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Help please in identifying a plant

krntrmnntR5Wa30krntrmnntR5Wa30 Posts: 4
in Plants
Hi.  We had a lovely type of plant in our garden.  It crept across the bed with long furry tendrils and produced an abundance of flowers, some red, some yellow (depending on the specific plant, we had four to begin with) that billowed over the bed wall.  Three of the plants died and the last one has just been pulled out of the bed by accident by a gardener believing it to be a weed.  I am devastated as I had tried to nurse this one back to health and it seemed to be doing well.  I would love to replace it but I don't know the name of the plant. I attach a couple of photos.  One where we still had more than one plant and it was in its prime and one where we were down to the one plant but it shows the leaves more clearly.  If anyone can help me identify this I will be extremely grateful.
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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Central Norfolk UKPosts: 77,483
    Hello @krntrmnntR5Wa30  and welcome to the forum 😊 

    Those are geums … lovely things … and perennial so they die down in the winter and reappear in the spring. 

    There is a wild type called Geum urbanum (not such a pretty flower) and that is a real nuisance and spreads it’s seeds everywhere… the leaves are very similar so that may have lead to your gardener’s mistake. 
    “I am not lost, for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost.” Winnie the Pooh







  • floraliesfloralies Haute-Garonne SW FrancePosts: 1,808
    Maybe Geums? Others will correct me if I am wrong!
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Central Norfolk UKPosts: 77,483
    Snap! @floralies … 😃 
    “I am not lost, for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost.” Winnie the Pooh







  • B3B3 Posts: 21,531
    I wish there was a sure fire way of telling the difference before they flower
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • krntrmnntR5Wa30krntrmnntR5Wa30 Posts: 4
    Thank you so much for the speedy responses everyone!  A great welcome to this forum.  Ah yes, I can see it now.  We have tangerine geums and I see the similarity in the leaves.  I also know the weed you mention which makes a nuisance of itself in the same bed and would indeed probably be what led to the gardener's mistake.  I'm a bit confused though as the 'weed' he pulled out had not died back at all but was looking quite green, confident and perky.  Does this still tie in with the identification?  Also, does this particular type of geum have a specific name?  I want to see if I can replace it...
  • B3B3 Posts: 21,531
    That's the trouble with weeds. They always look perky - rarely weedy😉
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • thevictorianthevictorian Posts: 418
    The red is geum mrs Bradshaw and the yellow lady stratheden. They are both common varieties so you should be able to pick them up quite easily.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Central Norfolk UKPosts: 77,483
    They tend to die back to a rosette here and then I cut them back and divide them in the spring. 


    “I am not lost, for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost.” Winnie the Pooh







  • FairygirlFairygirl west central ScotlandPosts: 46,425
    The common geum is G. urbanum. I find it quite easy to tell from the cultivated ones - it's much tougher and rougher, but I can also see how someone could mistake it for a better quality plant. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....


  • krntrmnntR5Wa30krntrmnntR5Wa30 Posts: 4
    Thanks again all.  I can't understand how both the red and yellow varieties I had did this kind of crepping along the bed and then billowing out over the wall whereas the tangerine versions I have grow in a mound with the stalks pointing straight up.  Would this be because there is a creeping version or just because of the environment perhaps in which they were growing (the red and yellow varieties were in a different bed to the tangerine ones)?
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