9 Weeds With Yellow Flowers (Identify by Photo)

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Gardening is an art. But weeds can spoil your garden. The reasons are their aggressive growth while competing for space, sunlight, water, and nutrients with desirable plants.

Hence, it becomes a top priority for gardeners to remove the weeds invading their growing space by identifying them early. While it is easy to identify weeds that appear wild, weeds with colorful flowers might escape your eyes.

When we talk about weeds with flowers, weeds with yellow are the most common in lawns and gardens. Most resemble the typical flowers in your growing space, thus making it difficult to detect their growth.

Hence, we have brought you a list of the most common yellow flowering weeds (with pictures), their characteristics, and the methods to eliminate them. So, you can identify and get rid of them to foster a healthy lawn.

9 Weeds with Yellow Flowers

Here we have listed all the weeds with yellow flowers to help you to recognize and stop them before they ruin your lawn or garden.

1. Yellow Sorrel

Yellow Sorrel (Oxalis stricta)
Image source: pinterest.ca
Scientific Name: Oxalis stricta

Yellow Sorrel is the most common yellow flowering weed found in gardens and lawns. The growth is usually aggressive as it spreads through rhizomes and seeds. It mainly shows after early spring, even if you treat your lawn for weeds.

Yellow Sorrel blooms from early fall to late summer and bears cup-shaped yellow flowers. Moreover, its leaves are characterized by a heart-shaped appearance and green color. It can grow up to 15 inches tall and upright.

Hence, considering the aggressive nature of yellow sorrel, it becomes necessary to handle it in time. You can get rid of it by simply pulling it from the ground before it begins to seed. Moreover, you can also spread pre-emergent herbicides to get rid of them effectively.

2. Purslane

Purslane (Portulaca oleracea)
Image source: plants.ces.ncsu.edu
Scientific Name: Portulaca oleracea

Purslane is also a great name in the list of weeds with yellow flowers. It shows an invasive growth by propagating through various parts such as root, leaf, and seed.

Moreover, it falls under the category of succulent weeds that store water in the leaves, thus making itself suitable for harsh climatic conditions.

You can mainly find Purslane approaching in summer, bearing tiny yellow flowers. The leaves and stems retain a reddish-purple color while it spreads low on the ground. The other distinguishable feature of this yellow flowering weed is its oval-shaped leaves that appear smooth and fleshy.

Purslane having various propagation mechanisms makes it difficult for gardeners to remove it. It also can get killed by cold climatic conditions.

However, you can remove it by pulling it from the roots and removing every part of it off the ground.

Also Read: 5 Types of Purple Weeds with Pictures

3. Black Medic

Black Medic (Medicago lupulina)
Image source:feedipedia.org
Scientific Name: Medicago lupulina

Black medic can also be a nightmare for your lawn. It is because it can establish itself in harsh conditions, such as soil with low nitrogen content. Moreover, producing seeds and propagating even if you mow your lawn is relatively easy.

If you have white clover on your lawn, you are most likely to find black medic beside it, resembling them in appearance. It spreads low like a mat and hinders the maturing of other plants.

You can decipher its presence by clusters of small yellow flowers with toothed and rounded leaves. The teeth form a unique structure in the leaves by lining the leaf margins and appearing singly on the tip.

Black medic establishes a deep taproot, making it difficult to remove from the ground. However, you can remove it by spraying water on the ground to soften the soil and then pulling it out. In heavy growth, spraying broadleaf herbicides at appropriate times is the solution.

4. Golden Clover

Golden Clover
Image source: wikipedia.org
Scientific Name: Trifolium aureum

Clovers never leave your lawn, be they red clover or white clover. However, to accompany them, you can also come across their yellow flowering cousin, the Golden clover. It has a higher tendency to invade the growth of the desirable plants in your lawn by spreading and seeding aggressively.

Its stems grow thick, and the leaves catch a dark green appearance. It produces hop-like yellow flowers emerging from the center of the stem. You can find its seed in your lawn during fall to enhance its propagation.

Golden clover sucks nutrients and moisture out of the soil, thus making it deficient for other plants. 

Hence, it becomes necessary to outwit its growth by pulling it from the ground before it begins to seed. However, the fact that it can return to your lawn makes it necessary to fertilize it in the spring.

5. Creeping Buttercup

Creeping Buttercup (Ranunculus repens)
Image source:wikipedia.org
Scientific Name: Ranunculus repens

Creeping buttercup announces its mysterious nature through its name itself. You can find it growing low on the ground in wet areas.

It spreads aggressively on the ground through rhizomes and proves toxic if ingested. You can recognize it in your lawn through its buttercup-like flowers emerging out of stems. It is connected through vines with leaves resembling cilantro and parsley.

You can remove creeping buttercup by pulling them off the ground if they are present in small numbers. It becomes easy if your lawn is well-drained.

The best time to pull it off the ground is during fall, when its roots are less likely to break, considering its strong nature. However, if pulling is impossible, broadleaf herbicides can greatly help.

6. Creeping Cinquefoil

Creeping Cinquefoil (Creeping CinquefoilI)
Image source:first-nature.com
Scientific Name: Creeping CinquefoilI

Creeping Cinquefoil is another member of weeds with yellow flowers that belongs to the family of roses. It has a high capacity to deter the growth of other plants in your lawn.

You can distinguish Creeping Cinquefoil by its five-fingered, dark green leaves. Small yellow flowers can be seen emerging out of each stem. This yellow flowering weed spreads through its stems by growing new offshoots.

Creeping Cinquefoil has various removal methods. You can pull it off the ground or plant more desirable plants surrounding it to outwit its growth.

Herbicides such as glyphosate also aid when the growth is highly invasive. You might also need repeated treatment to eradicate this yellow flowering weed from your lawn.

7. Dandelions

Dandelions (Taraxacum officinale)
Image source: wikipedia.org
Scientific Name: Taraxacum officinale

Dandelions are the most common weed with yellow flowers you can come across on your lawn. You are more likely to confuse it with other flowering plants. It is also one of the toughest weeds to get rid of once established in your garden because of its deep taproot system.

leaves also appear large. The flowers emerge from each stem and seed in clusters. Dandelions also spread quickly as the wind swiftly carries their seeds.

The unique part about Dandelions is their flowers remain open during the day and close themselves at night. Unlike other weeds with yellow flowers, Dandelions are hard to pull off the ground due to their deep taproot. Hence, the only thing that comes to your rescue here is a broadleaf herbicide.

8. Birdsfoot Trefoil

Birdsfoot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus)
Image source: ipmimages.org
Scientific Name: Lotus corniculatus

Birdsfoot Trefoil is a yellow flowering weed known for its highly invasive growth. It grows in a matting pattern and overpowers the growth of other plants surrounding it. It tends to establish itself quickly with its seeds and rhizomes.

Birdsfoot Trefoil is recognizable through its whorl-like yellow flowers amid narrow leaflets. The stems of this yellow flowering weed grow up to 20 inches tall. You can usually find Birdsfoot Trefoil in uneven patches across your lawn.

As mentioned earlier, this weed with yellow flowers propagates through rhizomes, which is challenging to eliminate.

Hence, you must eradicate it off the ground by removing its root before it becomes invasive. However, if the growth becomes uncontrollable, you can choose selective chemical treatment.

9. Black-Eyed Susans

Black-Eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta)
Image source: housebeautiful.com
Scientific Name: Rudbeckia hirta

Black-eyed Susans are the most commonly found weeds in gardens. Some even consider it as a flower.

It easily establishes itself in lawns as it grows under tough conditions like drought, heat, and dryness. It challenges the growth of other desirable plants growing in your lawn by seeding, making it necessary to remove them.

It produces large yellow flowers in clusters with thin, dark green stems. The stems can grow up to 2 ft tall. You can distinguish it from other yellow flowering weeds with its central green stalk.

This weed with yellow flower seeds in the fall through the conversion of its flowers.

Hence, the easiest way of getting rid of it is by discarding the heads of flowers so they can not spread the seeds. You can also remove it by pulling it off the ground. However, the former method prevents it from returning to your lawn.

FAQ’s

Is it necessary to remove weeds that produce pretty flowers?

Yes. They tend to compete with other desirable plants in your lawn and overpower their growth. Hence, it is necessary to remove them.

How to distinguish weeds with yellow flowers from other garden flowers?

You can identify the common yellow flowering weeds with the description provided here. Moreover, if you did not plant any yellow flowering plants in your lawn and yet you find some, they are most likely to be weeds.

What is the most common method to remove weeds with yellow flowers?

The most common method is to pull the weed off the ground without leaving behind any of its parts on the ground. However, for weeds with a deep taproot, other methods are used.

When is the right time to pull weeds off the ground?

The right time to pull weeds off the ground for most weeds is before they begin to seed.

What methods to adapt when the growth of weed is highly invasive?

In such cases, the best way to deal with weeds is to spray pre- and post-emergent herbicides.

Conclusion

Weeds with yellow flowers are most predominant among the flowering weeds. The flowers resemble the desirable flowering plants, which can make them go unnoticed on your lawn.

However, their invasive and competitive nature makes it necessary to remove them before they overpower your lawn.

Hence, you can recognize the yellow flowering weeds mentioned above in your lawn and follow the removal methods to have a healthy lawn.

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