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plant id request
This is a potentially a long shot (as it's just foliage), but does anyone know what this is? It's in my mother's garden. She has dementia and is housebound/can't walk and there seems to be a sea of green outside her sitting room window - so it seems to make sense to take it all up and put something colourful in. (If this is what she wants, of course. She does keep saying she wants more colour but clearly I would consult her.) It's been in leaf only since I noticed it in June. It is quite low down on the ground. No more than a foot tall. I sense it's something obvious that I should know.
There is also this. (The plant with the white flowers and variagated foliage.) Is this some sort of cultivated ground elder?
Both of these plants are smothering other things out. (The barely visibly red salvia has now disappeared!) She was very much a foliage person, but as I said, now craves colour.
There is also this. (The plant with the white flowers and variagated foliage.) Is this some sort of cultivated ground elder?
Both of these plants are smothering other things out. (The barely visibly red salvia has now disappeared!) She was very much a foliage person, but as I said, now craves colour.
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I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Not sure about the other one though, but someone will know. It looks like an umbellifer of some kind, but I don't recognise it.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
The second is, I think, a variegated form of ground elder and is very pretty, much less invasive than the green version and easy to control. Cut off the flowers when they are over so they can't set seed.
If you want to add colour, go to a nursery or garden centre and see what's in flower now and sneak them in - be sure to water well before and after planting so they get a good start.
He generally only does what's asked or things that really obviously need doing, understandably as there is quite a lot of it. (There is about 50% more garden beyond the bottom of the lawn and the same amount of garden to the left of it.) he keeps the bits she can see tidy, but I think even those bits really need thinning out.
It's hard to know whether to be really proactive about this or just stop trying to control it a bit (especially as I live 200 miles away!) I am not an expert gardener. I've only really started doing serious work on my own garden in the last few of years and I have learnt a lot but so far have exhibited no flare whatsoever for garden design! I have success at growing things but not at placing them well. (I am hoping I will improve at this with practise, research, experience and time.) For her, so far I have put things in pots near the window/house on the basis that it's better for her to see them flowering for a while, and have them die because they don't get watered, than it is to not see them at all because they are out of sight.
I have also put things in the garden for her - such as the salvia - but they quickly become engulfed.
Anyway, sorry for wibbling on.
Thanks for the ids.
I don't know what the solution is either, except possibly asking the gardener to plant the stuff she gets nearer to the house - assuming the site will suit them. Other than that, pots of colour is probably all you can do. Something I often recommend is having a nice pot [or several] and then using plastic pots filled with different plants and bulbs etc, that can be put inside the nice ones and swapped around according to the season. That might be an option if the gardener could be got onside too.
No need to apologise either
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...