Plant & Weed ID Megathread

Nigzcurran

Any idea on these 2 please? No idea if weeds or something I planted and forgot about!

macraignil

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122103781#Comment_122103781

Are they fox gloves? Should be about to produce a spike of flowers which would be purple in the wild type but there are a number of cultivated forms with other colours.

Happy gardening!

The Continental Op

Not 100% sure but first thought was top one might be Comfrey and the bottom a self seeded foxglove?

Nigzcurran

We definitely had something like a foxglove about 6/7 years ago close to where the dark green one is but disappeared for some reason. The smaller light green one is on the opposite side of the garden and definitely never had anything like it there before. I'll leave them be and hopefully theyll flower at some stage. Thank you

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122103967#Comment_122103967

Fox gloves will turn up anywhere they are what as know as a pioneer species. So if you clear fell a forest one of the first plants to colonise the new space will be foxgloves. Often they don't last long maybe 3 years at most before other species take over. So no surprises they will pop up in a garden.

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122104047#Comment_122104047

I always wondered about that and thought that perhaps the seeds remained dormant when the trees were in-situ, but germinated then when the forest was cut and sunlight warmed the soil. But that was just my thought process.

New Home

Could it be verbascum?

ImAHappyCamper

What kind of tree is this please?

New Home

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122104216#Comment_122104216

Laburnum.

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122104137#Comment_122104137

You're spot on, Foxglove seed doesn't spread far from the parent plant but they can sit dormant for years, hence why they can pop up seemingly anywhere. I think both the OPs pics are Foxgloves btw, one in second year of growth and one in first, they are biennials.

https://grownintheuk.co.uk/foxglove/#:~:text=Digitalis%20purpurea%20is%20a%20biennial,is%20inadequate%20light%20or%20moisture.

Mr.Wemmick

creeping butter cup is everywhere. Just trying to stop it from flowering. Pulled a great amount of it out today. We have lots of nettles which doesn’t bother me half as much as creeping buttercup does. Has anyone ever got the better of it?

Hippodrome Song Owl

Thank you to everyone here who has given dire warnings about creeping buttercup! I have been watching carefully for it in the lawn (which is unfortunately in shocking bad shape after the winter) and thankfully no sign. Yesterday, however, I saw a yellow flower appear among my geraniums in my raised bed and realised it was indeed the dreaded creeping buttercup. The leaves were so similar to the geranium from a distance that I hadn't realised what was happening. Thankfully, I knew immediately what it must be once the flower appeared and managed to untangle it and remove it all.

Thanks also to those who have flagged three-cornered leek here - that has also appeared in my garden, and I'm grateful to have known to remove it instead of being conned by the pretty white flower.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122104137#Comment_122104137

i have a vague memory that foxglove seeds can last dormant for a century before germinating, when the conditions are right; e.g. a tree falls in a woodland, taking several others out and creating an 'island' of light lasting several years.

looksee

I have foxgloves as a permanent feature in my garden, but they never appear twice in the same spot. Well maybe that is overstating it a bit, but they do get around. They are mostly allowed to do their own thing, except when they appear in paving or pots, they are a bit big for those!

Mr Wemmick - I am just waiting for the right moment to spray my condsiderable areas of creeping buttercup, its not a very successful method I know, I will just have to keep after it and spray it several times, but there is far too much to dig it out.

Meanwhile I cardborded a patch that I want to grow fruit bushes in - several layers of heavy duty cardboard - and there are a couple of buttercups forcing their way though!

Mr.Wemmick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122105787#Comment_122105787

I’m also using cardboard this week in two beds - moved here last year and we were too busy to tackle the weeds. I just keep hacking them back so they don’t flower at least. Willow herb too, tons of it. Late winter, I plan to fabric cover beds so to keep weeds under control.

There’s a small woodland here and creeping butter has taken over.. all we can do is strim it and hope. Reluctant to use any weed killer in there. Are there any woodland plants that would help limit its hold, anyone know? Nettles galore in there too, but they’re so much easier to manage. Some thistles too, but again they’re not too bad to manage.

magicbastarder

if buttercup is doing well in a woodland, why would you want to remove it? it's a native plant and good for pollinators.

nettles suggests very rich soil.

Mr.Wemmick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122105929#Comment_122105929

because it swamps everything else. Planted native bluebells last year and they’re swamped. I would like to see some red clover take hold too, but it just buttercup and it then finds its way into the garden.

looksee

Agreed, I am trying to encourage an area with hazels, amalanchier, crab apples, rhododendrons, aronia and other shrubs, along with the existing hawthorns, elder and sycamore, with honeysuckle, arum lilies, native bluebells, snowdrops and other native plants but it is completely overwhelmed again with nettles and huge thistles, and while there are a good few buttercups they are a strip 1 to 2 metres wide round the edges, even they can't compete with the nettles. There are lots of places where nettles are left to grow naturally, especially in the corner where the log/stick pile is, and in the mature orchard bit the grass and weeds are knee high (including the hogweed), but I would like to be able to get into the corner that I am planting with shrubs.

Mr.Wemmick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122106207#Comment_122106207

We tackled the nettles (long white stalks) and thistles all over winter into spring and got control of them, to a degree. You could replace the gym with taking out thistles & nettles with a sharp weeding hoe every day.

Agree, it’s lovely to encourage growth of native flowers and plants in a woodland and create a diverse habitat. I guess we will just keep strimming the butter cup to control it for now. I’d love to see a whole thriving mass of snow drops in our small woodland.

wildwillow

Saw two beautiful red lily beetles on my plants this morning. Quickly dispatched them. If you have lily plants it would be a good idea to check for this pest.

Mr.Wemmick

Anyone know what this is? It has a small purple flower, growing along the hedgerows and coming into bloom now. Sorry - my pic is a bit dark.

The Continental Op

Common Vetch. In the garden its a weed but to be encouraged in wild areas.

karlitob

in France - spotted these beauties. Crimson bottlebrush - whoever named it was spot on.

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122108455#Comment_122108455

They'll grow here well enough but not in the coldest gardens. We get regular winter freezes and the neighbor has a really good one. Ours is OK but a bit crowded out.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122105908#Comment_122105908

If you wanted a native flower that does well, you could go for ramsons (wild garlic, and avoid three cornered leek). It spreads strongly.

looksee

Has anyone noticed the huge amount of Lady's smock this year, I was delighted to discover a couple of them in my garden, but there is a lot of it in the verges and ditches.

highdef

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122108684#Comment_122108684

Noticed lots of it the front field at my Longford house in the past few weeks and wondered what it was. Now I know.

Speedsie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122108684#Comment_122108684

Yep, great year for it, great to see it popping up in new spots

Igotadose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122103688#Comment_122103688

Or, if there's a color form you like, wait till the seed heads dry out then collect the seeds. It's how I got mine started from someone elses garden :)

bored_newbie

20240506_172525.jpg

My grassy hill is lined with these, what are they?