Ground Cover Plant

I have patches of this all over - please tell me its meant to be there!

 

Hi jesaya.

It looks like strawberry leaves to me, so I would guess Potentilla "something fire" ? ... sorry, I'd have to go to the shed to get the label. Just a guess, maybe someone else can help ... maybe it's even strawberries. :D

 

I thought it was hardy Geranium till I saw Potentilla from LoL,but surely both of these lose their leaves in winter.....but I suppose S/Wales is like abroad

 

Roders I went to one of my clients Saturdat and one of his Fuchsias not only still has leaves but,also, still has flowers and his Passion flower is still in bud. But like you , at first sight I thought jesaya`s plant was a cranesbill, possibly Johnsons Blue.

 

I'm back, been down to the shed ... Potentilla 'Melton Fire' ... everyone wants to show the flowers and not the leaves but this is the closest I can get (I've half killed mine after massive building works this year) ...

http://www.halcyonplants.co.uk/index.php?page=product_details&product_id=780

What do you mean, roders "but I suppose S/Wales is like abroad"? I'm from S/Wales and I'm a broad ... and abroad for that matter!

 

David, you posted just before me and I didn't think of Cranesbill although roders did say Geranium.

 

no strawberry and certainly not geranium, as far as I can say

 

Doesn't look a lot like my geraniums. Oh and Roders, mine don't normally lose their leaves as such. But they do go brown and don't recover. This year though, guess what, they have stayed greenish.

 

Well it is certainly very mild where I am (nestling in a valley) but not exactly balmy.

Geranium would make sense as the people who had the house before me really like them... the greenhouse is full of overwintering ones, and my conservaory has three huge examples...

 

The geraniums in the greenhouse/conservatory are more likely Pelargoniums aka Geraniums (name changed about 250 years ago but not reached gardeners yet!) Those leaves do look like geranium to me too, but they should not be green at this time of year, but then neither should anything else, odd

 

I think it's creeping buttercup. A weed.

 

Yes - got LOTS of that in my garden if I let it go. And it's like dandelions - left even a teeny bit of root and off it goes again. Pernicious and if it gets hold, it'll smother all your precious plants. My recommendation is 'take no prisoners'!

 

http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/crbutcup.htm

 

I agree- definitely creeping buttercup. A real pain- get it up while it's small :(

 

I thought buttercups were small... some of the leaves of this are three inches across! And they don't have patches on them.

The other thing that makes me wonder is that the previous owner was so particular about the garden - before we moved in he weeded everything and mulched and even planted bulbs in all the containers for us.

I think I really want them to be hardy geraniums!