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Unidentified Weed

mandmmandm Posts: 4
in Problem solving
Hello all

My 90 year old Mum has just phoned me - she has 60 years experience in gardening, and has seen all the common weeds.

Recently a weed has arrived in her raised beds and it is unlike anything she has seen.
The leaves are about the size of a 50p piece, and it appears to have round seed pods which are about the size of a pea.

It spreads over the ground quickly and smothers other plants.

She would like to know what it is

Unfortunately her eyesight is failing so taking a picture and posting it would be tricky.

She lives in Cheshire

Thank you

Dave
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Posts

  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Has she noticed any flowers?
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • mandmmandm Posts: 4
    Hi B3 - she didn't mention flowers - she has only noticed it in the last week - maybe flowers might come in spring ? (I don't know much about plants !)
    Thanks
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    edited January 2022
    If there are seed pods, then it's already flowered. Those might be the buds she's seeing.  :)
    A photo would certainly help. Cheshire will be a bit ahead of me in terms of climate and plants growing, so it might be something that would flower in Feb/ March. Celandine is the only one I can think of, and the leaves are slightly heart shaped. With the very mild conditions this autumn/winter, they could well be appearing now in some areas. 

    I should have said it was lesser Celandine I was describing   :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • didywdidyw Posts: 3,573
    A vote for lesser celandine from me too.  I have greater celandine in the garden - arrived a few years ago and last year lesser started popping up too.
    Gardening in East Suffolk on dry sandy soil.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Lesser celandine was my first thought too.   The leaves disappear soon after the flowers finish so she may not have noticed them before. 

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





  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I was thinking 60 years of gardening, she must have come across celandine.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Depends where she's been gardening .... raised beds might have had some soil from elsewhere brought in ... complete with celandine bulbils ... 

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





  • mandmmandm Posts: 4
    Thank you all for your input.  :)
    She says it's definitely not lesser celandine  - she knows what that looks like.
    She's asked me to contact Kew Gardens to see if they know - she feels that strongly about it.
    I'm 250 miles away, otherwise I would take a photo. I'll see if the daily help can email me a photo.
    She's very sharp for 90 - I don't think she is getting confused. She says it's triffid like !
    Mum's gardening experience is from Dorset, Somerset, Surrey, Hampshire and Cheshire.
    She also spent also two years in Hong Kong, and two in Germany - not sure how much gardening she did abroad though.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Oooh yes ... if the daily help could send a photo that'd be brilliant ...  :D

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





  • shahmeerjadoon01shahmeerjadoon01 Posts: 3
    If you are so sure that it's a weed, then any effective weed killer should be able to remove it. 
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