What plant is this?

JuliusCaesar

Can anyone identify this plant/weed?




http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc365/fionnulamac/IMG_7717.jpg

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Lily?

Delphinium

Wait till it flowers and then you can identify it easily. Probably is a lily.

Holy Diver

You've got some willowherb going on also

JuliusCaesar

I know, it's a bugger. It had taken over the front garden and we uprooted the lot and took it down to the bonfire. What neither of us thought about, the buggers were in seed, and so the effin' seeds landed ALL OVER the back garden. As it spreads both by root and seed, and any fraction of a root can re-grow (even left for up to 30 years by some reports), it'll require unrelenting efforts - not possible - to eradicate it.

Thanks!

Day Lewin

Does not look quite like a willowherb to me.
It may be purple toadflax...did it have tall spikes of purple flowers?

http://wildflowerfinder.org.uk/Flowers/T/Toadflax(Purple)/Toadflax(Purple).htm

A wildflower and an attractive one. Very inclined to spread into cracks of paving. Not hard to control.

toddunctious

I agree with it being a toadflax not a lily.
I have the purple one, spreads like a weed but looks good so I don't mind it.

JuliusCaesar

The one to the right was the one I wanted to identify. The one to the left, with purple stems, is the rosebay willowherb, the pest, which grows to enormous height - 6ft or more - a lot taller than me!

Day Lewin

Ah yes - to the left, a willowherb, either Rosebay or Greater, if it is that big.

And to the right, I think a toadflax - have you tried breaking a small bit of stem to see if there is any milky juice in it?

Sasso

Same question please weed or plant ?..

Day Lewin

To a botanist, there's no difference. It's all a question of what you want. A weed is a plant in a place that a human doesn't want it, basically.

To a gardener, all the willowherbs are weeds because they spread so rapidly.
But Madonna lilies are a weed in New Zealand.

Of the ones shown by the OP, the willowherb is likely to become a nuisance in a suburban garden. The toadflax, though a wild flower rather than a cultivated one, is not so likely to bother you.

Day Lewin

@Sasso

That's a Mallow. A perfect example!

Grown by some as a garden shrub for its handsome pinky-purple blooms, it frequently escapes to grow in hedges and odd corners. Leave it if you like it, pull it up if you don't.

Sasso

They are two pics of the same, one is just a close up, so what you reckon please ?.

Day Lewin

Sasso wrote: »

They are two pics of the same, one is just a close up, so what you reckon please ?.

A Mallow. See above.

Sasso

Hers another one, I have one of these in a large pot for years.
What's it called ?. How to care for it. OH keeps it in pot to restrict it growing huge. Not actual pic but internet pic.

looksee

No pic at all!

Day Lewin

Can't see any pic, sorry

looksee

Though it occurs to me that if you found an internet pic of it you must have also found its name?

Sasso

Sorry guys, could not manage to attach pic but eventually did ID it off net.

Echium candicans

Any advice on care, pruning etc. I see some locally and they can go huge. Sorry if incorrect forum, don't want go off topic. TIA