Forum home› Plants
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

What is this?

[Glen][Glen] Posts: 76
in Plants
I'm really annoyed with my gardener, who was supposed to be removing weeds.

After he exposed whole areas of bare soil with apparently no plants found, he left and I stung my hands on nettles in the green areas of the garden! I also found various plants dumped in a Hippo bag including these ... although I don't know what they are called?



Whatever they are, they don't look like weeds to me!

Posts

  • [Glen][Glen] Posts: 76
    He also removed thousands of Salvia patens plants, claiming those are self-seeding weeds. Are they ever considered weeds?
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    edited June 2021
    I don’t class salvias as weeds but maybe he thought there too many.  The photo is Bergenia ,  it does need thinning out, it will take over a big patch. 
    You will need to either sack him or be very specific about what you want.
    perhaps he’s not a real gardener, just an odd jobber? 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • [Glen][Glen] Posts: 76
    He owns a gardening company and employs other gardeners. He also flattened a colony of bluebells and I found unknown bulbs in aforementioned Hippo bag.

    The contemporary aesthetic seems to favour lifeless gardens, so he might just be more in tune with the fashion than I am :(
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I think you need to find a gardener/plants person … not a ‘garden maintenance firm’. 

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





  • didywdidyw Posts: 3,573
    I agree with Dove.  There are a few grounds maintenance firms around who are not necessarily very knowledgeable about plants. My SIL has his own business doing hedges, lawns, digging beds etc. He once decided an area of my garden needed digging over and he dug out a precious hellebore that I had brought from my previous garden saying that there are bound to be a few casualties. Needless to say I don't let him anywhere near my borders but he did a lovely job of laying all the new turf last year. But he, and a couple of professional gardener friends who are very knowledgeable about plants are all so busy they are not taking on any more customers and I think that is the case generally, so good luck with finding a new gardener!
     
    Gardening in East Suffolk on dry sandy soil.
  • [Glen][Glen] Posts: 76
    We actually had a Garden Consultant (whatever one of those is) and he advised chopping down the trees and concreting over a rockery because they "will be difficult to maintain". Needless to say we didn't move forward with his services.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Wherever are you finding these people?  Surely not via recommendation of gardening friends?

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





  • [Glen][Glen] Posts: 76
    We moved to a new house, which came with a richly planted mature garden and is gradually being turned to bare soil despite our efforts to achieve the opposite. Our new neighbours do their own gardening, or pay for lawn care only.
  • [Glen][Glen] Posts: 76
    Lyn said:
    I don’t class salvias as weeds but maybe he thought there too many. 
    How big are Salvia tubers? Is it reasonable to ask him to re-plant them, or are they going to quickly return next year from self-seeding?
Sign In or Register to comment.