Mystery weed
 

Any ideas what this is? Seems to have appeared on a freshly (last year) cleared slope. Large leaves, some are 10" across and it's quick spreading.

Petastites? (Butterbur)

You seem to be spot on, thanks! Just checked Google images and there are some that are bear a clear resemblance.

Benign or baddy? I don't really like the way it shades out the ground it covers with overlapping leaves and feel if I don't at least contain it then the current diversity of weeds will suffer. This is a wild slope below my garden that's part of an extensive and happily undeveloped area that's scrubbed and wooded over. I removed a lot of Clematis and dead bramble brash in the immediate vicinity and I'm now happy to let volunteers appear. I don't want to preclude a natural plant from it's chosen environment but it's a bit keen. May just bash it back a bit each season.

Like you, I'd be inclined to leave, but I've never tried removing it so I've no idea how difficult it is to keep in bounds. I can remember seeing a stately home garden with bank with cascading stream , and a large proportion of the bank covered with its bigger and more aggressive cousin Petastites japonicus - interesting article about t hat species he
John Grimshaw's Garden Diary: Petasites japonicus

Mystery weed
 

In article , mogga
writes
You don't know anything that smells like sour cherry drops?


Or one that tastes of Lindt chocolate (she says hopefully)

I have some seed from jekka McVicar of mustard that tastes (the plant)
exactly like new potatoes
It's called Red Frills
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

Hi Slopegardener, we know it down here in Cornwall as 'winter heliotrope', its a very common weed down around the mild creeks and grows from an underground mat of fleshy roots and it will spread and take over. It can be controlled with glysophate but may take several goes ! Spray when the new shoots are about 4" tall and best of luck !!
Lannerman.

Yes that's another name for Petastites.

I shied away from weedkilling it as the leaves are in, under, and over so much else until they dominate and I don't want a scorched earth policy. As the conspicuous leaves are easy to pop off I'll just do that either until maybe it discourages spread are simply in perpetuity. You can clear square meters in minutes. Frost might knock the colony back so really it's a wait and see thing. I've planted hawthorn, blackthorn, holly, yews, a couple of Spanish gorse and wild rose along with the ever present brambles and nettles, so bigger competition will eventually limit it also.

Thanks for the welcome lannerman. I think it's taken advantage of my clearance of a patch of the slope as it hasn't spread back over the crown and can't move out through the wall of nettles and brambles where my clearance ends. Once everything grows back up then it'll probably lose it's window of opportunity. That's the hope anyway.

I was driving down to Newquay recently for work and really enjoyed the great banks of Foxgloves you have. Stunning colour.

Mystery weed
 

"Slopegardener" wrote in message
...


kay;927230 Wrote:
Like you, I'd be inclined to leave, but I've never tried removing it so
I've no idea how difficult it is to keep in bounds. I can remember
seeing a stately home garden with bank with cascading stream , and a
large proportion of the bank covered with its bigger and more aggressive
cousin Petastites japonicus - interesting article about t hat species
he
'John Grimshaw's Garden Diary: Petasites japonicus'
(http://tinyurl.com/68carla)

I shied away from weedkilling it as the leaves are in, under, and over
so much else until they dominate and I don't want a scorched earth
policy. As the conspicuous leaves are easy to pop off I'll just do that
either until maybe it discourages spread are simply in perpetuity. You
can clear square meters in minutes. Frost might knock the colony back so
really it's a wait and see thing. I've planted hawthorn, blackthorn,
holly, yews, a couple of Spanish gorse and wild rose along with the ever
present brambles and nettles, so bigger competition will eventually
limit it also.


I do not contribute all that much to this newsgroup but I do learn a great
deal :-) I have a bank down one side of the drive and would like to cover
it with wild plants, some would call them weeds but not me/us. I have
comfrey going well all over the place and use it to make liquid plant feed,
but this thread has given me some more ideas, 3 cheers for uk.rec.gardening
:-)

kate

Yeah weeds are so horrible and so ugly! Joking. One of my favourite outlaws is the Red Dead-nettle or Purple Archangel (Lamium purpurea) A couple of clusters survived until the drought in April so I'll be looking out for them next year and help a little if necessary. Not high growing, so easily swamped and bullied. A pic I took before their demise.