Please could you identify this weed?

[CruCru]

And how to get rid of it? It isn't ugly but it's spreading fast. I've tried to dig it out but the underground stems are all linked and not at all easy to reach. I've ordered a sickle but wondered whether there is something else I should be doing.

Thanks!

[CorporeSarnie]

Ecologist DH thinks may be ground ivy, his suggestion is glyphosate (roundup), apparently a pita to get rid of.

[AuditAngel]

It looks like bindweed to me. Are the stalks entwined around each other? If do, you need to dig out all the roots and tendrils or it keeps re growing. It is a big job.

[SwanneeKazoo]

Read or heard on GQT a long while ago that the best way to get rid of bindweed is to train it up a post. When the post(s - depending on your level of infestation) is well covered, get some systemic herbicide in a bucket and splodge it liberally all over the leaves and stems. You must wear rubber gloves to do this and be careful not to get it on any plants you want to keep. The poison will be taken up by the plant and kill it and the attached roots. I have not tried this method so far, but will this spring as I seem to have the national bindweed collection in my garden.

[CruCru]

Isn't bindweed the stuff that has white flowers similar to the trumpets on daffodils?

[CruCru]

The leaves are smooth and rounded, they look a bit like an aquatic plant, except they're not in a pond.

[eddiemairswife]

Bindweed was called convolvulus when I was a child.

[CorporeSarnie]

Yes, bindweed is the stuff with white flowers. It could be coltsfoot, are the stems coloured?
For any of the plants mentioned, systemic herbicide is the most effective option. You will need a period of dry, sunny weather for this to work properly, rain will wash it away. Otherwise any leftover routes will re-establish the infestation.

[CruCru]

Yep, it looks a lot like coltsfoot. According to Google, it grows well in heavy clay, in shade and can be invasive. Yep, that sounds like it.

[Ferguson]

Glyphosate mixed in wallpaper paste and PAINTED onto leaves probably best way.

[Bearleigh]

Could it be Celandine:

www.wildflowersofstrathclydepark.org.uk/Celandine%20Lesser.htm

We used to have Celandine in our garden under trees, and it was a real weed - lots of brittle roots. I think keeping digging it out got rid in the end, but glyphosate would be quicker...

[funnyperson]

Yes I'm thinking Celandine with yellow flowers in spring. Monty did a piece on it in gardeners world once. One can choose to leave a patch of it in.

[PurpleWithRed]

Can you post some pix of the roots and what it looks like if you dig a bit up?

[Namechangeyetagaintohide]

Ecologist here too, I don't think ground ivy, colts foot or bindweed. It looks familiar but having a blank. I don't have my damn book with me. Will have a think.

[Namechangeyetagaintohide]

Could well be lesser celandine actually.

[MaudantWit]

It looks very much like celandine to me.

[MaudantWit]

Oh and be very wary of trying to dig celandine out, as it tends to leave bulbils behind which make new plants.

[Ferguson]

Yes, I also thought celandine at first. That CAN be dug out, if you are careful to get all the bulbils as well. At least it not such a big problem as bindweed that restarts from a tiny scrap of root.

[CruCru]

Ah, yes, it could be celadine too. To be honest, it looks nice on a steep slope under some trees where not a whole lot grows but it is in a bed where I don't want it - so I'll zap it with glyphosate where I don't want it. It appears to have purple flowers not yello but those might be the alliums I put in.

[ppeatfruit]

The leaves are large but if it has delicate purpley flowers in the early spring then it's violets which are lovely why would you want to get rid of them? I love mine and let them grow where they want.

Celandine are alright too can you tell I value my wildlife garden ? The weedkillers kill wildlife too.

[MaudantWit]

Curiouser and curiouser. The leaves (particularly in the left-most photo) look very like celandine, but, if the flowers are indeed purple, all bets are off. They don't look like violet leaves.

[funnyperson]

There is a mix of leaves in the picture, perhaps some violets are hid between the celandine.

[Callmegeoff]

I have that weed, it has purple flowers in February a bit like Hosta stalks, I did find out what it is but have forgotten. I have had no luck in getting rid, it's very spready.

[Namechangeyetagaintohide]

Purple flowers ? Oh that changes things. What do they look like ? Violety ? Like this ?

The leaves don't seem like a violet to me either. If it's non native there isn't a chance I will recognise it .
I shall think some more.

[Namechangeyetagaintohide]

OP how big is it ? Is it common butterbur by any chance ? Only that can get quite large and your plant looks quite small..

[Callmegeoff]

www.seasonalwildflowers.com/january/winter-heliotrope.html

I think it's this :)