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Weed? - Where's Bill & Ben when you need them - Plant Id please.....

steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
in The potting shed
This thing (which stands about 3ft tall ) has appeared. I'm not sure if it was there last year or not or whether I'm cultivating a triffid this year.
I'm talking about the tall, lopping over plant in mid distance (not the ivy, Virginia creeper or 'stuff' at lower levels). Close up it looks like this:
When it first appeared, I thought it was some type of phlox (is that right?) like this thing in the same border.

...but it now looks so different - and so much taller.

Thanks in advance.....
UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
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Posts

  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,719
    I dont know what its called top pic looks like cannabis leaves (not that I would know!!) we also are near South Downs, outside Eastbourne, maybe near you?  We have it growing by the mass, last year, Hubby thought it was something I had planted, the leaves looked slightly like the newly emerging Verbena Bonariensis, so we left some to see what they turned out like, they didnt have flowers as such, I thought they might be the standard white daisy, they just had fluffy little heads, lots of them like teeny dandilion clocks.They were all back this year and have been dispatched.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Not that I would know either but it doesn't look right for cannabis to me.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
    Hope it is cannabis - may give me an income in lockdown....is it legal to sell the plants on?!
    I think the confusion is the Virginia Creeper growing in the background - which has a palmatum (is that the right term?) shaped leaf. The plant I'm interested in is the tall plant with the long, thin'ish  oblate leaves.
    The second photo then showed a close up of the plant/leaves - and the 3rd showed what I think is a phlox for comparison.
    @Nanny Beach - yep, in sunny Eastbourne. From what you've said in posts, I would guess you're over by the Goffs/Saffrons and we're over by the British Queen. I seem to get lots of plants in the garden I haven't seen before (last year I had daylilies suddenly appear), but cannabis?! In Eastbourne?! - Surely not!
    UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited May 2020
    Is it a bit soft and very slightly downy @steveTu?

    Makes me think of Gt Willowherb ... Epilobium hirsutum. 

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





  • steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
    edited May 2020
    Yep - it seems to be downy in comparison. The phlox is similar shaped leaves, but shorter - and the leaves on that 'glossier'. And this thing is tall - about 3ft and the stem is thick - about half inch diameter at the thickest.

    Added: I think you're right though Dove - although I haven't seen the flower as yet, the images I've just checked appear very similar. Thanks. I will remove the offending thingy(ies) henceforth.
    UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited May 2020
    Yes that’s it. Pull it up ... you don’t want that in your garden ... it’ll seed all over the neighbourhood ... it’s great for some of the hawkmoth caterpillars but it’s not their only food ... they’ll happily make do with your fuchsias. 😊 

    Id recognise the roots anywhere .., there was a lot of it around the farm ponds and ditches when I was a child. 

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





  • steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
    I can't get to the roots to dig it out because of the other 'stuff' in front of it, but I'll see if I can pull it out. Thanks agin'.

    UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Tip a bucket of water over it and let it soak in before trying to pull it out @steveTu

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





  • steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
    Good tip - thank you - the clay down here is rock solid as we haven't had any 'real' rain for what seems like weeks.
    UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited May 2020
    If it’s really hard clay a bucket a day for two or three days might be needed ... I used to garden on heavy clay 😝 

    Just don’t let the b****r flower!

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





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