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Willowherb - love or hate?

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  • RedwingRedwing Posts: 1,511
    I allow the rosebay willow herb to grow around my pond area.  It's wild there and it encourages wildlife but I weed it out in the flower beds.
    Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
  • @Lyn. Does it interfere with the fuchsias cultivation or is it that the willowherb swamps them ?  If it’s the former, are there any other plants that shouldn’t be grown with fuchsias, do you know ?  I ask because I’m thinking of investing in a few fuchsias in the near future and wouldn’t like to see them dying off because of nearby planting.
    When there's always biscuits in the tin, where's the fun in biscuits ?
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    The smaller ones are masters of disguise and when they come up in amongst something with a similar leaf, like fuchsias, they tend to go unnoticed until they've set seed.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • Ahhh !  So that's it.  Thanks @JennyJ
    When there's always biscuits in the tin, where's the fun in biscuits ?
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    @Winston_The_Gravity_Man. They are both of the same family, so share the same diseases,  the worst one being Fuchsia rust. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • Thanks @Lyn.  I'll have to keep an eye open for rust.  Lots to learn about fuchsias !  :)
    When there's always biscuits in the tin, where's the fun in biscuits ?
  • skankinpickleskankinpickle Posts: 119
    JennyJ said:
    The smaller ones are masters of disguise and when they come up in amongst something with a similar leaf, like fuchsias, they tend to go unnoticed until they've set seed.
    Are the smaller ones a different species?
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    Yes. The one I get in my garden is much smaller than either rosebay willowherb or great willowherb. My wild flower book suggests it might be march willowherb - if so it doesn't even need damp soil let alone marsh!
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    We gets lots of a smaller one which I’ve never confidentially Id’d, not thatI have spent hours trying too. Maybe it’s also the Marsh one, it does appear  more in areas where our soil stays reasonably moist.

    I think it’s quite pretty so don’t worry too much about it, along with all my other self-seeding wildflowers 🙄

    I’m more vigilant (discriminating) in some areas than others and I do pull them out when they start to set seed. It doesn’t seem to take over (she says fingers crossed) and doesn’t have a big root system
     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
  • Balgay.HillBalgay.Hill Posts: 1,089
    I have an area of waste ground nearby that is full of willow herb. It looks like snow when the seeds take to the air. Most of them seem to aim for any exposed earth in my garden!
    There is also a clump of giant hogweed that looks good. From a distance.
    Sunny Dundee
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