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Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

i've got this horrible weed - can anyone help identify it please?

23 replies

warthog · 19/04/2009 19:44

i'm in south west london and my garden is infested with these horrible weeds. their roots are extremely difficult to get out and they just come back year after year.

they have elongated oval leaves, very furry and unpleasant to the touch and bright blue flowers that flower all through the warm months. if you don't pull them out, they flower, seed and then die, covering up all plants around them and then come up again.

any ideas?

OP posts:
GentleOtter · 19/04/2009 19:47

Is it comfrey ?. The picture shows the flower as pink but you get blue and white too.

warthog · 19/04/2009 19:51

no, that's not hairy enough. and the edge of the leaves are smooth, not jagged.

thanks though!

OP posts:
policywonk · 19/04/2009 19:52

Oh I've got these. My mate told me it's borage. Will try to find a pic.

warthog · 19/04/2009 19:54

no... i think i need to upload a pic...

OP posts:
policywonk · 19/04/2009 19:55

like this?

GentleOtter · 19/04/2009 19:55

borage

LackaDAISYcal · 19/04/2009 19:59

borage has jagged edge to the leaves as well i thought.

Are they forget me nots?

warthog · 19/04/2009 20:03

ok, couple of pics on my profile but to be honest they don't do the damn things justice. they have the most unbelievably hairy leaves and stems and you really don't want to touch them.

OP posts:
warthog · 19/04/2009 20:05

the heart-shaped leaf you can see in the first pic doesn't belong to weed.

OP posts:
Megglevache · 19/04/2009 20:06

Is the stem quite sting-y?

Blu · 19/04/2009 20:08

oh, yes, we have loads of that, too - whatever it is in the pic on your profile, warthog.

QuintessentialShadow · 19/04/2009 20:08

I had them.
Drenching them in weedkiller spray early in spring helps. On the leaves, the leaves soak up the poison.

I cant remember the name of the weedkilller though. It is a very obvious name.

Megglevache · 19/04/2009 20:09

Green Alkanet?

warthog · 19/04/2009 20:10

well the stem has got fine prickles that don't really sting but are unpleasant to touch.

OP posts:
Megglevache · 19/04/2009 20:10

maybe this

warthog · 19/04/2009 20:11

Megglevache - i think you've got it!!! thank you.

now how do i get rid of them without using toxic poison?

OP posts:
Megglevache · 19/04/2009 20:12

this way/

Megglevache · 19/04/2009 20:13

ooops maybe that was poo-poo link????

warthog · 19/04/2009 20:15

yes, just looked at that link. looked like a pretty toxic weedkiller...

OP posts:
Megglevache · 19/04/2009 20:18

get the dog/cat to wee on it?

I have a terrible fight with devil's foot- cannot shift it but at least your weed is pretty

warthog · 19/04/2009 20:20

hmmm yes, will be potty training dd1 soon, so perhaps she can do the job.

my sympathies. here's to obliterating weeds.

OP posts:
GentleOtter · 19/04/2009 20:52

You could dig it up and sell it to natural dyers.

warthog · 19/04/2009 21:03

hmm gentleotter, i could single-handedly supply the entire united kingdom with dye from these buggers. but i REALLY want to just never see them again.

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