My favourite weed.

Fern Bench · 09-06-2021 8:10pm #1

This is Valerian. I saw it last year standing on a stone wall looking into our garden so I invited it in (it was sprayed out of the neighbours' garden). I left a few seedlings around and I have been rewarded with these this year. In my opinion they're just as good, if not better than anything you'd pay 12 euro for in the garden centre.

It thrives on neglect, self seeds and is easily weeded if you don't like it!

celticbhoy27 · 09-06-2021 8:34pm

A fan of valerians myself. Wouldnt consider it as a weed either. Many plants are seen as weeds in differing countries. Agapanthus for example is considered a weed in New Zealand. Guess it comes down to the old cliche. A weed is just a plant in the wrong place

Jim_Hodge · 09-06-2021 8:37pm

It's more often considered a border perennial than a weed.

looksee · 09-06-2021 8:51pm

I found a small bit of Valarian that I put in the border last year and this year it has a nice few heads of pink flowers. I like the white ones! Its normally difficult enough to get a bit of Valarian it tends to be too firmly glued into walls.

macraignil · 09-06-2021 9:06pm

Fern Bench wrote: »

This is Valerian. I saw it last year standing on a stone wall looking into our garden so I invited it in (it was sprayed out of the neighbours' garden). I left a few seedlings around and I have been rewarded with these this year. In my opinion they're just as good, if not better than anything you'd pay 12 euro for in the garden centre.

It thrives on neglect, self seeds and is easily weeded if you don't like it!

Very nice garden photos and thanks for posting them. Seen them on old walls here myself so thought they would be ideal for an awkward north facing slope at the front of the house here and they are blooming very well at the moment. Actually found the seeds on sale on the internet and got some for a couple of euros. Only a small percentage turned out white. Must have hundreds around the garden now as I agree they are well worth encouraging. They form seeds in the first few flowers and I have found deadheading these when they are starting to switch over to making seed encourages more flowers to be produced and this really extends the flowering season for them.

Fern Bench · 09-06-2021 9:14pm

looksee wrote: »

I found a small bit of Valarian that I put in the border last year and this year it has a nice few heads of pink flowers. I like the white ones! Its normally difficult enough to get a bit of Valarian it tends to be too firmly glued into walls.

I think from seed worked out better for me. I never tried to actually transplant one.

Never knew it was a garden perennial. I've never seen it for sale anywhere. Around here it grows in stone walls and the laneway near our house. It broke my heart to see a neighbour spraying a stone wall full of Valerian, Polypody and Harts Tongue Fern. There is really an attitude of "It's not supposed to be there" among some gardeners. I believe this is loosening up in recent years though.

magicbastarder · 09-06-2021 9:23pm

we have purple toadflax growing in our garden, and many people would consider it a weed but the bees absolutely love it so i defer to their judgement.

Fern Bench · 09-06-2021 9:23pm

macraignil wrote: »

Very nice garden photos and thanks for posting them. Seen them on old walls here myself so thought they would be ideal for an awkward north facing slope at the front of the house here and they are blooming very well at the moment. Actually found the seeds on sale on the internet and got some for a couple of euros. Only a small percentage turned out white. Must have hundreds around the garden now as I agree they are well worth encouraging. They form seeds in the first few flowers and I have found deadheading these when they are starting to switch over to making seed encourages more flowers to be produced and this really extends the flowering season for them.

I could save some seeds from the white for you, not sure if they'll come true but sure PM me if you want to chance it.

looksee · 09-06-2021 10:08pm

My daughter had the pleasure of discovering toad flax though not in our garden (yet) - we do have the harts tongue and polypodies growing in all kinds of unlikely places, all these lovely natural wall plants are being encouraged. I haven't seen any pennywort around here though there is lots of it on the Waterford coast, one to look out for.

Edit, I didn't realise Pennywort is edible, that's interesting.

New Home · 10-06-2021 1:11am

looksee wrote: »

Edit, I didn't realise Pennywort is edible, that's interesting.

Is Pennywort Centella Asiatica? If so, it's not only edible, it's excellent for varicose veins and for your blood vessels blood circulation in general, in tablet format and as a cream.

looksee · 10-06-2021 9:13am

That's interesting, I had never bothered to look up the latin name for Pennywort, aka navelwort and various other names. I just now googled Centella Asiatica and it appears to me that two completely different plants come up. One with the fleshy 'navel' looking leaves with the stem in the middle of the leaf, the one I was thinking of, and the other a softer leaf of a shape similar to a winter heliotrope.

Wheety · 10-06-2021 9:18am

My wife likes the Evening Primrose growing in our garden. Seems to self seed very easily as we have a lot more of it this year in the 'wild' patch. Hasn't flowered yet.

looksee · 10-06-2021 9:32am

looksee wrote: »

That's interesting, I had never bothered to look up the latin name for Pennywort, aka navelwort and various other names. I just now googled Centella Asiatica and it appears to me that two completely different plants come up. One with the fleshy 'navel' looking leaves with the stem in the middle of the leaf, the one I was thinking of, and the other a softer leaf of a shape similar to a winter heliotrope.

Looking again at those pics, all purporting to be Centella Asiatica, another one appeared to be nasturtium and at least two had flowers nothing like the pennywort we see here. Given that they are all purporting to be medicinal or edible (granted nasturtium is edible) it seems Google is a dodgy form of identification.

tromtipp · 10-06-2021 10:43am

Wall pennywort Umbilicus rupestris, Navelwort

http://www.wildflowersofireland.net/plant_detail.php?id_flower=183

a favourite food of lambs according to an old neighbour of mine long ago.

The two things growing through my borders at the moment that I'm enjoying, but will thin out when needed, are:
Common sorrel which looks dock-like and charmless, but is adding an sharp bite to early summer salads - also goes well in soups of omelettes. And good for wildlife. I really need to boost the numbers of plants in the grassy areas of the garden and remove it from the flower beds. http://www.wildflowersofireland.net/plant_detail.php?id_flower=494#glos

Germander speedwell, glorious clouds of intensely blue flowers that are so light and delicate that they tremble in even the slightest breeze, so the whole patch of flowers seems to shimmer. Weaves through other things and fills a 'blues gap' between the end of the forget-me-nots and the start of the harebells (another native species plant). Surpisingly tough, I move bits of that out into the grass as well.
http://www.wildflowersofireland.net/plant_detail.php?id_flower=248&Wildflower=Speedwell,%20Germander

And I have a love-hate relationship with Shining cranesbill, so pretty, clean rich pink flowers the same size as forget-me-nots so they look gorgeous together, neat green leaves that turn red in autumn, but it is SUCH a thug, and seems to prevent other things from growing near it, so it gets banished to the bottom of retaining walls and other places where it can't harm its neighbours.

http://www.wildflowersofireland.net/plant_detail.php?id_flower=79&wildflower=Cranesbill,%20Shining

lrushe · 10-06-2021 11:51am

We get Hummingbird Moths in our garden because of the Valerian growing on our old stone wall. Closest thing to a Hummingbird Bird you'll get in Ireland

10-06-2021 12:00pm

Red Valerian, as this is, (even if it is white!) is abundant around Galway. Invasive in limestone pavement in the south of the county, and the coastal Burren, unfortunately. Can't be manually removed either, it's well rooted.

Alun · 10-06-2021 12:05pm

New Home wrote: »

Is Pennywort Centella Asiatica? If so, it's not only edible, it's excellent for varicose veins and for your blood vessels blood circulation in general, in tablet format and as a cream.

I only vaguely remember this from my childhood but we were on a caravanning holiday in very rural Wales and while out on a walk a very nosey old local woman remarked on the large wart on my sister's knee! We were a bit annoyed but she then pointed to the pennywort on the nearby wall and told us if we made a compress out of the crushed leaves and placed it on the wart it would be gone in a few days/weeks, I can't really remember. We didn't believe her, but it did in fact work! The wart disappeared and never came back.

macraignil · 10-06-2021 12:17pm

lrushe wrote: »

We get Hummingbird Moths in our garden because of the Valerian growing on our old stone wall. Closest thing to a Hummingbird Bird you'll get in Ireland

Its really interesting to see these flying about the garden alright but not seen any here so far this year. Managed to get a video clip of one feeding on the red valerian here last year. Just noticed it was just a week and a half back when I spotted the first one of the year then so hopefully they will be back again soon.

magicbastarder · 10-06-2021 12:30pm

in our wilder areas of the garden, herb robert and wood avens are very common; we also leave meadow buttercup, wild carrot and a few other 'weeds' alone. as well as some willowherb in a couple of places.

looksee · 10-06-2021 1:20pm

Creeping buttercup on the other hand...our entire garden glints golden, which is very pretty, but a bit monoculture-ish. Its getting hard to find grass between the buttercups on the 'lawn'.

Fern Bench · 10-06-2021 11:01pm

looksee wrote: »

Creeping buttercup on the other hand...our entire garden glints golden, which is very pretty, but a bit monoculture-ish. Its getting hard to find grass between the buttercups on the 'lawn'.

Creeping buttercup looks amazing at the moment alright but I'm over it at this stage. It's everywhere. Beds and lawns. My weeding these days often consists of spending half an hour weeding this plant alone. It's in among the hardy geraniums which is tricky as the leaves are very similar. I often find it growing right at the centre of other plants, not a bother on it.
There's a satisfying crunch though when you grab hold of a good bit of root...even though the crunch probably means you've left half the root behind...

Agree on the sorrel. I must remember to use it more in the kitchen. It's everywhere at the moment.

Haven't seen this moth on Valerian. Must look out for it.

celticbhoy27 · 11-06-2021 8:45am

Creeping buttercup is the bane of my life at the moment

tromtipp · 11-06-2021 9:25am

Fiendish plant. Those Japanese hand hoe tools help getting it out - they extend the reach of your arm by about 40cm, so you can hold the top of the plant with one hand and prize the very tenacious roots out with the pointed tip of the hoe (using the rest of the blade as a lever if necessary). Then follow the runners for the next one.

This kind of thing

https://www.thegardenersworkshop.com/product-tag/japanese-hand-hoe-gardening-tool/

It's also fun to get your eye in for differences between creeping buttercup and meadow buttercup (taller, lacier leaves, not such a menace) so that you can amuse yourself on long journeys spotting which is growing where. Okay, fun for the sort of person who likes Id-ing passing buttercups.

New Home · 11-06-2021 10:50am

Hello, boys and girls, and welcome to Blue Peter. Let me introduce you to Meadow Buttercup, the ballerina, and her brother Creeping Buttercup, the MMA champion.

11-06-2021 1:28pm

Another lovely weed for the garden is Bird'sfoot Trefoil. A very handy plant for edges of drives or rough gravelly spots, will soften and improve the look of these. If you have sunny, well drained lawns which never grow too fast, it can also thrive in there. Don't buy seed, it can be collected abundantly from July, or you could rescue plants from imminent development, it often grows in abandoned lots.

Truly excellent plant for butterflies, essential for some. It will attract Holly and Common Blues, Dingy Skippers, maybe even a Clouded Yellow.

SnowyMuckish · 11-06-2021 11:08pm

I do love my weeds but creeping buttercup drives me to distraction! The irony of it is is that it’s smothering my ‘wildflower’ meadow that I so carefully cultivated. Oh well at least I have one successful truly wild wildflower!

I love the vipers bugloss weed in my garden at the moment. It’s looking very architectural! I managed to grow only two plants from seed a few years ago and now it seems to have finally caught on and spread. A great plant for bees and pollinators.

Goldfinch8 · 15-06-2021 12:52pm

Even though I certainly don't regard it as a weed, others might do so particularly in the lawn, but I have a real fondness for red clover. It is very common and most are very familiar with it, but it is one of my favourite plants. It is also one of the most desirable flowers of pollinators in my own garden certainly.
May was very cool in this part of the West like many other places, and certainly some plants and flowers are a little behind. On the other hand, there is a lovely patch of buttercups and clover in the garden that has been humming with insects over the past few weeks and it has given a lovely splash of colour despite a lot of grey weather here recently. I even love the way this small piece of meadow sways and moves in the breeze.

A Carder Bee busy on some red clover this week.
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Red clover and buttercups sway in the breeze as the first Ox eye daisies now get ready to put on their show.
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I have seen some Common Blue Butterflies on the clover flowers in the past week. This is a pic of one taken two summers ago when there was a lot of them to be seen in the wild parts of the garden.
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looksee · 15-06-2021 4:04pm

What gorgeous photos - and (apart from the horsetail

) what a lovely meadow, much nicer than the imitation wild flower meadows beloved of county councils!

Goldfinch8 · 16-06-2021 12:23am

Thank you looksee and you certainly have a keen eye regarding the horsetail:) Any of us who have ever tussled with it at some stage find it hard to forget!!
I have really enjoyed this meadow coming into flower this year and rather than doing anything dramatic, I find that it is more a case of letting nature be sometimes.
Secondly, a number of months ago you mentioned in a different thread that a mattock was a tool that you highly regarded in the garden. After reading that, I eventually got one myself and I am delighted with it. Thanks again for a most practical and helpful recommendation.

My favourite weed.

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