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Can you ID theese 2 plants?
AmandaBen123
Posts: 31
in Plants
I'm a bit of a beginner and in the process of clearing out my rockery which has been taken over by weeds and wondering what these two plants are and should I leave them. I want to fill the rockery with lots of heather 
0
Posts
The first one is pulmonaria. The second one could be persicaria?
Dont mess with the pulmonaria without gloves, its got little hairs all over- makes me come up in hives!
2 might be Centaurea montana
In the sticks near Peterborough
Thanks guys - thats it . googled Centaurea montana and recognised the flowers .
Thank you so much
The pulmonaria has interesting flowers in spring which change colour as they mature, and seems to do well under my apple tree where it is rather dry and a bit shady. It is rather prone to mildew, but can be cut back hard if it starts to look too awful. The centaurea also is rather rampant, and sadly only blooms for a short while in later spring after which it sprawls and I cut mine back.
Thanks Gardening Granny - I was a bit undecided if I should keep them or just clear it out and start afresh
I love pulmonaria and so do the bees, an excellent plant for shade and never a problem to remove if it spreads to much.
But the centaurea
A nice blue, but deep rooted and as gg says, short flowering. Mine usually falls over before it flowers.
In the sticks near Peterborough
the pulmonaria is also known as american bluebell
I also have a variety called longifolia - much more compact and less rampant and gorgeous raspberry red flowers but you don't often see the varieties in the big garden centres
American bluebell? I didn't know that. Another source of confusion
In the sticks near Peterborough
I also love pulmonaria, in true cottage garden days it used to be called 'soldiers and sailors' .