Is this a Weed?
Alec McPhedran
Posts: 1
I have found quite a lot of these in a shaded area behind my shed. Can anyone tell me what they are and if and how I need to get rid of them please?
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Alec McPhedran
Posts: 1
Alec McPhedran
Posts: 1
Posts
It's a type of borage, Alec. It will become a weed if you allow it to seed everywhere. Otherwise it's quite a pretty plant in a wild area.
i'd go with brunnera too. Borage has hairier stems and leaves. Mine does anyway.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
It's that family but I'd like to see the whole plant from the side and to know if this is flowering now. Also if it flowered earlier and this is a second lot.
In the sticks near Peterborough
it is invasive so unless you like it get rid of it...i don't remember its name but it likes to grow on chalk, i had it in an east sussex garden and i left it thinking that it was 'free' ground cover, it does like shady places so is quite useful.
I would say Pentaglottis sempervirens (aka green alkanet or evergreen bugloss), it's in the borage family (along with brunnera) and it's in my driveway, a pain to remove because of its big messy root.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentaglottis_sempervirens
I think that's more likely.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Yes, PeterE17 is right, it is Pentaglottis sempervirens.
Don't touch it unless you're wearing leather gloves. The little spines can irritate, and there are hundreds of them.
That family is a bit too spiney. I don't like to handle borage bare-handed either. And brunnera is a bit scrapey.
In the sticks near Peterborough
It is a rough hairy plant to touch, and the root can be huge and hard to shift,
but the bees like it so i leave some to flower!