What is this and what can I do with it?

[NormaLouiseBates]

I must start by saying what I know about gardening can be written on a small post it note and still have room for a brief shopping list.

We've just moved house and the garden here is a riot of plants and flowers. Which is lovely. And I hope very much not to kill everything.

But this rather fugly thing is troubling me. What the hell it is? I've had 2 different opinions from 2 gardening friendly people... one thought it was a Red Hot Poker and the other thought it was an Iris. It's full of snails if that helps 🤢 is there anything I can do to make it prettier? Trim it back? Or can I just dig it up and discard it?

It's some sort of perennial the previous owner has cut back over winter. It'll start sprouting again soon.

Definitely don’t dig it up it might be something you love. Maybe mombretia (tall orange flower in summer, lovely) or Iris (flower late spring, stunning). Worth being patient to see what treasures the garden has and much cheaper than buying lots of new plants.

The flattened base of the shoot suggests something in the iris family. Wait till it flowers before deciding what to do

Not montbretia, the foliage is too blueish - assuming that broken iff bit belongs to it

Thank you all, I'll leave it alone then and see what it develops into!

Possibly a day lily or agapanthus?

I was going to suggest Agapanthus too. Definitely don’t discard anything at this time of year as so much looks awful but in a month’s time it will be growing well.

The little bit of green I can see on this plant makes me think it's Agapanthus. If it is it will be a tall, very beautiful blue flower. A really good gardening tip is that when you move to a new house don't move or get rid of anything in the garden for the first year and then you can see the garden through all the seasons and make informed decisions next year.

I've got a lot to learn if I don't want to kill everything in this garden 😬

If you have just moved in then be patient. Wait and see what grows where and only dig stuff up if you are certain what it is. Also you can ask here for plant id's for everything you don't know and then decide if you want to keep it or not.

And always remember the main criterion for whether you keep something is whether you like it, not whether we tell you it’s a desirable plant, or a “weed”

Agree, it is an Agapanthus. Beautiful flowers.

I agree- agapanthus. It looks like mine which are coming up. You can get some lovely varieties- not just blue and white, but variegated versions too. This is my 'firework' variety.