A weed or something nice ?

Have noticed this sprung up inbetween some lupins today. Its probably a weed but wanted to check before I dig it out .....










Please please let it be something nice :D

 

Yes it's a weed, Broad-leaf Willowherb. If you let them seed you will get 1000's of them in no time.
The only good thing aboout them is that Willowherb is the food plant for the Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar.

 

I am so fed up of cossetting seedlings giving it food and warmth and then it grows into a weed,
i spent hours over 4 particular seedlings, and then i kept looking sideways at them ,thinking you look so much like a violet .
Guess what it is a violet

 

Yes but Violets are pretty weeds:hehe:

 

You`re not the only one Pam, what i thought was trailing petunia turned out not to be. I didn`t figure it out until it flowered.. it was the biggest, healthiest looking weed in the garden :wink:

 

Pah ... typical. Will pull it out tomorrow then !

Thanks

 

This is the wildflower fan in me, because it isn't the only nice thing about them IMO. They are beautiful flowers, so elegant and understated.


Do lift them before they go over though, or you will be over run next year.

 

At least they're easy to pull out.

I have what I think is a Lythrum Saliricia (sp) but it can look a lot like Willowstail! Hope not - its very pretty looking poking out of the middle of the border and has only just started flowering.

 

Am off work tomorrow so will lift it then or else I will forget and then it will seed everywhere and next year I will be back moaning I cant get rid of them !

Shame though cause I thought it looked quite pretty

 

see ... why do the birds never drop me anything nice like that!

 

That's the trouble with wildflowers, many do have pretty flowers, I think the dandelion especially is underrated, but they are still a menace in the garden.

 

I have those Sam :hehe:

I am not good at all in recognizing some weeds - some of them are pretty.

 

I agree with that. I'm an admirer. We have some in our forlorn back garden, and even as I make improvements, introduce new plants, I am loathe to see them removed altogether.

 

weeds are very clever at survival,the willow herb always seeds itself next to things that look similar like Penstemon or Fuchsias.

 

Mine is trying to hide itself inbetween lupins .... so stands out a mile lol