Here is an incomplete list of plants that are growing in the area in and around the food forest. Some details and photos below.
Crabgrass
Sorrel
Lambsquarters
Creeping Charlie
Purslane
Smartweed
Spotted Spurge
Bladder Campion
Evening Lychnis
Bedstraw
Phlox
Dock
Mullein
Goldenrod
Canadian Fleabane or Horseweed
Virginia Creeper
Cypress Spurge
Japanese Knotweed
Stinging Nettle
Honeysuckle
Grape
Staghorn Sumac
Buckthorn
Boxelder
Green Ash
Butternut
Poplar
Elm
Black Walnut?
Willow
Closer to the playground
Sycamore
Elderberry
Black Locust
Late June 2023
It's interesting to know that many common wildflowers are not native species (most of us aren't either) but neither are they all invasive; they just live here now. It's also good to know which are edible and how to positively identify them.
Above right photo - Bladder Campion (Silene cucubalus or S. vulgaris, NOT Bladderwort, not native, NOT invasive), with Cypress Spurge (Euphorbia cyparissias, not native, invasive) and Mullein (Verbascum thapsus, not native). Canadian Fleabane aka Horseweed (Erigeron canadensis, native) in the upper left corner of the photo. Young leaves of Bladder Campion are edible, known as Skulpit or Stridolo in Italy. I have it in my garden and enjoyed it as an early addition to salads. We should make sure they don't mow that!
Photo above on the right is Cypress Spurge. Below are some young Bladder Campion greens.
https://www.tyrantfarms.com/stridolo-silene-vulgaris-how-to-grow-and-eat-with-recipes/
There is also some Evening Lychnis here and there (Lychnis alba), similar in some ways to Bladder Campion, but very different and not edible.
Spotted spurge (Euphorbia maculata, native) with its maroon spot on each leaf and the ubiquitous and loveable common purslane (Portulaca oleracea). As many of you no doubt know, purslane is edible and great as an addition to salads or all by itself.
