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What is this plant?

donutsmrsdonutsmrs Posts: 487
in Problem solving
Hello everyone. Could any of you brilliant gardeners tell me what this is coming up at the bottom of my garden. It is a new garden for me, we have only been living here a few months. These are popping up just at the end of the garden where an old lilac tree was.
Any help would be most grateful. Thank you.



Posts

  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    It looks like "Lords and Ladies", or Cuckoo pint - a British native, Arum maculatum.  It likes shady places.  Bright red seeds in autumn are poisonous.
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    Liriodendron said:
    Bright red seeds in autumn are poisonous.
    Apparently the roots used to get roasted up as pre-tea era hot drink though. Still poisonous if you don't cook them right though.

    The folk history and mythology of Arum maculatum is well worth a bit of research too (and have a giggle at the old common names).

    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • donutsmrsdonutsmrs Posts: 487
    Thank you. Do you think it is worth keeping. I don't really want it spreading everywhere. We are in the process of doing the garden, making raised beds for flowers and veg so I wouldn't want it going everywhere. It is slowly coming into shape but still looks like a building site at the moment.
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    They're one of my favourite weeds. If they weren't weeds people would plant them for their cool tropical looks, or maybe that's just me. I tend to let them grow wherever they pop up and weed around them and they've never become invasive.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    It does spread a bit, if it likes you.  I have it under a hedge where it can just get on with it - nothing much else grows there because it's very shady.  But I have a wild-ish garden where it looks appropriate, and also, I don't have dogs or young children who might be tempted to eat the berries...
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • donutsmrsdonutsmrs Posts: 487
    where it is coming up I have planted buddleia foxgloves and hollyhocks. I don't have children or dogs so he berries wouldn't be a problem. I may just see how it goes and take it from there. If it starts getting thuggish it will go.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    :) I love it ... it’s been one of my favourite flowers since I was a child ... I loved taking them apart to see how many insects each flower had trapped in order to be pollinated. I knew they were poisonous and always washed my hands and I’m still here to tell the tale. 
    The leaves die down in summer so even if they spread they’re not too much trouble. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • donutsmrsdonutsmrs Posts: 487
    Thank you everyone for all your lovely comments. I will just see how it behaves. 
    I am looking forward to getting out there and planting. It is going to look so nice when it is finished. My husband is making a really good job of it.
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