Anyone know what this plant is?

[TyrionsNextWife]

I’ve just bought a house and inherited a pretty big garden that’s full of plants - I know nothing about gardening though

There’s loads of patches of these leafy green plants that I don’t know what to do with. The edges are neat, so it looks like the previous owner kept them trimmed and the lawns aren’t overrun so I’m thinking it’s not weeds.

Should I just keep them tidy and leave them alone, or will they eventually overrun the whole garden? If they’re likely to bloom then I’ll leave them be and go for the wild meadow look

the purple bit and the leaves are two seperate plants.

I think the purple is a blue grape hyacinths.

The other (green leaves) I consider a weed but I'm not sure what it is.

Yes, the blue flowers have long thin strap leaves. Leave them, they will die down and come back in spring. Great for bees.

I think the leaves are a weed and no good will come of them. You should probably burn those with fire.

I think the green leaves are ground elder.
Some see it as a very invasive weed, others cultivate it because it has pretty flowers

I agree that the blue flowers are grape hyacinths - they are from bulbs and come up on spring every year. I think the leaves are ground elder - a weed.

Thank you all for your replies, looks like I have a lot of weeding to do
mrsbert it’s funny you mention bees, I’ve seen loads of them bumbling around the garden!

Definitely ground elder - it's an absolute bastard to get rid of. If it's patches without other plants then consider spraying it with glyphosate. The alternative is to dig it all up, being careful to remove every scrap of root. Even at that it could take several years to get rid of

Aha now I know it's ground elder I will go for a total oblivion approach rather than my current heavy weeding approach. I've always left a bit as the flowers can be ok but it's not worth the hassle every year!

Another couple of questions, in light of total destruction being the most agreed upon action - if I dig up the real plants and replant them elsewhere are they likely to survive, and if I douse the weeds in weed killer can I use the ground quite soon after or will it need a season to not be toxic?

Glyphosate is a systemic weed killer - it works by traveling through the plant and collapsing the cell structure. It doesn't poison the ground, just the plant. As long as it isn't one of the 'extended life' roundup type ones you should be good to replant once the weeds have died RIGHT back, been cleared and then leave a window of about a week to be safe and you should be good

Grape hyacinths are ten a penny, I shoved some in pots when I dug them out of a congested border, they survived over summer & winter in pots, flowered, and are now happily flowering in a shitty patch of grass out front where I unceremoniously bunged them because they were taking up space.

The main thing is to ensure no scrap of GE root gets moved with them, or you'll spread it.

congratulations, you've got ground elder.
it's a bugger to get rid. it has the most impressive stringy roots.
never ever let it flower.

you can eat the fresh green leaves, use them just as spinach (they don't wilt as much though)