It depends what it is, lesser cellandine I ignore it's low growing doesn't smother anything and vanishes in summer, it also provides some nice colour, unfortunatly I have ground elder and a ton of other weeds taking over a garden that had been abandoned for between 3 and 10 years (slow retreat in care) means that the weeds really have had time to build up a good seed bank!
So I weed all year long, and it looks like I didn't bother at all!
I weed out nettles in the garden because they are spiteful and get me (secretly I am convinced they can move themselves to the most advantageous position for attack while I am distracted!).There are plenty for the butterflies in the wild parts and in the fields.
I weed out thistles rather reluctantly, because they are beautiful and the bees, butterflies and goldfinches love them; but their seeds spread so easily and spoil the grazing, not just in mine but in nearby fields, and I don't want to be a bad neighbour.
I weed the 'tidy' beds nearest the house the most, but many 'weeds' are tolerated, some because the garden is simply too big for me to keep under control and others because I like them and want to grow wild plants in a more natural setting. I have episodes of 'seek and destroy' on ground elder, but the flowers look well with other things, such as Welsh poppies and I accept that it will always get the better of me, so may as well enjoy it when I can.
I keep the weeds down. Have a good go at them now and then don't have much of a problem once the perennials get going as I too plant densly. Don't have the real nasties such as bindweed or ground elder but get a lot of Shepherds Purse. Have Celandine in the front garden but don't mind them as they disappear and look quite pretty while they are in flower. Don't have a problem with Sticky Willy fortunately.
I generally think of gardening here as making patterns with the weeds. Most of the 'plants' I have are slightly domesticated versions of weeds - white foxgloves, ornamental grasses and thistles, rambling roses, pink achillea, dark purple aquilegia, dead nettles, raspberries, geranium phaeum, a few poppies. All I need is a ghost bramble and someone to breed a pretty version of docks, really. Maybe I should have a go at that.......
All around the edges of the bits I've tried to tame, the wold relatives of the 'garden plants' are thriving. Purple foxgloves, wild sorrel, all sorts of grass, creeping and black thistles, dog roses, yarrow, stinging nettles, field poppies and brambles and docks. I don't yet have any wild columbine - it doesn't seem to grow round here, and so far the celandine, bluebells, campion and bracken, have stayed in the hedges and not got into the bit I call my garden. It's probably only a matter of time. The dominant weed in the non-gardened part of my garden is wild carrot. It's moment is brief but glorious
Last edited: 14 March 2017 08:53:41
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I do a lot of that too, and even the non natives are usually things like daisies and other simple flowers, as I want my garden to blend as seamlessly as possible into the surrounding countrtyside, especially at the outer edges. I do allow myself a bit of extravagant colour and oomph in the beds nearer to the house though, and love a few dahlias here and there to beef things up a bit and stop it looking too wispy
When we moved into our house 5 years ago every bed was infested with ground elder. I spent that first spring clearing it. Hours of lifting soil, removing all the spaghetti like root, lifting plants I wanted to keep washing the roots and replanting then hoping they would survive. I lost some but not all and for the most part beat the ground elder but it has left me with a almost obsession to keep checking the beds for weeds.
To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower Hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour.
Posts
It depends what it is, lesser cellandine I ignore it's low growing doesn't smother anything and vanishes in summer, it also provides some nice colour, unfortunatly I have ground elder and a ton of other weeds taking over a garden that had been abandoned for between 3 and 10 years (slow retreat in care) means that the weeds really have had time to build up a good seed bank!
So I weed all year long, and it looks like I didn't bother at all!
I weed out nettles in the garden because they are spiteful and get me (secretly I am convinced they can move themselves to the most advantageous position for attack while I am distracted!
).There are plenty for the butterflies in the wild parts and in the fields.
I weed out thistles rather reluctantly, because they are beautiful and the bees, butterflies and goldfinches love them; but their seeds spread so easily and spoil the grazing, not just in mine but in nearby fields, and I don't want to be a bad neighbour.
I weed the 'tidy' beds nearest the house the most, but many 'weeds' are tolerated, some because the garden is simply too big for me to keep under control and others because I like them and want to grow wild plants in a more natural setting. I have episodes of 'seek and destroy' on ground elder, but the flowers look well with other things, such as Welsh poppies and I accept that it will always get the better of me, so may as well enjoy it when I can.
I keep the weeds down. Have a good go at them now and then don't have much of a problem once the perennials get going as I too plant densly. Don't have the real nasties such as bindweed or ground elder but get a lot of Shepherds Purse. Have Celandine in the front garden but don't mind them as they disappear and look quite pretty while they are in flower. Don't have a problem with Sticky Willy fortunately.
I generally think of gardening here as making patterns with the weeds. Most of the 'plants' I have are slightly domesticated versions of weeds - white foxgloves, ornamental grasses and thistles, rambling roses, pink achillea, dark purple aquilegia, dead nettles, raspberries, geranium phaeum, a few poppies. All I need is a ghost bramble and someone to breed a pretty version of docks, really. Maybe I should have a go at that.......
All around the edges of the bits I've tried to tame, the wold relatives of the 'garden plants' are thriving. Purple foxgloves, wild sorrel, all sorts of grass, creeping and black thistles, dog roses, yarrow, stinging nettles, field poppies and brambles and docks. I don't yet have any wild columbine - it doesn't seem to grow round here, and so far the celandine, bluebells, campion and bracken, have stayed in the hedges and not got into the bit I call my garden. It's probably only a matter of time. The dominant weed in the non-gardened part of my garden is wild carrot. It's moment is brief but glorious
Last edited: 14 March 2017 08:53:41
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I do a lot of that too, and even the non natives are usually things like daisies and other simple flowers, as I want my garden to blend as seamlessly as possible into the surrounding countrtyside, especially at the outer edges. I do allow myself a bit of extravagant colour and oomph in the beds nearer to the house though, and love a few dahlias here and there to beef things up a bit and stop it looking too wispy
When we moved into our house 5 years ago every bed was infested with ground elder. I spent that first spring clearing it. Hours of lifting soil, removing all the spaghetti like root, lifting plants I wanted to keep washing the roots and replanting then hoping they would survive. I lost some but not all and for the most part beat the ground elder but it has left me with a almost obsession to keep checking the beds for weeds.