self seeders, I think I may be ruthless this year

berarde

I've had forget-me- nots for years and haven't taken over, been simple to pull out, but this year I have dense patches of them, in places a carpet of them. Hoeing out daily and I will only let a small number seed this year. Funny thing is that they were very slow to establish in the first place.

Welsh poppies keep popping up often in the middle of perennials. I think they are only annuals so I don't need to unroot, but they have a remarkably large root.

Aquilegia: tend to self sow in the wrong places and they have a massive root. I am fond of them, but they flower early and then there is a large plant not doing a lot for the rest of the year. I've taken out a couple and there is now a large space where I will put a geranium and some erigeron. They self seed in my gravel and it seems always at the front of borders and I don't think the aquilegia are really earning their place.

I have been reluctant to pull out self seeders over the years, but there plants I like more so I think I am going to try to get rid of them and hopefully retain just a few forget-me-nots: they are a wonderful blue.  

Hostafan1

I'm with you. 
I try to pull of the heads of welsh poppies as they pass . I've had to hit 2 aquiliegias with roundup after they seeded themselves in the middle of clumps of hosta. I tried for 2 years to dig them out, cut down with a very sharp knife, everything I could think of , but only roundup gel worked.

JennyJ

I'm selective about keeping self-seeders - eg I pull out aquilegias and poppies if they're colours I'm not keen on or the wrong colour for where they've appeared, or in daft places. Forget-me-nots I pull out handfuls (handsful??) early in the year if I get to it, otherwise they crowd out each other not to mention everything else. I only have a couple of welsh poppies and they don't spread well here (shame).  Maybe they prefer welsh-like wet conditions.

nutcutlet

sounds great, Welsh Poppies are firmly perennial, very firmly But I love them, there's a lot of seed in a poppy head

Rubytoo

nutcutlet said:

sounds great, Welsh Poppies are firmly perennial, very firmly But I love them, there's a lot of seed in a poppy head

They are, very firmly, I also like them but they do get weeded,  very firmly.
I wish they came in white, I have looked in hope, but I think they only come in orange or yellow. They are the only poppy that stays and grows here.
They look nice with early purple geraniums like himalayense.

DampGardenMan

nutcutlet said:

sounds great, Welsh Poppies are firmly perennial, very firmly But I love them, there's a lot of seed in a poppy head

I could never get the damn things to grow (on heavy clay)! Might try again in new garden as we do like them. When do they flower? About now? Too late to sow seed for this year?