Is this a weed ?
 

Guys,

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 !!

TIA,
Mike.

On Sat, 4 Jun 2005 14:26:49 +0000, mikeyw
wrote:


Guys,

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 !!

TIA,
Mike.


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Looks suspiciously like Rose Bay Willow Herb, an annual very fast
growing weed which is extremely prolific. If allowed to flower and
seed (which it produces in millions, each with its own little
parachute), not only will it happily fill your entire garden, but
your neighbours as well.
It's not regional to North Yorkshire, but will grow just about
anywhere. Old bombsites and abandoned industrial premises used to be
absolutely full of it. Very characteristic of old railway sidings and
goods yards too. Once it's seeded it will be present for years. Any
disturbance of the soil will bring seeds to the surface and they will
readily germinate. Good news is that it's easily pulled out, but you
will have to keep an eye out for new seedlings.

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


Guys,

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 !!

TIA,
Mike.


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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.
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

In article , pammyT
writes

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


Guys,

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 !!

TIA,
Mike.


+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Filename: P1020600.JPG |
|Download:
http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=2801|
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

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.
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 agree it doesn't look quite right for rosebay willowherb, but it does
look like one of the other willowherbs - broad-leaved willowherb, which
has smaller pale pink flowers. To be sure, you could wait till it
flowers before dealing with it.
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

Guys - wow, thanks for the fantastic response.

It's definately a willowherb ! (named so because the leaves are similar to the willow tree)...I'm possibly swaying towards the broad-leaved willowherb after some digging on google.

What i'll do is pull the majority out and leave a few in and see how they flower then we can prove conclusively which one it is.

I live on a lane with an overgrown hedgerow opposite where this stuff appears in abundance so I guess the wind has carried the seeds into my garden.

I'll need to fill the gaps I create though - any recommendations for a pretty flowering (colourfull if possible) semi-shade plant ? - sorry for the questions but i'm pretty new to gardening but enjoy helping my garden look its best.

Mike.

pammyT wrote:

"Jupiter" wrote in message
...

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

In article , mikeyw mikeyw.1q4bjy@gar
denbanter.co.uk writes

Guys,

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 !!

I sometimes say there is no such thing as a weed, there are only natural
plants and cultivated plants. Many natural wild flowers though are
highly regarded in gardens. A more acceptable description of a weed is a
plant growing where it is not intended to. Thus a rose would be a weed
in a lawn, and lawn grass would be weeds in a rose-bed. A dock might be
seen as a weed wherever it grows - unless it is Sorrel, the edible dock.

Some plants are classed as weeds because they are invasive, but there
are many very useful and cultivated invasive plants - mint for just one
example. In the end each gardener decides whether or not they like the
plants in their garden and acts accordingly.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

"Alan Gould" wrote after..Mike asked

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 !!

I sometimes say there is no such thing as a weed, there are only natural
plants and cultivated plants. Many natural wild flowers though are
highly regarded in gardens. A more acceptable description of a weed is a
plant growing where it is not intended to. Thus a rose would be a weed
in a lawn, and lawn grass would be weeds in a rose-bed. A dock might be
seen as a weed wherever it grows - unless it is Sorrel, the edible dock.

Some plants are classed as weeds because they are invasive, but there
are many very useful and cultivated invasive plants - mint for just one
example. In the end each gardener decides whether or not they like the
plants in their garden and acts accordingly.


Which is why I have a beautiful self sown specimen of Caper Spurge at the
bottom of our garden, a weed on the allotment, true, but not in my garden.
It's a wonder it's not actually grown more.

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London