Types of Flowering Weeds (White, Purple, Pink) – Pictures and Identification Guide

Despite weeds having a bad rap, flowering weeds can add a touch of natural beauty, color, and fragrance to your garden landscape. In the right place, weeds that flower don’t have to be a nuisance. Instead, flowering weeds with white, purple, or pink flowers can bloom and enhance the visual appeal of your yard. After all, what may be a weed to one gardener could be an attractive flower to another.

Of course, no one wants white-flowering weeds like white clover or chickweed spoiling the appearance of a lush, green lawn. And many weedy plants have invasive properties, meaning they will proliferate and spread where you don’t want them. So, knowing how to get rid of weeds is crucial for maintaining an attractive front or backyard.

This article highlights common types of weeds that have white, purple, or pink flowers. You’ll learn about white flowers that grow in lawns and pink and purple-flowering weeds that can take over flower beds. Additionally, descriptions and pictures of the wildflowers will help you identify flowering weeds.

What Are Flowering Weeds?

Flowering weeds are typically plants growing in the wrong place. Although there is no botanical classification for a “weed,” the term typically applies to flowering plants that grow without you planting them. Flowering weeds tend to reproduce aggressively and spread uncontrolled outside their native habitat.

Many species of flowering plants that some consider weeds are beneficial weeds. For example, yellow flowering weeds like dandelions help to facilitate healthy soil and also help to support the pollinator populations. In addition, some weedy plants with white flowers like chickweed or purple-flowering weeds like chicory have edible parts.

How to Identify Flowering Weeds

Looking at the shape and color of the blooms is the easiest way to identify flowering weeds. 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.

Related reading: Homemade weed killers.

Types of Weeds With White Flowers (With Pictures) – Identification

Weeds with white flowers are so common that you probably don’t think about them. That is until the tiny white flowers in the grass appear or start taking over your flower beds. Let’s look in detail at weeds with white flowers common in gardens.

Mouse-Ear Chickweed (Cerastium)

Mouse-ear chickweed is an annual weed with small fuzzy green leaves and tiny white star-shaped flowers. The white flowers on the wild plants have five deeply notched oblong petals creating a cup shape. Each white flower measures about 0.25” (0.6 cm) across. Mouse-ear chickweed grows 0.5 to 1.5 ft. (15 – 45 cm) tall.

Mouse-ear chickweed has easily identifiable oblong or egg-shaped leaves. The small hair-covered leaves measure 0.33” to 1” (0.8 to 5.2 cm) long. The leaves and white flowers grow on fuzzy stalks and spread across the ground.

Mouse-ear chickweed is a mat-forming, quickly spreading white-flowering plant. If left alone, chickweed will quickly form dense patches of green leaves. The white daisy-like weed flowers bloom from May through September.

Common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

Common yarrow is a tall white-flowering weed with large flat-topped clusters of tiny creamy-white flowers. The huge white flower clusters grow at the end of tall stems. An identifying feature of weedy yarrow is its feathery, fern-like leaves growing on the erect stems. Yarrow grows 2 to 3 ft. (0.6 – 1 m) tall.

Although common yarrow has weed-like qualities, it has plenty of ornamental features for growing in a sunny garden. It thrives in wet and dry soils and doesn’t need much care to thrive. It is also a long-blooming plant with attractive white flowers.

The attractive qualities of yarrow mean that many people tolerate the beneficial weed in yards as an easy-care perennial ground cover.

Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)

Garlic mustard is a weedy plant with tall, slender stems topped with tiny white flowers. The herbaceous plant has triangular leaves with coarsely toothed margins. Its white flowers are small clusters of pure white petals with four rounded petals to a single flower. Garlic mustard grows up to 3 ft. (1 m) tall.

The weedy nature of garlic mustard is due to the proliferation of seeds it produces. These tiny seeds scatter far from the plant and sprout easily in most soil types.

Garlic mustard can be considered a beneficial weed. Despite its weedy growth, its tiny white flowers attract pollinators in spring and summer. In addition, the dark green heart-shaped leaves are edible and can be used to add a spicy garlicky-mustard tang to salads.

Japanese Knotweed (Reynoutria japonica)

Japanese knotweed is a rapidly spreading, clump-forming weed with large heart-shaped leaves and slender creamy white erect flower spikes. The weedy plant spreads through rhizomes deep in the ground. Although the weed dies back every year, it grows fast and can reach up to 7 ft. (2.1 m) tall.

The yellowish-white or dull white flowers appear on small spikes in late summer and early fall. New leaves emerge dark red on reddish-purple shoots and can grow up to 5.5” (14 cm) long. The creamy-white flowering spikes grow 6” (15 cm) tall.

Types of White Flowering Weeds in Lawn (With Pictures) – Identification

Weeds with white flowers can easily affect the appearance of a well-kept lawn. After spending time and money fertilizing a lawn, the last thing you want to see is small white flowers in the grass. Here are some of the most common white-flowering lawn weeds.

White Clover (Trifolium repens)

White clover is a common perennial lawn weed with rich green leaves and masses of spherical heads of creamy-white flowers. White clover becomes a weed when it spreads rapidly via creeping stems. The dark green tear-shaped leaves grow in groups of three, and the white flowers bloom from spring through fall.

White clover is a weedy plant loved and despised by gardeners. It grows 4” to 6” (10 – 15 cm) tall and spreads aggressively from freely-rooting stems up to 1 ft. (30 cm). In many states, the plant is considered an invasive weed.

However, white clover has several benefits to a garden. For example, you can grow it to prevent soil erosion or plant it on slopes as clover grass where traditional turfgrass won’t grow.

The best way to prevent white clover from taking over lawns is to ensure your lawn is healthy. Also, it’s best not to mow turfgrass too short because white clover weeds thrive in shorter grass.

Related reading: How to grow a clover lawn.

Common Chickweed (Stellaria media)

Common chickweed is a sprawling white-flowering plant with weed-like properties. The weedy plant is identified by its small white spring flowers consisting of five deeply lobed petals. Additionally, small green oval-ovate leaves growing oppositely up the stems create a dense mat of foliage.

Chickweed has white flowers that are unusual because the five delicate petals appear as ten petals. Apart from its invasive spreading properties, chickweed produces hundreds of seeds that get easily distributed over large distances.

Common chickweed is a significant white-flowering lawn weed. The tiny white flowers and thickets of foliage can quickly ruin the appearance of lush turfgrass. Chickweed grows up to 1.5 ft. (0.45 m) tall.

Daisy (Bellis perennis)

Daisies are considered beautiful white flowers until they start growing in the grass. However, white daisies become a lawn weed when they take root in turfgrass and spread aggressively via rhizome roots. The white-flowering weedy plant has flowers with white oblong petals in a ray formation surrounding a yellow disc.

Identifying features of daisies are their characteristic white and yellow round flowerheads and spoon-shaped leaves growing flat to the ground. Clump-forming daisies grow 8” (20 cm) tall. Their leaves are 0.75” to 2” (2 – 5 cm) long, and the flowers are up to 1.25” (3 cm) in diameter.

White lawn weeds like daisies can be difficult to eradicate from lawns. It can seem that when you get rid of them, the white flowers in the grass start growing the following season again.

Bindweed (Calystegia sepium)

Also called hedge bindweed, this weedy vining plant is identified by its large white trumpet-like flowers. Bindweed is a true weedy plant because of its ability to spread quickly, twine around other plants, inhibit the growth of native plants, and has a robust root system.

Also called bellbind, twining bindweed grows up to 13 ft. (4 m) long and has arrowhead-shaped leaves and showy white flowers. Unfortunately, the issue with bindweed as a noxious white-flowering lawn weed is its extensive root system spreading up to 10 ft. (3 m). The weedy vine with white flowers can cause bare patches on lawns as it chokes out native turfgrass.

Purple Flowering Weeds (With Pictures) – Identification

Purple flowering weeds are a common sight in the spring. While some may be invasive, all of them are pretty and relatively easy to identify. Please read on to discover what weeds with purple flowers could affect your garden.

Creeping Thistle (Cirsium arvense)

Many horticulturists consider creeping thistle the most invasive weed in the world. The purple-flowering noxious weedy plant has invasive horizontal and vertical roots that create an extensive system. The creeping thistle has pinkish-purple flowers and sparse leaves on wiry green stems. This weed with purple flowers grows up to 5 ft. (1.5 m) tall.

Creeping thistle is a common purple lawn weed that produces clusters of up to five purple flower heads on a stem. Together, there can be over 100 flower heads per shoot. The weedy growth from creeping thistle comes from its thickened roots that produce numerous shoots per season.

Alternative names for creeping thistle explain its weedy nature. For example, curses thistle, lettuce from hell, prickly thistle, and stinger needles are some common names for Cirsium arvense.

Chicory (Cichorium intybus)

Chicory is a non-native flowering weedy plant with purple or pale blue flowers. Chicory is identified by its flowers with purple petals radiating in a fan shape from the center. The edible herbaceous plants have lance-shaped hairy leaves, pretty bluish-purple flowers, and tough taproots.

Chicory plants grow 3 to 4 ft. (1 – 1.2 m) tall and up to 2 ft. (0.6 m) wide. Although the purple-flowering plant has weed-like growth, it’s not as invasive as other weeds. Chicory commonly grows in waste areas, along roadsides, and in pastures.

The most common use of chicory as a beneficial herb is to dry its edible taproots to use as a coffee substitute.

Purple Flowering Weeds in Lawn (With Pictures) – Identification

Purple flowering weeds in lawns are a common sight, especially during summer. But, by the end of the season, these weeds can be overtaking your lawn. Here are some weeds with purple flowers that can infest turfgrass.

Creeping Charlie, Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea)

Creeping Charlie or ground ivy is a weedy, aggressively spreading plant with heart-shaped leaves and purple flowers. Creeping Charlie commonly invades lawns and can quickly take them over. But, very soon, lawns infested with creeping Charlie can become a matted carpet of small trumpet-shaped flowers and fan-shaped leaves.

Creeping Charlie typically grows up to 1 ft. (0.3 m) tall. After blooming, the stems droop to the ground and spread to 2.4 ft. (0.76 m) wide. The issue with this purple-flowering lawn weed is that it survives mowing and continues to thrive and take over turfgrass.

Common Blue Violet (Viola sororia)

Common blue violet is a purple flowering weedy plant that can self-seed in lawns and hence is considered as an undesirable wildflower. Blue violets spread quickly in yards due to their horizontally spreading roots and fast growth. The lawn weed is identified by its five-petalled purple flowers with white throats and heart-shaped leaves.

Some gardeners view blue violet plants as useful lawn and garden plants for enhancing a landscape. However, suppose you want blue violets to flourish in a lawn. In that case, reducing nitrogen fertilization and keeping the lawn shaded is vital.

Selfheal (Prunella vulgaris)

Selfheal is a purple flowering weedy plant that can infest lawns. The creeping perennial plant produces erect spikes of purple tubular flowers, blooming from spring through summer until fall. The ground-spreading plant has lanceolate, serrated leaves. It grows 1 to 2 ft. (0.3 – 0.6 m) tall and up to 9” (22 cm) wide.

Selfheal can become a problem in lawns that have full sun to partial shade exposure.

However, its weedy growth means the purple-flowering plant has uses as evergreen ground cover or erosion control. It forms a dense mat of green leaves and purple flowers.

Types of Pink Flowering Weeds (With Pictures) – Identification

Common Thistle (Cirsium vulgare)

Also called spear thistle, this noxious weed is identified by its pinkish-purple flowers, gray-green spiny leaves, and erect stems growing 3 to 5 ft. (1 – 1.5 m) tall. The weedy nature of common thistles means they form dense thickets, crowding out native plants. This weed-like growth can impact foraging in pasture areas due to its spiny, jaggy leaves.

Pink thistle flowers have disc florets that are long tubular, forming a colorful crown on a greenish spiny ball. The long 7-inch (17 cm) leaves are deeply lobed and contain spines.

Types of Pink Flowering Weeds in Lawn (With Pictures) – Identification

Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)

Red clover is a common lawn weed with pink flowers. The perennial low-growing spreading plant has slender stalks, small oblong leaves, and rose-pink rounded flowers growing at the end of stems. The weedy plant can spoil the appearance of lawns due to its clumping nature, pink flowers, and fuzzy broadleaves.

Despite its name, red clover produces pinkish flowers, not deep red flowers. And the weedy plant blooms from spring through fall.

Red clover has beneficial uses despite being classed as a pink-flowering lawn weed. It is ideal for soil improvement to boost nitrogen levels and attract pollinators to gardens.

Other Flowering Weeds

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

Dandelion is a yellow-flowering weed that can impact the appearance of a well-kept lawn. Dandelion’s weedy growth comes from its deep taproots that are difficult to remove. As a result, the plant grows vigorously in lawns, covering them with yellow flowers. Dandelion is identified by its deeply lobed leaves and golden yellow disc-shaped flowers.

Creeping Buttercup (Ranunculus repens)

As the name suggests, creeping buttercup is a spreading plant with yellow flowers that can become a weed issue in lawns. Buttercups spread through stoloniferous (creeping) roots. The ground-running stems produce stems with finely hairy, dark green leaves and golden yellow, five-petaled flowers.

Purslane (Portulaca oleracea)

Purslane is a weedy plant with succulent leaves, red stems, and yellow cup-shaped flowers with four lobed petals. Also called hogweed, pigweed, or pursley, this spreading plant has taproots and fibrous secondary roots. The small yellow flowers are identified by their five heart-shaped petals and clusters of spoon-shaped green leaves.

Related articles:

• Homemade Weed Killers: Natural, Safe, Non-Toxic
• Types of Weeds – Identification Guide
• Types of Lawn Weeds – Identification and Control