Do you know what these things are?

[MerylSqueak]

I've tried plant snap but none of its suggestions are close.

The first is a shrub about three feet tall, red flowers a bit like raspberry flower. It's deciduous.

The second us a perennial. Dies back in winter. It grows about 40-50 cm tall and has yellow flowers up the stem.

Shrub could possibly be Weigela. Perennial looks like Dotted Loosestrife, known to gardeners incorrectly as Yellow Loosestrife, Lysimachia punctata

Thank you very much. I shall Google those.

Definitely yellow loosestrife. Ive got lots too, currently at the same stage.

Oo you're good! Loosestrife definitely. Weigela very likely. Thank you.

(But I stand corrected on the name!)

Dotted Loosestrife, known to gardeners incorrectly as Yellow Loosestrife
Why can't I call it Yellow Loosestrife?

Because it could cause confusion with Yellow Loosestrife,, Lysimachia vulgaris. But lots of nurseries still get it wrong, so you’d be in good company.

See here for some of the differences

It looks like I have a 'dotted', not a 'yellow', As I thought for 30+ years!
Every day's a school day. Thank you.

@MereDintofPandiculation is right about plant names.

The trouble with using 'common' plant names is that sometimes a plant can have several common names, or share a name with something entirely unrelated. That's why we go by the Latin names. Usually a bit of a mouthful, but you get the right plant until botanists decide that something has been wrongly classified and change its name

I've just realised I have yellow loosestrife iny front garden thanks to your link. I absolutely hate it but at least I know what it is now.

Dotted is much nicer ( although I still want to dig it up to plant a herb bed).

The dotted is one of the ones you have to be careful about because it has the potential to join the list of impossible to get rid of. It does crowd other things out somewhat and will come up from the tiniest bit of root (learned the hard way from foolishly moving it somewhere I realised I did want it and now I have to remove small ones every single year, despite apparently having cleared all roots out the previous year)

Realised I did not want it

That last bit is a bit unfair! It’s not that they made a mistake, it’s that more information became available. In the past, it it was things like ease of travel meaning botanists could look at plants in overseas herbaria for the first time, then computing power to consider lots of characters at the same time, now it’s DNA analysis giving a direct insight into ancestry instead of ancestry having to be inferred from physical characteristics.

I know it isn't a mistake, just that they reclassify things after further research. Slightly annoying though, when I can still remember names I learned decades ago, and my memory these days is shocking so I can't ingest the new ones.

Well, I have made a start on digging it out ready for my hen bed. I'm just throwing the whole top layer away as it's so congested with roots (and Spanish bluebells). What do you think my chances are of making a go of the herb bed? Will I manage just taking it out when it comes back or is it a lost cause?

My mistaken move that I then removed still puts up small plants in spring, which I pull out. You prob just need to be vigilant and swift at whipping any out that show. Lots of herbs are quite able to hold their own once established. Which herbs are you putting there?

Thanks for that. Woody ones mainly - thyme, sage, rosemary.

I was replying for the benefit of others rather than you! Yes, I have the same trouble with new names. It’s so difficult nowadays to get any new information to stick.

Those herbs will def hold their own against loosestrife trying to come back - you'll still need to pull out the small plants but the herbs will cope!

Thanks