Plant ID

[Maggiethecat]

I thought this was borage but the flowers look wrong.

Can anyone identify before I pull it out?

Green Alkanet - very closely related to borage and in the Echium family. Agree it is very pretty, brilliant for pollinating insects, but can become invasive

Plant ID app

thank you - my plant app does not even provide that as a possibility!

it’s all over my garden, so yes it is invasive. I’ll remove some and leave a few for pollinators.

Plant id aps are notoriously unreĺiable and any id they give should be cross referrenced and double checked anyway and certainlly not taken as gospel!

Green alkanet is very closely related to borage, comfrey and brunnera - the leaves can be added to salads or brewed to make an infusion or herbal tea and the flowers, also edible, make a nice garnish for salads or 'dressing' other dishes

^@Hedgesfullofbirds that's great information. Thank you. DD is growing borage (in my garden) and knowing that alkanet can still be used is really helpful. I look forward to a few salads with a few leaves and pretty blue flowers in!

Try floating two or three borage flowers in a glass of fizz for a touch of summer fun!
Or use the flowers to decorate a dish of sorbet or a lemon drizzle cake.

@Maggiethecat That is a good approach, to identify things before pulling out. A lot of desirable plants will self seed, sometimes from a neighbour’s garden, so being able to identify what you’re pulling up gives another source of plants.

And you learn to identify the plants you don’t want at an earlier and more easily pullable stage

It grows from a network of tubers (and also self seeds) so while it is great for the pollinators, leaving a few guarantees that you’ll spend your life pulling it.

This year I’m taking the plunge and once it’s finished flowering will pull every scrap I see (and repeat daily until the damn plant gives up!).

Ive taken a more conservative approach to ‘weeds’ these days but it’s also to stop me from disposing of things I’ve bought and forgot to label! 😊

Will also make stinky brew with it for fertiliser!

That’s is definitely green alkanet. I have it in my garden and spend ages this time of year keeping on top of it. Whilst I would like to leave some for the pollinators, it spreads incredibly quickly, especially once it’s flowered. It’s very invasive around where I am so I try and pull it all out my the root overt couple of days. It takes a fair bit of digging. Are you in a London borough in the south east by any chance?

It’s also a skin irritant so I always wear gloves when touching it.

It’s up here too, I’m in Scotland!

Lucky lucky you!

Remove it all. If you can. We can't get rid of the bloody stuff.

😂