into your garden, maybe by pruning it and giving it an interesting shape. But if it is taking up space for other varieties, you will have to dig it and remove it with all its roots, and do it before the seeds mature, which is in fall.

• Invasiveness: invasive in meadows and fields.
• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 8.
• Light exposure: full Sun or partial shade.
• Flowering season: late spring and early summer.
• Size: 2 to 4 feet tall (40 to 120 cm) and 2 to 3 feet in spread (60 to 90 cm).
• Soil and water preferences: it grows in average fertile, well drained and medium humid to dry loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to neutral. It is drought and heavy clay tolerant.
• Weeding method suggested: you need to dig around the plant and uproot it completely before the seeds ripen.

9. Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis)

Filed bindweed, or creeping Jenny, is a European morning glory variety that can appear on your land uninvited, as a weed, and it can spread quite fast and wide. It is mainly Colvolvolus aversis, but there are also other similar species in white. The vine can crawl on the ground in open fields, or it can grow through other plants and shrubs, using them as support.

It is easy to recognize, because the snow colored blossoms are funnel shaped, broad at the mouth and with joint petals, about 2 inches across (5.0). The blooming season of this perennial can be quite long, usually from June to September, and the leaves are easy to identify as well, because they are rich green and heart shaped. It can become a nuisance though, despite its beautiful flowers that open in the morning and close by sunset.

You will often find creeping Jenny on roadsides, clinging on to shrubs or tall herbaceous plants and grasses, or fences and gates, but filed bindweed can also grow in lawns, especially of they are not well looked after. Repeated low mowing can help reduce it and, in the long run, even eliminate it. You will first see that it becomes smaller and with blooms in reduced size, then, it will disappear.

• Invasiveness: invasive in lawns, fields and roadsides.
• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 8.
• Light exposure: full Sun (preferred), partial shade and full shade.
• Flowering season: early summer to early fall.
• Size: 1 to 6 feet long (30 cm to 1.8 meters) and about 1 foot in spread (30 cm).
• Soil and water preferences: it grows in moderately fertile to poor, well drained and medium humid to dry loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from very strongly acidic to strongly alkaline. It is drought, heavy clay and wet soil tolerant. Rarely found in chalky soil.
• Weeding method suggested: low and regular mowing; in hedges or borders, uproot the plant from the base and repeatedly, do not leave broken parts of the vine on site or they will set root and germinate.

10. Queen Ann’s Lace (Daucus carota)

Queen Ann’s lace, also called wild carrot or bird’s nest is a native weed of the Old World and a classic of the English countryside, but it has also naturalized in North America, where it is classed as such in 35 US states… Looking at the inflorescence, you could confuse it with chervil, because they are white, flat and round, and a magnet for pollinators with their many little flowers that look like lace, in fact… It will start blossoming in mid summer and continue into the fall.

The blooms come on upright and rigid stems, but if you look at the foliage you will identify it easily: rich green and very finely textures, the leaves are pinnate, with three to five roughly triangular leaflets all deeply cut… Yet again, it is true to its beautiful name. It will will spread fast in wastelands and dry fields at low altitude taking over meadows and prairies.

While Queen Ann’s lace is very graceful and elegant in naturalized gardens and wild areas, it fan become problematic in a garden. You need to uproot all the plants from the base before they seed, or, in a lawn, it is enough to low mow it regularly. This way it will not bloom and reproduce, and it is a biennial, so in two years it will disappear.

• Invasiveness: invasive in low level meadows, dry fields and wastelands.
• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 10.
• Light exposure: full Sun.
• Flowering season: mid summer to fall.
• Size: 1 to 4 feet tall (30 to 120 cm) and 1 to 2 feet in spread (30 to 60 cm).
• Soil and water preferences: average fertile to poor, well drained and medium humid to dry loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline. It is drought tolerant.
• Weeding method suggested: low mowing will be enough, cut it before it seeds.

11. Hairy Bitterset (Cardamine hirsuta)

Hairy bitteset is a sweet looking weed that can grow spontaneous in recently disturbed soil, wastelands, open fields and especially if it is damp and humid. The good news is that the leaves are edible and quite good in salads. The rosette of round and pinnate foliage at the base is quite dense, rich green and sometimes with purplish tonalities as well.

From there, you will see upright stems, in pale green or sometimes on the purple side, and the leaves on this will be different: they are actually pinnate, with 5 to 7 wavy leaflets, but narrower and wavy… And they will accompany very small white flowers, sometimes with rosy blushes. They are really tiny, from 0.06 to 0.18 inches wide (0.15 to 0.45 cm), in small clusters and each with four oval petals. This inconspicuous but dainty floral display will announce spring and it could last into the first weeks of June.

Hairy bitterset is not a problematic invasive plant; while it can find home in your garden uninvited, sometimes in beds and borders, you can easily weed it out by uprooting it from the base of the rosette.

• Invasiveness: not particularly invasive or problematic, spontaneous on recently disturbed humid soil, peat fields.
• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 8.
• Light exposure: full Sun or partial shade.
• Flowering season: nod spring to early summer.
• Size: 8 to 12 inches tall and in spread (20 to 30 cm).
• Soil and water preferences: average fertile, well drained and medium humid to damp loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from moderately acidic to neutral.
• Weeding method suggested: simply uproot it pulling it from the base.

12. Dog Rose (Rosa canina)

You will identify dog rose (Rosa canina) very easily… It is a rose! The single flowers with five petals with a golden center are a giveaway, and they are white, but they can blush to pastel rose or pink when they mature. Blossoming from May to August, these rambling beauties tend to grow on the sides of woods, or in hedges, on fences and gates.

It can be a welcome addition to your garden, but… It has the habit of overtaking, and of being stronger than other plants, so it fan become seriously invasive. On the other hand, on top of the floral display that attracts pollinators you will get bright red edible hips that last into the fall and will be visited by hungry birds.

Or you can eat them yourself or make jams and preserves… It will also offer you healthy deep green foliage, with the classic five (or three) dented leaflets, while sheltering small fauna with its thorny canes.

It is easier to control dog rose than to weed it out completely. Every cane can become a new plant when it touches the soil. You need to cut it back completely and remove all canes (branches, vines) first, and then dig the soil to uproot its strong radical system.

• Invasiveness: invasive and competing with other species.
• Hardiness: USDA zones 3 to 9.
• Light exposure: full Sun.
• Flowering season: late spring to mid summer.
• Size: 4 to 15 feet tall and in spread (1.2 to 4.5 meters).
• Soil and water preferences: it grows in fertile and humus rich but also poor, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.
• Weeding method suggested: cut it down to the base and remove all canes, then dig and uproot the whole radical system.

13. Common Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum)

Here’s another weed with dense inflorescences with many tiny little white and fragrant flowers, on compound umbels, which may remind you of yarrow, chervil or Queen Ann’s lace… But the different clusters that form are divided, and they blossom late in the season, usually from August to October, but sometimes from June.

The rich green foliage will help you recognize it quite well: the leaves are long and pointed, broad and they grow clasping to the sides of the hairy stems, surrounding them (it grows “inside each leaf”), with their rough texture and bright to mid green color. This weed was introduced for medicinal purposes by colonists to the USA, and it has become invasive in all the eastern half of the confederation. And, in fact, it is also called agueweed, feverwort or sweating plant. But this also tells us another thing: it is toxic and dangerous.

Common bonestet can be fairly invasive in humid fields and meadows, though it is excellent for pollinators. However, its roots are not deep, and you can just pull it out of the ground from a the base if you wish to weed it out.

• Invasiveness: fairly invasive in natural areas like fields and meadows.
• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 8.
• Light exposure: full Sun or partial shade.
• Flowering season: mid summer to mid fall. Sometimes from late spring too.
• Size: 3 to 6 feet tall (90 cm to 1.8 meters) and 2 to 4 feet in spread (60 to 120 cm).
• Soil and water preferences: it grows in average fertile, well drained and medium humid to wet loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline. It is heavy clay and wet soil tolerant.
• Weeding method suggested: pull each plant from the base and uproot the shallow radical system. Best done before it blossoms. Even low mowing will work if it grows in a field or lawn.

14. White Dead Nettle (Lamium album)

And we come to the most notorious weed of all: nettle! True, its most common variety (Lamium maculatum) has purplish magenta flowers, but there is a species, Lamium album with candid white blossoms. They are quite pretty if you look at them at close distance, tubular and with a little round hood at the top. They will come for a long time, from May to September on top of the plant, and pollinators love them.

Then again, they don’t get stung by the hairy leaves as we do… They are quite lush, serrated and deep green, attractive but dangerous. On the other hand, this spreading herbaceous perennial is not just edible: it is literally a superfood, maybe even the most nutritious vegetable on the planet! And it is ideal to make nettle macerate, by far the best organic fertilizer in the world.

On the other hand, white dead nettle can be invasive in woodlands, in shrubby borders or roadsides and on farmland. And it can even crop up in your garden uninvited… You will need to wear gloves (unlike you know how to handle it; gardeners know how not to get stung!) and remove each plant pulling it at the base. The roots are not deep, so, it won’t heed any digging.

• Invasiveness: invasive on roadsides, woodlands and farmland.
• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 9.
• Light exposure: full Sun or partial shade (preferred) and full shade.
• Flowering season: late spring to early fall.
• Size: 20 to 40 inches tall (50 to 100 cm) and 1 to 2 feet in spread (30 to 60 cm).
• Soil and water preferences: it grows in average fertile and preferably humus rich, well drained and medium humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline. It is drought tolerant.
• Weeding method suggested: wear gloves and pull each plant from the base, removing all the shallow roots. Use the plants to make nettle macerate, teas, or to eat.

15. White Wild Violets (Viola spp.)

We grow violets in flower beds, but they can also appear in your garden brought by birds or wind. Wild varieties are usually smaller than many cultivated cultivars, but they are no less beautiful! This genus of small perennials has lots of value in gardening, including an impressive range of colors, that go from almost black to white

There are endemic species with this color as well. If you find a sweet smelling white pansy in your garden, the chances are that you are looking at sweet white violet (Viola blanda), which has broad petals, sometimes curving backwards when the blossom matures, and you will recognize it by its blue and purple veining in the center.

Or perhaps it is Canadian violet, a.k.a. Viola canadensis? This is easy to recognize, the whiteness of the petals is spectacular, and the two top ones look like rabbit ears… In the middle, you will see a few violet veins, but also a distinctive golden yellow and very bright blotch! Yet another species that grows spontaneously is striped white violet (Viola striata) this delightful little beauty only has a few small bluish stripes at the center, while the blossom is fully snow white!

All are fragrant, all are edible, and they form lovely green clumps of heart shaped leaves, ideal for ground cover under trees.  The long lasting floral displays have different seasons, which we will see in the tips.

Weeding out white violets is indeed a pity… They are spontaneous and fast spreading, but they do not compete with other varieties. They are usually very welcome, because the colonize areas where you may need ground cover. To thin them or remove them, simply pull the roots out of the soil holding the plant from the base.

• Invasiveness: hard to define as invasive, not problematic and spreading in shady woodland and under trees.
• Hardiness: USDA zones 2 to 7 (Viola blanda), 3 to 8 (Viola canadensis) and 4 to 7 (Viola striata).
• Light exposure: partial shade.
• Flowering season: mid and late spring (Viola blanda), early summer to fall (Viola canadensis) and mid spring to early summer (Viola striata).
• Size: 10 to 18 inches tall and in spread (30 to 45 cm).
• Soil and water preferences: it grows in fertile and organically rich, well drained and evenly humid loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.
• Weeding method suggested: usually welcome, or in case pull each plant from the base to uproot the small radical system.

16. Wild Strawberry (Fragraria vesca)

Yes, strawberries grow spontaneously and they spread fast, and the wild varieties (mainly Fragraria vesca, but also Fragraria alpina and Fragraria viridis) can simply crop up in your garden unexpected… But they are lovely and edible, and in fact with a much stronger and even better flavor than the large ones you buy from stores!

The flowers are white, with five round petals, small and with a bright golden center, similar to single roses – yes, these two stars of the green world are related! Blooming from April to June, they provide a long season of floral interest as well as sweet and delicious fruits! The leaves are perfect for ground cover, three partite with broad pointed and serrated leaflets, their rich green color is enhanced by the deep veins they display.

However, wild strawberries spread fast, thanks to their runners (stolons), that turn into a new plant as soon as they touch the ground. If you wish to thin them or totally weed them out, you need to uproot the little plants (which is easy; they have shallow roots) but also remove all their stolons from the area.

• Invasiveness: invasive in wild and woodland areas, (especially along the Bible Belt) but usually welcome.
• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 9.
• Light exposure: full Sun, partial shade or full shade.
• Flowering season: mid spring to early summer.
• Size: 3 to 9 inches tall (7.5 to 22 cm) and 9 to 12 inches in spread (22 to 30 cm).
• Soil and water preferences: it grows in fertile and preferably organically rich, well drained and medium humid loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.
• Weeding method suggested: pull each plant from the soil removing the roots, then look for all the stolons and remove them.

White Blooms on Weeds

As you can see, there are many weeds with white flowers, and some are quite beautiful. Not all are unwelcome, not all really invasive, and all the varieties of snow colored spontaneous plants you have seen have a natural function, sometimes even culinary or medicinal! But if you need to thin them out or totally eliminate them, now you know how to…