The bane of my life in the garden now

[Catname]

Sycamore seedlings. Thousands of them!

I’ve only tackled the ones in the flowerbeds but I’ve pulled out loads, and then I go back the next day and there are more, and more, and more. They are quite easy to pull out when it’s just the seed leaves but once they develop the first proper leaf, they get such a hold, and I’m doing it by hand as I want to see which of my lovely plants has self seeded (as I cannot grow anything from seed myself it would seem). I’m concerned that the ones in the lawn will get a good hold before it’s dry enough to cut the grass and then I’ll have a forest 🥴

Does anyone else have a plant they despise as much as I do sycamores?

I forgot about the Mares Tail! I read that if you pull up the stems every time they appear, eventually the plant gets weak and gives up. I’ve been pulling them up regularly for ten years and they are winning! They are in the same flower bed as the wild garlic - so I’m thinking of getting a flame thrower and blitzing the whole area!

Spanish bluebells and brambles here

Yellow oxalis - that stuff is going to send me to my grave.

Spanish bluebells are my bane as well! they just take over with all their foliage and they are so difficult to dig out. they make me very angry!!!

@Allthegoodnamesarechosen yes I know but ours is now too large to do that so we've had to opt for control over elimination
So we aggressively cut it back regularly and water the centre when it's dry weather to stop it sending out runners searching for water further into the garden - it's feels counterproductive but I read it as a suggestion and it works in that it's stopped it spreading any larger
Thankfully it's a huge garden so an 8metre diameter patch doesn't dominate - I just hate it.

I'd forgotten the Spanish bluebells. There were loads when I moved in here eight years ago and I have managed to dig out quite a few of them but some still remain as they are difficult to get to.

I've pretty much given up with them, I just save all my rage for the bamboo, bindweed and brambles!

This! Is all over a patch of lawn and in one of my borders. Tried digging it up but think it's worse. Going to try removing all the flowers this year. Does disappear in may but annoys me in spring.

One of my friends is battling the plant mind your own business which has been creeping through from her neighbour's garden and was starting to take over.

She's spent hours on hands and knees trying to stop it going any further. I believe she's been reasonably successful so far but as long as it's next door, she'll be fighting that battle for ever.

Alkanet, spanish bluebells, bamboo from a neighbour's garden, bindweed, the sycamores just get mowed as they can't compete with the dog violets in the flower beds, and also some particularly thuggish geraniums. Also vine weevils. Grrrr!

Ooh really ? Which variety ?

Agree with op that Herb Robert is a bastard... makes your hands smell when you pull it up... ugh

I’ll see your sycamore seeds, and raise you acorns. We have one oak tree and get several entire wheely bins full of the bastard things. In the lawn. In the flower beds. Mowing the lawn in autumn is a bit like a war zone, I’ve seriously considered wearing safety goggles. And when it’s warm at night in the late summer/ autumn you can lie in bed at night and drift off to the relaxing sound of acorns pinging off the decking.

Bloody pyracantha. My neighbour planted loads about an inch from the wire fence, and spent years deliberately poking every shoot through to my side. He is storing his hedge in my garden.

I've just Googled this, I had no idea that the plant that springs up all over the place is called Herb Robert and yes, your hands reek after you've pulled it up.

Every day's a school day. 😀

Wild garlic for me too. RHS described it as a thug plant when I asked them to identify it....... Lemon balm is a pain in the backside as well. I hate, hate, hate it.
I also have viola which grows everywhere including the front lawn, but is very pretty, and primroses/cowslips have taken a hold in the back.
I also seem to have more Grape Hyacinths that I have ever planted. I blame the compost heap not geting hot enough.

Cinquefoil, creeping buttercup, brambles, herb Robert, thistles, cow parsley (though I like this so I let it be) and a million others...it takes constant weeding just to keep a relatively small section of garden with less weeds than plants. The back of the garden including the side beds, I've just given up on. Tree wise it's bloody plum tree seedlings which throws themselves within a couple of metres from the plum tree - I must cut down / pull out 20 a year...it's a never ending battle to get nature to allow me to enjoy the plants I actually want to look at!

@SirVixofVixHall it's the ones that come back every year-the perennials. Erysimum?

They seed elsewhere (although not tons-I get around 10 a year) and also the plants themselves spread.

The colours are nice, though.

@cobblers123 I’ve been on a mission to eliminate them for about 3 years now - I’m winning. I don’t mind the smaller daintier English ones but the Spaniards are basically weeds.

Mare’s Tail in my front garden. I fight a battle every year with it, and I’m not winning. According to my now deceased neighbour next door. The original owner of our 1930s house was a plant collector and he thought Mare’s Tail was a pretty asparagus like grass?

So if it’s been here since the 1930s I’m never going to beat it. But I have rather forgiven him, as 1954’s Christmas Tree makes me smile whenever I look at all 50ft of it :)

Bind weed. I hate it

How do you get rid of the ground elder @wonkylegs ?

I’ve started taking care of DMs garden too and Spanish bluebells are a nightmare there.
The other thing I detest is weeping sedge which my neighbour has a massive one of. I’m forever digging up plantlets.

just been perusing this RHS list of thugs and was not aware that Japanese anemones were a problem as they’ve failed to thrive in my garden when I’ve tried to plant them
thugs

You don't. Ever. It just hides and reappears.

It even survived paraquat and later a flamethrower.

@Wallywobbles you don't really
I've lessened it's grip with extreme patience
I segment the affected area and gently comb through removing every bit of root & plant, but after time it always creeps back
We burn the waste
In other places I just trim it back and plant hardy plants within it.
Apparently you can eat the young leaves - like spinach, bloody Romans introduced it to the U.K. as a food source!

In my old garden I was constantly fighting creeping buttercup, dandelions, herb robert, ground elder and mind your own business. I've swapped them for sycamore, Spanish bluebells, brambles and moss! There's always something!