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Plant identification please

phildigphildig Posts: 55
in Plants
Hello and thank you for reading.
I've cleared a flower bed at the front of where we live, it's north west facing. Sprouting in parts, and more extensively below ground, are the roots and shoots shown in the attached photo. I'd like to plant some roses in this flower bed. So I'm trying to find out what these shoots and roots are to establish if I need to look out for them growing back in the future and damaging the roses.
Thank you for your help. 
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Posts

  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,053
    mares tail. You're stuck with it. You'll never get rid of it. Sorry.
    Devon.
  • phildigphildig Posts: 55
    Thank you for your reply. This was my concern, that it was somewhat invasive. But it hadn't come up above ground much yet. Any tips on management? Does it spread in any particular way do you know? The flower bed is isolated. It does not join to any other areas thankfully but is surrounded by the wall and path. Thank you again.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,053
    if you "bruise" it, crush it , or stand on it, and spray with glyphosate, it weakens it, but I'm afraid it will come back.
    Devon.
  • phildigphildig Posts: 55
    Thank you. Right. The flower bed isn't that deep and it's isolated. So I think we'll have a go at just digging the whole bed out. And very probably putting in entirely new soil. Thank you
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,053
    I'm afraid the roots go deep, VERY deep.( it survived the last ice age ) You're unlikely to ever get them all out. 
    Up to you, but you might be better just dealing with it as it re-appears.
    Devon.
  • phildigphildig Posts: 55
    Ah brilliant thank you for the information. We've already cleared another flower bed the other side and found that the depth isn't that much. The house is only 14 years old so we think it's a developer's short cut. So hopefully we're going to find a concrete base again in this flower bed down to which we can clear and start again. Thank you again.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,053
    good luck. 
    Devon.
  • K67K67 Posts: 2,507
    We had this in an isolated front flower bed. Concrete didn't stop the roots going down and appearing through the tarmac on the drive. When we lifted the paving slab path some 2 ft lower than the flower bed it was a mass of roots.
    We removed a load of soil and kept digging it out for 6 months. This lessened it but every day I would go over the area with a brush and a very strong mix of industrial strength weedkiller as Hostafan suggests or dig the growth out if possible. This won't be easy if you want to put in shrubs and flowers though. It was still appearing when we moved 3 years later. We did a dry river bed look and added some spikey grasses and lights in amongst the stones.

  • phildigphildig Posts: 55
    Thank you for your reply. Your work has produced a good result. That's eight times the size of the flower bed here so hopefully there's less spread than you had to deal with. About how many years growth do you think there was that you had to dig out?
  • K67K67 Posts: 2,507
    Sorry I don't know, we bought the bungalow in 2014 and moved 2017. It was a rented property so no one really bothered to do much to the garden.
    As your flower bed is small it's worth doing as you suggested and then leave the bed empty until Autumn so you can spray any growth that shows. Then put new soil back or turn into a water feature. 
    Just check everyday or every other day as it grows.... like a weed!

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