Is there any chance these might be foxgloves..

[3orangekissesfromkazan]

And not those hairy weeds with blue flowers!

Download the Picture This app and it will tell you! 🙂

No, foxglove leaves are similar shape but set round in a circle rather than individual.

You have some little poppies growing there in between the other plants.

Yes liads of poppies coming up!

So should I pull up the weeds? They spread lije buggery don't they?

@Kelvingrove

No, foxglove leaves are similar shape but set round in a circle rather than individual.

I agree. They look very similar but my foxgloves are definitely more of a clump of leaves. I have no idea what they are though.

I wouldn't pull them up yet though - you never know they might be something good :-D If you're on facebook join a plant ID group. The people on there know everything!

If they are borage, comfrey or whatever the other almost indistinguishable one is, you might want to keep some for the bees/composting.

Bees love alcanet
Nice in a more wild area

Feel the leaves - if slightly spikey they are Alcanet and should be flame-throwed and if they're soft they should be fox gloves.

They do look like Alcanet though. My arch-nemesis.

The leaves do feel fuzzy.. buggerit.

Will leave some for the bees but the plants are so ugly!

They do look like green alkanet which has a very deep taproot when established which is nearly impossible to get out. Since you have that many small plants I'd bet on there being a decent population either wild or in a nearby garden so, if it were me, I'd not leave any for the bees or you'll never be rid of them. I'd whip them out now while you can...

Alkanet, that's it. I've got one. I'm happy with it. It's quite cheerful and very busy with insects. We've got used to each other now we know each other's habits!

I just don't wsnt it drowning the whole bed.

I'm sure I sprinkled a load of FG seeds last year 🤔

Deffo not foxgloves.

I have the same dilemma every year - it always turns out to be alkanet

I never get self seeded- or even 'me seeded' - foxgloves!

🥲

I think those are weeds.

I can never manage to get foxgloves to grow from seed, despite trying many times. I have to buy little plants every year.

@picklemewalnuts

Alkanet, that's it. I've got one. I'm happy with it. It's quite cheerful and very busy with insects. We've got used to each other now we know each other's habits!

Can you share your tip for keep it at just one? They are pretty and I wouldn't mind one or two - but they seem to spread everywhere in my garden and then they stick like glue

I have foxgloves and alkanet in my garden. The only way I can tell which is which is to look at the underside of the leaf. Foxglove is soft; alkanet is fuzzy and gives a horrible tingle.

I’d it is alkanet, then dig it up before it flowers. Mine has already flowered and we went on a digging mission last weekend. We have masses of it locally, and have dug up loads and loads of it in our garden over the years. I don’t think we will ever be rid of it, so we just try and stay on top of it. It is very invasive.

I was told never to put it in the compost, so I don’t.

Omg - appalling grammar, sorry. I meant 'can you share any tips for keeping it at just one'

Dragon, it's in a gravel/pebble/paving slab corner.
Anything else growing there shouldn't be, so gets nipped out. In fact the alkanet shouldn't be but as it is I've let it stay!

It doesn't seem to spread further away, or at least I've not seen it.

Excuse the very untidy photo. We've been moving stuff around to clean the patio. The alkanet is on the corner where the table temporarily is. The paving and gravel gets hoed or scraped whenever anything pops up. I let the forgetmenots do their thing, then pull them up. The shady bed by the fence is full, so alkanet won't fit there. Then it's pebbles or slabs. Deep beds around the edges, but I know what should be where and hoe around it.

Sounds like you have a containment system that works @picklemewalnuts! Your garden looks fab

Tbh I always have some alkanet that slips the net and flowers at which point I generally leave it for a while because it's so pretty, which is fairly silly given it's invasive tendencies here 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️
Should take my own advice but I'm lazy...

I can never manage to get foxgloves to grow from seed, despite trying many times. I have to buy little plants every year.

I've never been able to grow foxgloves from packet seed, but having started with a few small plants, they've self seeded happily - I wait till the seed is ready to fall and then shake the stems in areas I'd like some. I usually end up with seedlings in places I don't really want them, including pots - these are easy to transplant, either directly into soil, or pots of compost till I've decided where to put them.