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Is this a weed?

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  • Silver surferSilver surfer Posts: 4,719
    @GardenerSuze It's listed on their website as a horticultural plant https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/67250/valerianella-locusta/details 

    It gets even worse.
    When I looked on that it states hardiness 7.

    • H7: hardy in the severest European continental climates (< -20)
    • i.e no amount of cold will even kill it! Eeeck!!!!!
    Perthshire. SCOTLAND .
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    valerianella 'locusta' reminds me of a horde of locusts so aptly named. Perhaps it's more of a coastal plant?
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • Papi JoPapi Jo Posts: 4,254
    edited April 2022
    @Lizzie27 Found this explanation for the use of the locusta epithet on this site.
    Quant à l’adjectif locusta, il est plus tardif : en effet, les botanistes de la Renaissance affublèrent la mâche d’un nom de sauterelle, par analogie entre le vert franc des feuilles de la mâche et la verdeur de cet insecte, bien que le doute subsiste à ce sujet.
    As for the adjective locusta, it comes later: in fact, Renaissance botanists named lamb's lettuce after the grasshopper, by analogy between the frank green of the leaves of lamb's lettuce and the greenness of this insect, although there is still some doubt about this.
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    Interesting @Papi Jo, thanks.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • The leaves look like wild garlic but not sure about the flowers. (You would notice the garlic smell)  Also, wild garlic tends to grow in shady, damp areas.
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    Is this the Lamb's Lettuce found in packs of salad? Delicious! It looks very shallow rooted and easy to pull up, a bit like chickweed.
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • Silver surferSilver surfer Posts: 4,719
    edited April 2022
    The leaves look like wild garlic but not sure about the flowers. (You would notice the garlic smell)  Also, wild garlic tends to grow in shady, damp areas.
    Sorry Lyn, but it is definitely not Allium ursinum or wild garlic...see pics below
    I am happy that it has been id  accurately as Valerianella 'locusta' 
    Perthshire. SCOTLAND .
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    I have found it more difficult than I thought ID ..ing  a plant from a photo. I feel far more confident looking at an actual plant. The photos themselves can be really good but sometimes I can still question what I am looking at! One day I will post a photo that is the right way up then I will suprise others and myself.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Try standing on your head to do it.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
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