Weeds? What weeds?

i love this blog!! that campanula is amazing, and i love those Asplenium scolopendrium.

worst weed ~ moss if that counts, then forget me not and rose bay willow herb as well as welsh poppy but i dont mind them.

in the previous garden it was ground elder ~ utterly dreadful stuff.

Interesting blog, Mel.

It is amazing how weeds take up residence in the most unlikely pavement cracks and wall crevices.

When is a weed not a weed ?

Ivy in the wrong place is a pain ...

Thanks, Sticki! Moss must count, mustn't it? My front lawn is now about 4 inches deep with moss - the mower gets quite bogged down! (It still looks ok though, so I pretend it isn't there! Once I start I'll have to finish, and I'm just not ready for it yet!) There are ferns on some of the other walls as well - great, aren't they? I have loads of forget-me-nots. I don't mind them too much because when they first come out they are such a welcome sight, and they are fairly easy to pull out. Rose bay willow herb is a nuisance, but I love the poppies. I just pull out the ones I don't want. Ground elder is AWFUL, and I find ground ivy (glechoma hederacea) a pain. I did once pull some up and use it in a hanging basket, though - it was an excellent trailer!

I've got loads of ivy, Terra, but most of it is ok. I do try and stop it from running right through the beds though - and I do mean "running" - it travels at a tremendous rate.

Lol... "Usain Bolt" ivy. ;o)

:-)))

The worst weed in the allotment next door is mares tail and chickweed. You think you've got it all out, turn your back and its there again! I think our garden is too full to allow space for many weeds.How is it the weeds grow much quicker than the flowers!

I suppose it's because they are native plants and are very comfortable where they are, thank you, Rose! Mare's tail is awful - I don't think you ever get to the bottom of it, unfortunately. It's a survivor - it's supposed to have been on the planet for millions of years, I believe!

You have some very pretty weeds and some very tenacious weeds there.

My worst is a toss up between mares tail and brambles. I've just been and cleared half a wheelie bin of brambles and ive not even done 1/4 of the garden :-(

Frustrating things weeds aren't they.

They certainly are, Sam! Brambles are really hard. I read once that a good tug right where they emerge deals with them very effectively. Trouble is, where they grow I find it really hard to get right back to ground level and they break off, as well. Once, when my children were small, there was a bramble emerging onto the patio and we decided to measure its growth. It put on inches a day! Very triffid-like and quite alarming!

Liked this blog. My worse weeds are willow herb and the nettles coming through from next door. I also have Lily of the valley and moss which thrives in other side of the garern.
I can see in future im going to be bothered by that campanula as ive just planted it!

It's amazing how some plants survive where they do. The worst ones in this garden are also ground cover plants gone wild ... especially those little wild strawberries.

I'd not heard that a good tug deals with them might have to give it a go. Having said that I've been digging down grabbing roots and tugging but even then I'm struggling so not sure I've got the strength lol. Hmm job for my OH perhaps?! Lol.

Yes, probably - these helpful bits of advice are all very well, but not always the easiest to follow!

The campanula is easy to pull up, Scottish, although it doesn't give up easily! And it is so lovely when it's flowering. I don't really mind it. It's just when I'm taking photos I realise just how much there is! It arrived on its own many years ago.

I have those wild strawberries, Hywel, but mine don't cause much trouble. They must be very happy in your garden!

Scottish - Lily of the Valley is awful to get up - the roots are just like a felt mat! I remember my grandmother having a great tussle with it many years ago. It disappeared for a while but has re-emerged a bit further along the border.

TT hit it on the head, " when is a weed not a weed?". Scottish you have no idea of the money I have spent trying to get Lily of the Valley to grow in my garden. I don't care if it becomes a weed. I have at last succeeded and it is staying. Mel, moss lawns are very familiar and look very good if kept manicured by OH. Convolulus arrived in my garden last year and it is proving a formidable enemy. Because it winds itself around other plants it is almost impossible to get rid of. It can grow in so close to the roots of other plants that digging it up is not an option and chemical eradication is difficult because of the danger to those shrubs and herbaceous perennials in the same area. I think it arrived in bought in compost and that is annoying. All the wild strawberries help keep the weeds down under shrubs and they will grow easily and also pull out easily. Buttercups on the other hand tend to be quite cute about sending out a million runners and getting established before the first flowers appear and you realise they are rampant. Getting under the root and lifting it is easy as long as there is not another plant too close to it. I do like the buttercup flowers and always feel sad at having to bin them. The sun is shining after a morning of rain. LOL I suppose I'd better look and see what is growing where?

I'm glad you've got some sunshine, Scotsgran! From the look of the sky here it's going to be a while before we see any! I agree about the lily of the valley - at the moment I'm quite happy to leave them as I love them. It's just that once really established (and I am talking over 30 years!) they grow very close and mat-like! Know exactly what you mean about the buttercups, too. I find I can trace them for yards through the lawn long before they've ever flowered. The moss lawn in the front is there for the duration, I think. Whenever I dream up a long-term plan for the front, involving a complete change, I stop to think about the upkeep. At least it's pretty non-time-consuming at the moment. I prefer to concentrate my efforts in the back, where it's much sunnier! And it suits the look of the house, so I think it's staying!

It sounds just like our lawn and it is great for the kids playing croquet on when they come on holiday. It looks very good too because the moss is always a nice bright fresh green. The alternative would be pebbles or some sort of hard surface and that would not look nearly as good.
It was lovely and sunny for a short time but when I came in for a coffee I sat down to watch Wimbledon and that was my good intentions scuppered. Then we had heavy rain. I'm not long in from another hour of fresh air. Its so mild and fresh when the rain stops it is very pleasant.

Daughter in Glasgow said it was sunny when I spoke to her earlier - we did actually have a bit of sun yesterday, after a rotten forecast. But it didn't stop here today from early morning to the evening. Our soil is very sandy though, so although water might lie on the surface for a bit, once it gets going, the ground doesn't get waterlogged.

I wouldn`t actually class most of these weeds, my nightmares are mares tail and ground elder in the front garden, both of which I have tried everything to get rid of, luckily both are in the driveway not the borders, I do have a few mares tail in my pond area, I have to pull them up as I daren`t use anything near my fishpond, but the worst is the darn columbine that comes under the fence at the bottom of my garden, it chokes thigs if I don`t keep on top of it....

I leave a lot of the "weeds" in some areas, and remove them from others. Herb Robert is tolerated within reason in the wild area, but removed - even though I quite like it - from the borders. The campanula is never removed while it's flowering, wherever it is. Dead nettle, white or pink, gets pulled out if it's choking or threatening anything else (no wonder it always comes back!) but then it was planted by Granny as ground cover! I always leave some stinging nettles for the butterflies - they make quite impressive, tall plants! And wild flowers like evening primrose, foxgloves and Welsh poppies are always welcomed, only being removed if in a really unsuitable place. I pick ground elder as soon as I spot it (I have very little, fortunately) and remove dandelions, even from the wild area. They seed from over the wall, and although I like them as flowers, they get too difficult to manage if left. Brambles are tugged out when (if!) I notice them - again, there is a mass of them just over the wall. They fruit well in autumn though, and go nicely in apple pie!

I think I probably have columbine as well, or it might be oxalis. (I shouldn't really confuse those two, should I? I'll have to have a close look tomorrow) Whichever it is, it persists, whatever I do. Fortunately, it skulks at the back, and gets pulled out immediately if it dares move further forward! Either way, I sympathise, Lincslass!

Ground elder was the bane of my life until we built a wall to keep it from coming through from next door. It was a drastic solution but it has worked. I ended up using a systemic weedkiller on it after we built the wall. The trouble with digging it out is that it can grow a new plant from a tiny bit of root. I have not had mares tails but they do give people a lot of bother. Apparently their roots can go down as far as 8'.

I read advice to pick ground elder! I know it sounds ridiculous, but it did work although it took a couple of seasons to see it off. It was in my wild area, which is the bottom third of the garden, where I really did not want to dig, and it wasn't really in a flower bed. I once cleared an area and used some of the soil elsewhere. When little shoots began to appear (within 48 hours!) I traced them to bits of root no longer than one inch. It took me a few days to remove them all, but taught me how rampant a plant it is, and I have respected it ever since. I do occasionally find odd bits of it, but I just pick them. Annoyingly, I think it is a very attractive plant when flowering - it was used as ground cover in Victorian times - but it is a total thug. And there are many alternatives with similar characteristics.

Gosh no wonder the darn things come back Scotsgran, my neighbours have allowed it to spread all up one side of their front garden, luckily our side is only about 18ins wide and its granite so I will put chlorate down if the rain ever bates off a bit...

Lincs you have my deepest sympathies with the mares tail. What a nightmare (no pun intended). When we first moved into my mom and dads house there was masses of mares tail, but over the years they have defeated it. Just continually tugging it out whenever they saw it seems to kill it off eventually. Takes an age though.

My biggest problem here is that its now comming up in the lawn area. Where I've dug up the old horrible grass ready for new lawn (think I'm going to re-seed in Autumn) I've got loads of mares tail poking their heads up. I keep going out with a fork and digging it out but thus far it keeps comming back.

worst weed here in deepest France is hazel - turn your back and it's five foot tall - and a pensioner can't pull it out... OK they say coppice and enjoy but do you REALLY want one in your rock garden?

I shouldn't think so!