Plant & Weed ID Megathread

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122044286#Comment_122044286

Any very very tasty. Definitely worth the effort to hunt for them when they fruit.

Its like concentrated strawberry flavour.

New Home

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122044293#Comment_122044293

And have a fantastic flavour!

looksee

And they tend to flower and have fruit at the same time, for about eight months of the year. I have a few of them scattered around the garden, they are very welcome to appear anywhere they choose.

jackboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122045219#Comment_122045219

Interesting. I might try to transplant one or two plants into my garden.

magicbastarder

You should be able to buy seeds quite easily.

The birds get to them before we do, usually.

jackboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122045257#Comment_122045257

I'd like to try to use local native plants rather than buy seeds where I am not sure of the origin. I am trying native only in the garden these days.

looksee

I suspect you would be better to wait till you see ripe fruit and use the seed from them. They don't produce runners and while it is just possible to transplant a plant its not usually very successful. I will keep an eye out for some ripe berries and let you know if I can dry them, I will let you know. I haven't seen any ripe fruit yet.

drury..

Any idea what this is. It's spreading a bit and my normal 2-1 spray seems to have no effect

Thanks

The Continental Op

Cleavers, goose grass. sticky willie. Its surprisingly resistant to some weedkillers.

Edit> Roundup should get rid of (and anything else it lands on) it but cleavers shrug off most selective lawn weedkillers.

looksee

It is so easy to gather cleavers in arms-full and just pull it out - before it goes to seed - than mess with weedkiller. We cleared a huge amount like that in just one day which really put a dent in the amount that re-appeared in subsequent years. Just pull it when you see it. Wear gloves.

magicbastarder

I'd second what she said - from similar experience. A few years ago I managed to lift several kilos of the stuff from the end of the garden and it hasn't reappeared in anything like the same amount since.

karlitob

any idea what this is. It’s all over our garden beds. Thanks in advance

The Continental Op

Yet more willow herb.

Speedsie

@karlitob looks like willowherb... Pull out it before it blooms & sets a gazillion seeds.

Re cleavers, huge explosion in it the last couple of years, I'm pulling out bucket loads at a time, but luckily it's easy to pull. But yeah, wear gloves and long sleeves!

looksee

While it is still fresh and young, take a fistful and cram it into a mug, pour on boiling water, let it steep for a bit, remove silage and drink the 'tea'. Very good for you.

Edit, just to be clear, its the cleevers I'm talking about not the willowherb!

magicbastarder

For those interested, I would recommend 'weeds' by Richard Mabey. Might give you an appreciation for some of the plants which have been 'sold' to us as weeds.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/10/weeds-richard-mabey-review

Speedsie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122046573#Comment_122046573

Weeds really are just plants in the wrong place.

No one would call a rose bush a weed, but in the middle of a corn field it could be regarded as such

Edit: I see the Guardian article mentions that very thing!

New Home

On that topic, rose bushes used to be planted (and in some places they still are) at the beginning and at the end of each row in vineyards, they were used to signal that certain diseases were about to hit it, as, being more delicate, they'd get infected before the vines themselves, so people could treat the vines in time.

looksee

I lived in a secondary school compound in rural Kenya some 50 years ago and occasionally things happened that pointed up difference in priorities. One of these was the time a single stalk of corn/maize sprouted in the front yard of the school, which was an area of beaten earth. One of the teachers - a European - was organising tidying the school surrounds and told one of the boys to remove the weed. The boy objected that it was not a weed, it was a plant, a stalk of corn. The teacher argued that a plant in the wrong place was a weed. In the end the corn stalk was allowed to stay but I don't know who eventually claimed the corn cob.

RainInSummer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122046467#Comment_122046467

Willowherb also makes a great tea. Well the Rosebay variant of it anyways. Popular in Russia.

looksee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122054228#Comment_122054228

I didn't know that, thanks!

RainInSummer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122054245#Comment_122054245

I was a bit confused when I saw you mention making tea as I assumed you were talking about the willowherb!

jackboy

Any idea what these are?

oops, pic got stretched.

MacDanger

Self heal I'd say

The Continental Op

Its Ajuga (Bugle). Ajuga reptans - probably a dark leafed form there are several named dark leaved varieties.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajuga_reptans

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059906#Comment_122059906

Yep Bugle, same family as self heal hence the similarity but that flowers later.

jackboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059916#Comment_122059916

Thank you. At first look I thought it was a type of orcid.

MacDanger

Any idea what these two are?

New Home

1st one, probably hazel.

2nd one, willow (?)

standardg60

Birch and Willow I'd say