I have recently moved into a new house and just noticed some strange shoots within and around a couple of rose bushes. The don't have thorns and seem to be quite bendy!
I have attached a couple of pictures, could anyone tell me what they are?
Yes, paeonies ... possibly tree paeonies you lucky thing
But yes, in amongst them you have various tree saplings and seedlings ... although I'm loathe to use glyphosate except in extremis I think this is one of those occasions ... I'd get some of the Gel form of glyphosate weedkiller and apply it to the weeds of the tree seedlings and brambles being very careful not to touch the rose or paeonies. Y'ou might need to do a few applications before the saplings die off.
Then at some stage you're going to have to decide what you're going to do about separating the rose and the paeony ... but I'd wait until they both flowered so you can decide whether you like one more than the other.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I think if the soil is nice and soft I'd have a little tug at anything small which is not obviously rose or paeony. Maybe even give it a water to loosen things up. You might be able to get rid of lots of those tiny weeds without digging down and damaging the paeony. Even small brambles will sometimes pull out if you can grasp them where they just emerge from the soil.
A dining fork might also help to just prise them out but I wouldn't use a proper gardening hand fork because paeonies are usually planted quite shallow and you really don't want to damage it.
Anything left could be treated with glyphosate as Dove suggests.
Lucky chappy - hope both rose and paeony are good ones
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
I can't see any rose! There don't seem to be any flower buds on the peony, which probably means it is planted too deep so you will need to replant it close to the surface. I would dig up the lot and replant the good plant(s) after removing the assortment of weeds.
I agree with Alan Clark. If you're not a gardener, and to be frank you don't sound as though you are, then you are unlikely to be sentimental about what you've got in there, so if you have a spade, you need to dig all that lot out, chuck the whole lot away, and when time and money permits, buy something else of your own choosing.. these were plants chosen by presumably an anonymous person anyway, so... some cheap summer bedding next time you go to the supermarket, will look just as nice..
I think you also have some horse tail weed showing right at the bottom there, so that would seriously need to be dug out thoroughly. The shoots look like asparagus tops..
I agree with Alan too. Dig it all up, being careful with the peony.
Not sure about a rose, unless it's those rather pale sickly leaves in the middle. I don't think anyone would have planted a rose in the middle of the peony and the peony looks healthy. You may have a bit of a job getting the bramble and sapling roots out of the peony without damaging it though. Then dig thoroughly to get rid of any trace of unwanted roots. Throw away everything, especially the bramble, except the peony and the rose - if there is one.
Improve the soil with compost or well rotted manure, add some fertiliser, carefully replant the peony not very deeply and the rose but not too close together. Water well. They say peonies don't like being moved but I have done it successfully.
If it all dies then re-think that spot and plant something else but at least you will have got rid of the weeds.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
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But yes, in amongst them you have various tree saplings and seedlings ... although I'm loathe to use glyphosate except in extremis I think this is one of those occasions ... I'd get some of the Gel form of glyphosate weedkiller and apply it to the weeds of the tree seedlings and brambles being very careful not to touch the rose or paeonies. Y'ou might need to do a few applications before the saplings die off.
Then at some stage you're going to have to decide what you're going to do about separating the rose and the paeony ... but I'd wait until they both flowered so you can decide whether you like one more than the other.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I think if the soil is nice and soft I'd have a little tug at anything small which is not obviously rose or paeony. Maybe even give it a water to loosen things up. You might be able to get rid of lots of those tiny weeds without digging down and damaging the paeony. Even small brambles will sometimes pull out if you can grasp them where they just emerge from the soil.
A dining fork might also help to just prise them out but I wouldn't use a proper gardening hand fork because paeonies are usually planted quite shallow and you really don't want to damage it.
Anything left could be treated with glyphosate as Dove suggests.
Lucky chappy
There's definitely at least one ash tree seedling in there!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
In the sticks near Peterborough
I think you also have some horse tail weed showing right at the bottom there, so that would seriously need to be dug out thoroughly. The shoots look like asparagus tops..
In the sticks near Peterborough
Not sure about a rose, unless it's those rather pale sickly leaves in the middle. I don't think anyone would have planted a rose in the middle of the peony and the peony looks healthy. You may have a bit of a job getting the bramble and sapling roots out of the peony without damaging it though. Then dig thoroughly to get rid of any trace of unwanted roots. Throw away everything, especially the bramble, except the peony and the rose - if there is one.
Improve the soil with compost or well rotted manure, add some fertiliser, carefully replant the peony not very deeply and the rose but not too close together. Water well. They say peonies don't like being moved but I have done it successfully.
If it all dies then re-think that spot and plant something else but at least you will have got rid of the weeds.