What's in my garden...

Hi all - complete newbie here after some help. Due to the economic situation I'm expecting to have plenty of time this year to get to grips with my garden, which hasn't been a priority since we moved in almost three years ago. I've got quite a few things I'd like to identify, but first of all for now, after the first couple of mows of the year I've got a ton of these little blighters on my lawn. What are they, should I worry, and how do I get rid of them?




If it helps, they seem to be concentrated under this tree (slightly ropey picture, sorry):

 

They look horribly like Ash seedlings.
Fraxinus excelsior.
Blinking pest.
If you don't remove every one in a few months you will have sapling ash trees 2ft tall.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=fraxinus+excelsior+keys&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.45368065,d.d2k&biw=1920&bih=967&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=j-BuUYS4EIOb0QWrqIHAAg

 

Not sure but they look like sycamore seedlings - what tree is it that they are under?

 

They look like sycamore seedlings to me too. We had a sycamore and these seedlings took root everywhere. I don't suppose you have a photo of the tree in leaf and preferably a close up of a leaf do you? It looks like a sycamore tree but no doubt a more experienced member than me will be along to give you advice shortly although I would say you'd be better off removing them from your lawn.

 

Ah. There's a rock under the tree and I can see some single-wing seeds that have landed there - that sounds like sycamore from schooldays? Oh dear. There must be hundreds of them! Will one of the usual selective lawn weedkillers get rid of them?

 

I agree they look like sycamore seedlings.
The good news Amanensia is that all you need to do to get rid of them in your grass is to keep mowing. No need to apply weedkiller, they won't survive having their heads chopped off while they're that small.

 

Ah, good news, thanks. Quite a few in a border too - those ones are probably just about manageable by hand though. Amazing quite how many of them set just by landing on a lawn - didn't get this in either of the previous two years.

 

Its a pity the scientists cant cross sycamore and some food plants I must of pulled hundreds out this year I am sure every seed landed had rooted!They would feed a nation!

 

Sycamore is an invasive nuisance.. it's not even native, but then no deciduous tree is truly native! They are definitely a pain, I also have had lots of them come up!

 

Got lots of them round here - all self-seeded - they grow huge and very quickly if left to their own devices. If only my acer would set seed as eagerly

S

 

For those that may not know Sycamore is an Acer.
Acer pseudoplatanus to be exact.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_pseudoplatanus

 

Well I never knew that - thanks for the info - was talking about my Japanese ones though that I have never been successful with.

S

 

Not sure I follow you there Stephen. Would you care to elaborate?

 

Well the only true natives according to soil/fossil records are heather, some cytisus/genista, gorse and other small low growing plants (either exact or related), which would be said to be truly native (ie theyve been here before the last major ice age 13,000 years ago).. all others apart from the Scots pine (which is a true native), have spread here after the ice age either having been brought over here by settlers or seed blown over here from the continent. Even our beloved oak spread here, rather than being here from the beginning, after adapting to the cooler climates of northern Europe.. our land wasn't always filled with forests, although I don't know how far back you go... when our climate was warmer, there was settlements of Monkey Puzzle trees (found by fossilized remains), and also potentially Arbutus (strawberry trees).. Most of our deciduous trees (ie Ash, Elm, Birch etc) have been said to originate from central Europe and around the Caucasus mountains.. the only few that weren't were the common oak which originates from the Mediterranean basin.

this is way off topic though, my apologies.

 

Thank you Stephen ,
all knowledge is relevant and useful and this thread is a tree thread after all,
Jenny