What`s this weed?!

When it`s more mature it`s about 12-18" high & has tiny white flowers.It`s becoming a real pest.Just one `chip`of that white root and it grows!And they strike deep so it`s hard to remove it all too.

 

Welcome to the forums Krista!

Looks like Circaea lutetiana..common name Enchanters nightshade.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Circaea+lutetiana;&rlz=1C1GNAM_en-GBGB687GB687&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwik78jeiIrMAhUGMBoKHcuIB6sQ_AUIBygB&biw=1920&bih=967

Even a tiny bit of that pesky white root seems to regrow.

http://www.downgardenservices.org.uk/enchanter.htm

I made the mistake of thinking I could control it by hand weeding.WRONG!

Do resort to Roundup to stop it before it forms huge patches.

 

Thankyou! I`ll check out that link(when I have more time-grandkids here now) to see if it is that and be back if it`s not.Sorry I don`t use Roundup and neither should you be using it.If you don`t already understand the bee situation please Google it-Roundup(maybe in conjunction with all the other chemicals we use?) DOES effect them. We need Bees more than we need a perfect weed-free garden.Even if you are not an organic gardener(& I`m not entirely)you prob`ly see bees and bugs are sometimes helpful and I`m sure there are other chemicals that can be used more safely.But I appreciate your suggestion/help. :-) Other solutions appreciated....Krista

 

You're right I was not trying to be rude JWK. I started out with a thank you and ended saying I appreciated his help, sorry - I didn't think I was being rude. If you think I was either rude or a bit patronizing, Silver Surfer then I apologize..... Krista

 

To clarify...no one hates using chemicals more than me.
I love all wildlife.
We had several bee hives... kept in our garden by a friend.
We put up 50 bird boxes.
Had huge compost heaps ...for smooth snakes.
Had bats that roosted .
Leaf piles were left for hedgehogs.
We had a wild life pond which the local frogs loved to lay their eggs in. We did not need to use slug pellets with so many frogs in the garden.
We mulched everything to save having to water.
Left piles of wood to rot down for beetles etc etc.
We planted many 100's of winter and early spring flowering shrubs and perennials ..(eg. Hellebores, Pulmonaria, Daphne, Rhododendron, Corylopsis, winter flowering Lonicera, spring bulbs etc ) to help the bumble bees. ..as well as flowers that suited honey bees in the summer.etc etc

I spent 25 years on hands and knees hand weeding this blinking enchanters nightshade.
I lost the battle.
It just spread and kept spreading.

At the start we slowly cleared a huge woodland area of brambles, creeping ivy and weeds by hand. Just using secateurs and a mattock. No chemicals what so ever. It look years.

With hindsight I wish I had just used Roundup ...but only on the Enchanters nightshade.

In other areas of the garden we collected friends/neighbours old carpet and laid it over new weed areas. Left for a year it worked well.
Later the carpet was lift and the bare ground immediately mulched with composted bark.
Then planted it up.

35 years later we had tamed a huge wilderness.
But it took 2 of us working almost full time to get it as far as we did.
Maybe for wildlife it would have been better left as a wilderness.

For what it is worth I gave you my advise.
Whether you take it or not is entirely up to you!

P.S. Just remembered ....about 35 years ago we did use Roundup on bracken and a small patch of japanese knot weed..but then we were told it was completely safe to use.
Today I would still use it on these 2 menaces.
Bracken can cause cancer and Japanese knot weed in the garden means you will have trouble selling, as buyer won't be able to get a mortgage.

 

Thankyou all for your welcome.I may become a regular; your welcome helps :-) Once I get to know the group better I will realise what you all know and make less `boo-boos`.
I`m 65,recently retired and have gardened all my life but I`ve also brought up a family-which reduces the time spent on gardening and learning about plants.Besides in all my years I`ve never seen this one and internet searches on plant ID aren`t very successful if you`ve no name.I`ve now had time to look at the link and I`m sure you are right about what it is. It only arrived in my garden about 2-3 years ago and was confined to a few roots in my strawberry patch til now.Now its in my raspberry beds too(transferred by my own compost?) where it has more room to spread out between the taller bushes. :-/ The raspberries are where I get the most Bees so there is no way I`m using Roundup. I`ll dig deeper for the roots now I know about it and look for an alternative if that`s that`s not successful enough.
I have bats but,alas,of late no hogs are to be seen. Lots of foxes tho`-which I don`t mind.They leave my cats alone so I`m just happy to have the wild life.....Krista
ps-nutters?-oh!-maybe I should have adopted my h2g2 `handle` of Granny Weatherwax then.

 

TY for ur reassurance Armandii
I have found the smileys and the rating buttons now Shiney. And am dying to use a few of the madder ones.
Any further suggestions/ideas received with pleasure ...Krista

 

I dont use chemicals as i let the ground elder strangle the life out of any other weeds in my garden.

 

....and it can be steamed lightly, and served with butter, when young, like spinach.