The plant form is scraggly, and deeply cut leaves grow on reddish stems. It reproduces by seed, so do pull it before the flowers turn into a seed capsule that looks kind of like astork's bill. This winter annual pulls easily, and, again, dense, happy turf helps diminish this pest. Chickweed is another winter annual that really seems to go wild in early spring. It's a sprawly, mat-type fleshy plant that may remind you of a small, soft tumbleweed.
Flowers are white with five petals growing in clusters at stem ends.
Crabgrass may be a summer annual, but it germinates about the time crabapple and forsythia bloom. Look for tufted or prostrate, ugly flattened clumps with hairy stems, broad leaves and flower spikes of two to nine finger-like branches. It reproduces by seed. The perennial resembles a small ornamental salvia. It even has a nice little blue bloom spike.