Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Flowers and Foliage Now => Topic started by: shelagh on March 27, 2017, 02:49:37 PM
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These are the weeds of this month. Brian has tried pulling them out but the bulb never comes with them. >:(
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But very pretty 'weeds'?
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My 'favorite' weed is the lesser celandine - Ficaria verna - what a Monster!
At first I admired the different colours of flowers and foliage - now I don't know how to get rid
of the carpet-like mess between my snowdrops.
Gerd
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If you pull the leaves of earlier in the year after 2 to 4 years the bulb will have depleted its energy and will have withered away.
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These are the weeds of this month. Brian has tried pulling them out but the bulb never comes with them. >:(
Shelagh - I sympathize, I keep pulling the leaves off early every year and they still flower and re-leaf. Scilla siberica is even worse here. I try to collect any missed seed pods too but fear old seeds are still sprouting.
Pretty they may be but they choke everything nearby to death, even dwarf shrubs.
I'm hoping to see some progress this spring should it and they ever appear.
john
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Spanish bluebells inherited from the previous owners of the house 13 years ago. Got on top of them by pouring glyphosate into the centre of the rosettes. Missed a couple of years so now they are back....
Muscari latifolium and Chives are other bulbs showing aggressive tendencies here.
Corydalis malkensis, Cyclamen coum and Anemone blanda seed themselves too but oddly enough I don't object to those.
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Spanish bluebells inherited from the previous owners of the house 13 years ago. Got on top of them by pouring glyphosate into the centre of the rosettes. Missed a couple of years so now they are back....
Darren - I'd almost fogotten about my decade trying to rid the garden of the Spanish bluebells. In one area I resorted to the spade and must have angered a Mahonia which though long gone still sends up suckers.
john
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These are the weeds of this month. Brian has tried pulling them out but the bulb never comes with them. >:(
Hi Shelagh,
Are they chionodoxa/scilla?
I struggle to keep them going in our garden!
As they say "One woman's weed is another man's treasure"! ;D
Allium triquetrum is a major weedy bulb here,
cheers
fermi
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Alstroemeria psittacina >:( Pest.
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My few chionodoxas never reach weed proportions either but a real menace is Acis autumnalis which seeds everywhere and invades cushions and mats. I try to strip off the pods before they ripen but always miss some.
My worst weeds are less decorative. The one I hate most is the little native cress. I don't mind the other, popping one as the seedlings are so easy to pull out and it is annual anyway. But the native version (which I understand is a problem in the UK too?) is perennial, with a long and brittle tap root which breaks if one pulls it and regenerates, spreading and splitting into many branchlets to make wide mats. The almost invisible flowers give way to hair-fine capsules which spit the seeds everywhere. The seedlings are very tiny and are well established with long roots before they are noticed. Grrrrr. >:(
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Alstroemeria psittacina >:( Pest.
A. hookeri seedlings are popping up in neighbouring pots in my greenhouse but isn't really a pest and the flowers are nice.
Can't get rid of it without literally throwing it in the bin. Two flowering size plants - from habitat (Chileflora) seed - were donated to the members plant stall at the Kendal show the last two years and then came home with me again.
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Freesia laxa are my weeds, they are popping up in the sand plunge,under the benches in the greenhouse, in scree beds and shrub borders all over the garden. It doesn't matter what I sow in seed pots it is magically converted to freesia laxa. Cyclamen Hederifolium and coum are following close behind.
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I doesn't matter what I sow in seed pots it is magically converted to freesia laxa.
A common problem with anything called 'Lapeirousia' in seed exchanges....
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Campanula rapunculoides and Equisetum arvense are my personal curses! Especially if the Campanula has hidden itself beneath large rocks in the landscape. The spring carpet of chickweed is minor in comparison.
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At least the Allium could go into soups :D
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Where do I start? Crocus pulchellus, Tulipa sprengeri, Lilium martagon are all enthusiastic seeders and impossible to remove where they are not wanted. Corydalis malkensis seeds around but is not above ground long enough to be a nuisance. I have Eranthis hyemalis and Scilla bithynica at one end of the garden. If they spread further they will be a nuisance, especially the Scilla. Scilla bifolia is in a few places but so far is not a pest. The worst real weed I have is sorrel.
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But Stephen Barstow would tell you you could be cropping the sorrel for food, Roma!
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Don't get me started on Crocosmia!
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Ralph, crocosmia/montbretia are sometimes seen on sea cliffs as a result of being thrown out of seaside gardens. It is dominant in some areas.
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Yes, Cornwall is full of it.
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But is the "weed" sorrel the eating sorrel? I have what I bought at a market as French sorrel and use that raw in salads but the weedy one is much smaller in stature and spreads as rapidly as a dropped jug of milk whereas the French one remains in relatively neat tufts and can be dug out if necessary. The weedy one has just recently come to my garden in a small plant of something else, from a sales table. It had been pulled from the surface and wasn't visible on purchase but within a week was already spreading out for pastures (and crevices and cushions) new. I've had to lift several plants, spray the patch and carefully rescue the other plants and tease out their roots to eliminate the sorrel. But it is still there.