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New house, first summer in garden - would love some help to ID some plants / weeds

archerm1archerm1 Posts: 13
Hi guys! First post here so bear with me.

I moved into a semi detached house in South Shields, there's quite a bit of rain and the local soil is quite clayey although it is proving to be workeable when broken up and tilled.

Anyway, for a couple of reasons, the lawn gets quite waterlogged when it rains and particularly in the cooler months this means the whole garden is quite damp. I've got quite  a lot of moss and a bunch of other things I've not seen in my old garden. I'll post images below, any help to ID these would be great :)

#1 bane of my life - no ID so far - this seems to be growing where it's damp. It forms a thick mat of roots which is harder than it looks to dig out. It's in the lawn, too.




#2 what is this? it's got sort of waterproof leaves and it's spreading like wildfire. Also in the lawn.


#3 any idea what this is? it covered the whole bed but I left a chunk in to see what it did. Yellow flowers so far.




Thanks in advance.

Posts

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 29,088
    edited June 2019
    The first is, I think, a weed but the name escpaes me.

    2nd is alchemilla mollis, grown for its foliage which collects rainwater in "pearl drops" but also loved by flower arrangers for the frothy yellow flowers.   I don't like them and cut them off so I can enjoy the foliage and, if you leave the flowers too long they will set seed before you know it and spread.

    The last two are yellow lysimachia strangling a lovely rose - good, spreading groundcover or invasive perennial depending on your point of view.  I prefer lysimachia clethroides alba which also spreads but not quite as fast and has white "goose neck" flowers.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 13,680
    1. Mind your own buisness, can't remember proper name.
    Agree on other 2.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 8,786
    I think 1 is mind-your-own-business, Soleirolia (apologies if I spelled that wrong).
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • archerm1archerm1 Posts: 13
    Thanks for your help, guys.

    Interestingly most of the websites I've looked at say that Soleirolia soleirolii doesn't really respond to most widely used weedkillers. However, the stuff I bought for a couple of quid from Home Bargains does actually kill it, although I dread to think what it's doing to the ground.

    Can't believe it's a rockery plant. It's awful, someone must have it in their garden nearby and it's run riot.

  • RubytooRubytoo Posts: 1,323
    Soleirolia soleirolii,  so sorry, awful stuff,  Mind your own business is the common name no idea why it is called that it should be named Stuff of nightmares.
    Very hard to get rid of.

    We do the same with the Alchemilla like Obelixx. If you like the leaves cut off the flowers, also the plants and seedlings themselves are not hard to dig up if you do not want them.

    And the last, Lysimachia, they are nice if you have a huge garden and time to keep them under control or a large space to fill.
    Otherwise many in the group can be a bit of a pain.

    My dear MIL had some but had sandy soil so they did not go mad. We have clay which they seem to love.
    So I mostly no longer grow them.
  • archerm1archerm1 Posts: 13
    All my roses are collapsing too. My guess is they're too tall. I'll cut them right back at the end of the year.
  • RubeeRubee Posts: 8,455
    Mind Your Own Business is very invasiive  ,but it’s great round ponds if you keep it under control.
  • RubytooRubytoo Posts: 1,323
    Are you sure they are collapsing and not climbers of some kind?

    A good plan to cut them back but if you do not know what kind they are best do it sooner than later, perhaps straight after flowering if you want to enjoy a few flowers.
    Some kinds only flower on year old wood. If they are repeat flowerer's you may get  some more flowers this year.
    The other kind will not re flower this year. One example would be older type ramblers.

    Not totally fool proof but might help if you want to see how they grow and identify.

    Good Luck with your new garden though you have a couple of problem s looks like you also may have some nice things.

    Reckon with the Mind your own Business anything you can use to get rid is fair game. Good luck with that too.
  • archerm1archerm1 Posts: 13
    edited June 2019
    Rubytoo said:
    Are you sure they are collapsing and not climbers of some kind?

    I think they are collapsing.

    The garden itself is quite old - I think it was once really well looked after but the lady who used to live here got old and frail before she died and I think she stopped bothering with it.

    The roses (there are a few different types) are all old plants which have been allowed to grow quite tall. One of them is approaching 2m. This year's growth has been too much for them I think and they've bent over.

    Do you think I could try staking them?? That way I can keep them upright then prune them back at the end of the year.
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