Plant recognition

Mary Anne

Please could you suggest what these plants may be? I can get as far as spirea, fern or geranium or grass but I need more detail....Thanks 

fidgetbones

Top one is

Dryopteris affinis 'Cristata The King' - Golden Male Fern

third one is

Cirsium rivulare 'Atropurpureum'

brook thistle

The bottom grass is what I think is called gardeners garters

Phalaris arundinacea var. picta 'Picta'

JennyJ

The geranium looks like a sanguineum type, maybe Lancastriense (a.k.a. striatum).

I think the thistle is probably Circium rivulare "atropurpurea".

Not sure about the spirea.  There are several yellow-leaved varieties.  Goldflame is a popular one.

I think the grass is gardeners' garters (Phalaris arundinacea "Picta" - I had to look that up!)

Mary Anne

Thank you so much both...out of interest where do you look your plants up?

nutcutlet

If I want to know something about a plant I ask here or on one of the Facebook gardening groups. 

Mary Anne

thanks

josusa47

I was lucky enough to be given a big RHS encyclopedia.  Look in charity shops for similar books, and field guides for wild flowers.

Mander

I downloaded an app called Google Lens on my phone. It's supposed to be able to identify things using the camera. It works about half the time, and the rest is just searching for plant identification or lucky chance. But this is partly why I signed up for this forum, as many of my search results led here! 

Mary Anne

Thanks both...yes this site is fab...Im so impressed with folks helpfulness and knowledge!