Can anyone identify this shrub please?

Can anyone please tell me what this shrub is?



It produces small yellow flowers in the spring, and I also noticed a few come back around September, but not as prolific, and has quite thick woody stems which die off during winter.

It also seems to spread like wildfire and I'd like to know how to get rid of some of it please :confused:

 

Hello and Welcolm PF....
Your plant is Kerria japonica(jews mantle)
I would suggest cut it back as much as you want and dig up what you dont want,it may not flower much next year,but generally it is tough as old boots.

 

Thanks very much, I've been wondering what it is for a very long time now!

 

I have a varigated one, it goes mad rooting all over the place, so they must be fairly tough.

 

That's the problem, it's springing up in places where I don't want it to!

I've managed to cut some back to ground level but having problems removing the roots, does anyone know the best way to deal with this please?

 

Lucky you, it has almost always died of cold here, especially the variegated one and the double. The single one just about struggled through last winter, reduced to one shoot in the ground and one rooted piece in a pot.

 

Blimey Palustris how cold is it, I've got some that have charged through -18C?!

I can send you a bit this winter if you like/ if you reckon it might be a hardier cultivar.

 

I cannot imagine its the cold - I am only a few miles away. If you want Palustris I can drop you off some of the double form - about half a trailer load if you so wished. I haven't even bought it. It invaded my last garden in Shrewsbury by growing in from a neighbours garden. I hack huge amounts of it every year and I noticed that it has gone into a leylandii hedge and it pokes out 7 feet above the ground.
I took some to school a few years ago and planted it in a wild garden bit that we have. I noticed a nettLE clump behind that would probably take it on. The last time I looked the nettles were obviously being given a thorough thrashing.

 

Well, we have well drained soil, but last year, even the sprouts (and they are reckoned to be hardy enough) died of cold. It dropped from plus 8 to - 8 in about 2 hours. Wiped out most of our hebes too, wild collected seed grown too and irreplaceable.
We have been down to so low a temp that it was -8 on the min max thermometer in the greenhouse UNDER the bubble plastic. We are on the same isotherm as Newport in Shropshire which has the record for the lowest recorded temp in England. Drive 3 and 3/4 of a mile up the road and you can watch the temp climb as you climb out of the valley! We have also had frost every month now over the last 12 years, except August. Missed it by one day two years ago!
Thanks for the offers but it is not a plant I am so fond of at best.

 

I don't blame you. I put it in cause I read that someone rated it better than forsythia. I don't think so - forsythia is cultured by comparison. I am wondering whether I can get the energy to rip it all out.

 

A frost every month excpt August! Crikey! We get very few frosts and at present there is barely 2 degrees between day time and night time temperatures. British gardeners certainly have varied conditions to deal with. Makes nonsense of many of the garden books that lay down advice for the whole of Britain regardless of location.

 

Latest frost was on July7th about four or five years ago. Have a friend in Derbyshire who has had frost every month of the year, including August!
Just means being very careful about putting out tender pants like, marrows, squash, french beans, sweet corn etc and being ready with the fleece.
We also only get about half the national average amount of rain a year. You can leave here in the dry and 5 miles up the road it is pouring down.
Because of the shape of the land, we also get a lot of winds, the warm air rises and the cold wind rushes in off the surrounding hills.

 

lawks! Have to agree that it's not a great plant but my clients like it and I presonally think it entirely better than all the common Forsythia cultivars.

I have always found it a doddle to grub up Geoffhandley so don't be too put off. Best attack the thing with a hedgetrimmer to make it short so you won't poke an eye on the stalks, then just get out that fork and get stuck in. The roots are shallow and spread like a brittle mat. They just lift out.