pammyT wrote:

"Jupiter" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 4 Jun 2005 14:26:49 +0000, mikeyw
wrote:

Go easy on me as it's my 1st post but i've found this flower / weed
growing in abundance in my shaded flower bed. No flowers as yet but the
stuff is rapidly filling the bed. I guess it must be a weed but would
like clarification before pulling it all out !!

I live in North Yorkshire in case this is a reginal weed !!

Looks suspiciously like Rose Bay Willow Herb, an annual very fast
growing weed which is extremely prolific.

I'm not sure it is.
Looking at this website
http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/rbaywherb.htm
shows the rosebay willow herb to have leaves that are 'staggered' on the
stem, but the plant in the attachment looks like pairs of leaves are growing
on the stem.

I don't think it is rosebay willow herb. And even that seems to come in
two flavours. One is a relatively benign woodland plant that clumps in
shadey spots and is OK if you don't let it seed and the other is the
invasive form most common on waste ground and railway embankments.
Apparently it only really gained a big hold in cities during the blitz.

Perhaps if you have only moved into your house, you could ask your next
door neighbours if they know ? They surely would know if their previous
neighbous had something pretty growing there which came up every year? HTH

I would let it flower before deciding what to do about it. There are
some nice plants with vaguely similar appearence and plant ID is always
much easier when you have flowers. Don't let it set seed just in case...

Regards,
Martin Brown