Unidentified plants in wildflower garden?

No photo, sorry. There are lots of these plants in an overgrown wildflower garden and not currently in bloom.





Herbaceous perennial. Root: rhizome. Stem: 2-3', unbranched, green, non-glossy, round, tiny white hairs. Leaves: simple, elliptical, alternate, 2.5 - 3.0 long by %26lt;.5", shallow notches.





It's not in bloom now, but the plant looks like a bit like garden phlox in shape, except that it does not have a tap root and the leaves are slightly notched and alternate instead of opposite, with more parallel than branched veins. Leaves are also a bit narrower than garden phlox.





I don't know what the blooms look like and there are no buds right now or any old flower or seed pods.





I'm in Minnesota, and am trying to clean up this old wildflower garden, but don't want to pull something that would flower later.





TIA for your help.

Unidentified plants in wildflower garden?
Could it be goldenrod? Without a picture it's hard to know, but it could also be a wildflower, some people even plant weeds in their gardens, so it's hard to know if it is a weed or will flower.
Reply:Although you give a good description of the plant I'm not able to identify it. If it is everywhere in the garden you should remove any that crowds other plants you wish to keep. Rhizomes spread quite readily, so removing some could prevent the garden from being overwhelmed next year.





Besides, a wildflower garden is ever changing. One perrennial may last several years, or die after three. Seed may not come up for several years until conditions are right. At some point your wildflowers will look less charming and more weedy, but you need to wait till the seed has set and dried before you pull and shake out annual seeds. Being as how your growing season is ? May - Oct you should wait till frost to cut back perrennials, just as you would with nursery plants.





Remember that wildflowers are sold by region so what's in your garden may include plants not native to, but still growable in your area. Below is a link, hopefully, to help identify the plant after it has flowered. You should save it to Favorites or Bookmarks until you need it.