How did these get all over my garden

[bishbashbosh99]

Pic attached... am very interested to know how come I didn't have these last year and now they're EVERYWHERE. I assumed they were weeds but now I've done a search and turns out they are these quite pretty actually but don't understand where they've come from. They're even in the grass and between pavings

Looks like forget-me-nots mixed in with comfrey?

Picture This app says pentaglottis (evergreen bugloss)

That's 2 different plants, OP. The paler blue is forget me nots which do seed everywhere and will be in cracks etc.

That’s forget me knot. Pretty, but essentially a weed. Easy to lift though.

The leaves are very different from the forgetmenots in my garden, so if this is one plant, I’m not convinced

Looks like green alkanet to me and it is an absolute bitch to get rid of - I left some around as it was pretty and it took over the entire garden, including ruining the lawn. I had to resort to blitzing the place with weed killer to eradicate it. It has a deep tap root so you need to really dig it up if you don’t want it to re-grow.

I still think there are 2 different plants. The one in the background is forget me nots. I'm guessing the brighter darker blue is the green alkanet (but that's based on this thread).

Ah thank you everyone. Looks like I've got two of the little shits to get rid of then. Good to know what I'm dealing with tho. You guys are great!

Forget me not is not a problem at all - it does self seed all over but pulls up with no problem at all so you can just yank any you don't want and leave and enjoy the ones you do. It's v pretty.

Green alkanet is as pp have said an utter shit and nearly impossible to eradicate - it is also covered in tiny hairs that irritate bare skin and stick into it but are so tiny it's near impossible to locate them to pull them out, therefore always wear gloves when dealing with it.

@BewareTheBeardedDragon thank you

Forget me nots are the flower the background and there is also green alkanet/bugloss/pentaglottis to the front. Both have similar pretty blue flowers though the leaves are quite different

@neilmomareglas if it's twining I wonder if it's a veronica penduncularis ?
Has bronzey/reddish stems .

@neilmomareglas

ErrolTheDragon thank you for replying. I thought it might be the common dog violet but the leaves of the plant in my garden are much darker than photos of dog violet I've googled.

If you do an image search for Labrador violet you'll see many with dark leaves. And probably a few photos of Labradors called Violet as a bonus.

Actually I'm wondering now if I misidentified the plants in my back garden and they're common dog violets - I've definitely got labradors on my front rockery.

Too early for geraniums?

I'm still not sure what it is, apart from being a nuisance. I'll try and upload a photo. Sorry for hijacking your thread bishbashbosh99

The paler blue flowers are forget-me-not (could conceivably be Brunnera if the leaves are heart shaped not oval), the dark blue flowers are definitely Pentaglottis sempervirens, green alkanet.

The flowers are very similar because they're both in the same family - classification is basically trying to reproduce the evolutionary tree, so the sexual parts, ie the flowers, feature strongly. Plants in the same family have the same basic structure, although they may have some scope to vary details.

OP's image looks like

www.etsy.com/uk/listing/291362535/attract-bees-green-alkanet-pentaglottis

highburywildlifegarden.org.uk/the-garden/bees-faves/alkanet/

Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens).

Which has very similar flowers to forget-me-not.

@ShrinkingViolet9 - she's got two flowers in that picture. Yes, green alkanet is one, but there's what are quite likely forget-me-nots growing through it - the paler blue flowers.

[quote MereDintofPandiculation]@ShrinkingViolet9 - she's got two flowers in that picture. Yes, green alkanet is one, but there's what are quite likely forget-me-nots growing through it - the paler blue flowers.[/quote]
Ah, yes, I can see the forget-me-nots, now (smaller flowers and some are multi-headed).

Sympathies on the alkanet, it’s on my allotment and so hard to get rid of. Forget me nots I welcome and so much easier to deal with. Look great with tulips this time of year.

Another one to avoid is is the pale lilac

Campanula poscharskyana

www.gardenersworld.com/plants/campanula-poscharskyana/

It took us years to eradicate the seedlings from this one, which also likes growing in cracks in paving, walls and gravel. There are better, far less invasive campanulas.

Oh Lord we have a darker version if that campanula. It is a bloody nightmare.

@ShrinkingViolet9

OP's image looks like

www.etsy.com/uk/listing/291362535/attract-bees-green-alkanet-pentaglottis

highburywildlifegarden.org.uk/the-garden/bees-faves/alkanet/

Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens).

Which has very similar flowers to forget-me-not.

I can’t believe people are selling alkanet!

@BobBobBobbin I know, right? If you look hard enough you'll find people selling nettles and dandelions too. Some people are very odd.

There's a seller on eBay who claims it's a rare plant and sells it for for up to £20 🙄