What is this? Help, please, for an very poor gardener.

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Please you wonderful knowledgable people, can you identify this (photo). I put in a load of plants into a new bed two years ago, but have two of these plants, one is enormous, well about 18 inches wide by the same in height, the other rapidly catching up. I have no idea what they are. A plant label near one is a geranium, and even I am pretty sure it's not one of those.
Is it a weed or what?
Thank you 🌿🌻🙂

Don't worry, it's a weed called cow parsley . Well of course technically there's no such thing as a weed, just a plant that you don't want . It grows in hedgerows and will be waist height soon if you leave it .

Just dig it up, it's quite easy to get out .

BTW I would like to commend you for your excellent photograph . We are often asked to identify plants which are just a green blur with no indication of scale . Or even a vague description like " quite big and has pink flowers " .

You may be a beginner gardener but you go straight to the top of the class

Welcome to the gardening threads . Have a and a

Kr1stina thank you so much for your prompt reply.
And at the comment about the photo- perhaps I should stick to photography and stay away from the garden?
Ok so cow parsley - that's a blow, they are the best two plants in that particular bed, but I did think they were too good to be true....

You can leave them if you want , they do look quite pretty . Just cut off the seed heads once they have flowered, so they don't set seed everywhere .

Honestly , no need for flame throwers , if your soil is damp just pull out out, otherwise a small trowel will do the job . They are not a troublesome weed . I get them too as I live in the country .

Your geraniums will be up soon and the better ones flower for most of the summer, so don't despair. You said you put in loads of plants two years ago - so how was your bed last summer ?

Ok, trowel not flamethrower.
Actually, the garden is beginning to look 'proper'. Lots coming back from last year. We put three new beds in two years ago, and planted perennials, most of which appear to be thriving, so filling in the spaces. It's still a it random but we are rather proud of ourselves as neither of us are 'gardeners', and we've even had a few compliments from visitors! I cannot see us ever being proper gardeners, but it is nice to see things growing where nothing was before.
Just finding it difficult to differentiate flowers from weeds at this time of the year. I expect we'll improve with time.
Thanks again for your advice.

Well if you have planted beds, the plants are thriving and it looks nice then I think that makes you gardeners .

And " random" is a very fashionable planting style, dontcha know .

I think it's quite common to be unsure about the plant vs weed thing. If in doubt I usually leave them for a few weeks until their true nature becomes evident. This is usually a safe plan, unless it's about to set seed.

Or it's chickweed, which explodes with seed about 5 mins after popping it's head above ground .

Yeah, you are definitely now a gardener!

I find it almost impossible to tell umbellifers apart, but I keep trying. It does look cow parsleyish. What are the stems like - hairy or not? If you take a leaf, wearing gloves, and you crush it, does it smell of anything, e.g. aniseed? (I'm hoping it does because that would mean you have sweet cicely instead!!

Well, I think a flame thrower would have been easier! The roots were at least a metre long and an absolute b*gger to prise out, but they are now in the brown bin .
They didn't smell of aniseed, unfortunately, so not Sweet Cecily.

Right , so now I AM a novice gardener. Must say, though, that it's a bit like those fridge magnets that say "I only got a kitchen because it came with the house." We only have the large garden because we like to keep our distance from the rest of the world! (Although we've always been a bit smug about the medieval hedge with it's HPO.)
Doubtlessly, I will be back here for more advice in the future. Thanks.

It creeps up on you, though. One minute you're planting your first geranium from B&Q, the next you're attending Hardy Plant Society sales and a world class geranium expert!

(I hasten to add, I'm not a world class geranium expert. Nor any other kind of world class expert. But you will be!)