Weeds Have Rights Too !

[ScottBakula]

We , the weed collective have decided that its time to stand up for our weedy rights !
In particular at this time of the year all of our brethren are mercilessly up rooted and poisoned for no reason other than someone has decided that we are inferior to the flowers that humans like.

We bring nature back to derelict area's like neglected road side verges , abandoned gardens, cracks in paving stones , gaps in gutters and the brave ones even go up on to rooftops and live in the chimney stacks and gutters.

Nature isn't meant to be regimented with flowers in neat rows and groups so we come along and add a bit of normal back to your garden and what do you do ? You poison or up-root us . Which also can cause problems to your beloved plants.

We understand that you want things to look pretty, but please leave us a bit of space too.

We create just as much oxygen as your expensive roses and lilies , we feed bees , wasps and butterflies along with lots of other bugs.

We are just flowers that humans have decided they don't want , and that makes us sad.
Please help the weed collective by leaving us a little bit of your land and we promise that we will help to look after your environment.

( just incase nobody notices this is a bit tounge in cheek , but I do think that all plants help our environment and bees don't care if its a dandelion or prize rose that they get there pollen from)

@crackofdoom , I know they are real but they look like caterpillars drew by a cartoonist 🐛 .

@PhilippaGeorgiou , that is a very strange looking plant , I can see why it may be called the flying hedgehog.

I am glad you and @RainbowZebraWarrior are able keeping up some gardening , I think it keeps a lot of people active , even if it's just been able to go out and dead head a few flowers

@Cassieskinsismad , ah I misunderstood you .
Yeah Ragwort is not great where animals can get to it but if only bees , wasps and butterflies can get to it I think it's ok to leave it.
Bees love lavender don't they , they are great photos , unfortunately I really dislike the smell so I won't be planting any in pots but I need to have a think about what I could plant .
However I can kill dandelions at 10 paces so it'll have to be a tough little bugger .

I have a odd fern plant growing in my brick wall , I don't know why but i think it has a slightly prehistoric look, I know that sounds really odd but hmmmm . .

( the pen is just for scale , I am not trying to grow it 😃 )

What adorable mini ferns @ScottBakula

Strange looking little things aren't they @Sweetpea1532 , I do like them though .
They tend to be there almost all year round but don't get any bigger.
Which I am kinda glad of because I guess they are not doing my wall much good.

Maidenhair speenwort?

I love old walls with plants like that and the Ivy leaved toadflax spilling out of it.

.

These are some of the 'weeds' I found in Yellowstone National Park. I finally coaxed my DH to pull over so I could jump out and take photos.

@ErrolTheDragon , a quick Google would seem to match with your suggestion ( thank you ) however somebody ought to tell my fern it's not supposed to be able to live there let alone thrive !
It's the only wall that gets any sun which during the past few weeks has been rather intense , it's never seen any compost of any type and only gets watered when it rains , which apart from today has had any for weeks !

prefers semi-shady to shady locations with consistently moist, well-drained soils rich in organic matter. Special care for maidenhair spleenwort includes ensuring it is not exposed to direct sunlight, as the delicate fronds can easily scorch, and maintaining a humid environment to mirror its natural habitat.

Those are some beautiful weeds @Sweetpea1532 , I particularly like the tiny blue ones .

Please tell your DH the weed collective thanks him ( and you of course) for adding to the group

Would you kindly tell your cousin to FO!

I got some photos of the branched and unbranched bur-reed today. How on earth have I walked along this canal for 30 years without noticing them before? Plus a swan family as a bonus

Is the ivy the tiny light purple flowers ? I have more of them at the front of my house ( 1st group of photos in 1st post ) bees love them and they make great ground cover but I would imagine they can be a pain for gardener's.

I have walked past all of the ones I have posted for at least 3 years and not really noticed them , I am glad you have now seen something 'new' .
Aww swans 🦢🦢🦢🦢🦢🦢.

@Utterlyconfusednow , the weed collective have kindy asked their cohorts to move on to another area ..
Please note it may take them a little while to pack their fronds and uproot 😆

My ragwort has spread so I was going to cut some of it down yesterday, but then I saw that there are now hundreds of cinnabar caterpillars all over each plant. I am so excited to have gone from four or five, to lots!

Thank you but I’m pretty sure it’s going to take me some hard graft to assist them! 🤔

@RumNotRun oooh lots of cartoon caterpillars now😆 .
The Ragwort gets a stay of execution for now.

@Utterlyconfusednow
I don't know how effective it would be but I believe 1 pint of white wine vinegar with a table spoon of salt desolved in it and a bit poured on daily kills most plants but isn't detrimental to wildlife.

Thank you! I’ll try that. Does it have to be white wine vinegar or can it just be white vinegar? I’ve inherited this weed and there’s a LOT of it! Reading up and it’s pretty pernicious.

@Utterlyconfusednow TBH I have absolutely no idea, as you may of been able to tell by this thread my knowledge of gardening could fit on the tip of a pine needle with room to spare! I think I saw the advice on mn
White or even malt vinegar may work , malt vinegar is only a few pence per bottle so id start with that.

🤣 I love that you tried to help though so thank you for that. I googled and apparently white vinegar is better than white wine vinegar due to it being more acidic. Had you not mentioned it, I would have gone down the very expensive route of specialised weed killer. Apparently the roots go very, very deep. It’s an ugly plant (and I’m all for nature usually).

So we’ve both learned something today!

Ah ok, white vinegar is is then. At least your garden won't smell like a chippy 😀.

However I think we need to keep this quiet or the weed collective will send over brambles and dandelions.

Horsetail is the worst thing after Japanese Knotwood, send in the brambles!!

I get a bit of horsetail in my shady back border but it’s largely outcompeted by the astilbes and Japanese anemone. Whereas I’m not sure there’s anything that can outcompete brambles!

I beg to differ

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=horsetail+invasion&client=safari&sca_esv=3e1e3b3b9ee4e26b&source=hp&ei=chdqaPLLNJOihbIPho7M4Ao&iflsig=AOw8s4IAAAAAaGolgtGozxXlzIi3ZP4iSk8Qk-KrfiT_&ved=0ahUKEwjyzLGizaeOAxUTUUEAHQYHE6wQ4dUDCCE&uact=5&oq=horsetail+invasion&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6IhJob3JzZXRhaWwgaW52YXNpb24yBxAAGIAEGA0yBxAAGIAEGA0yBxAAGIAEGA0yBxAAGIAEGA0yCBAAGAUYDRgeMggQABgFGA0YHjIIEAAYBRgNGB4yCBAAGAUYDRgeMggQABgFGA0YHjIIEAAYBRgNGB5I2WtQwQdYuWlwAXgAkAEAmAFMoAGgCKoBAjE4uAEDyAEA-AEBmAIToALGCagCCsICChAAGAMY6gIYjwHCAgoQLhgDGOoCGI8BwgIREC4YgAQYsQMY0QMYgwEYxwHCAgsQABiABBixAxiDAcICCxAuGIAEGNEDGMcBwgIIEAAYgAQYsQPCAg4QLhiABBixAxjRAxjHAcICDhAuGIAEGLEDGIMBGIoFwgIFEAAYgATCAg4QABiABBixAxiDARiKBcICDhAuGIAEGMcBGI4FGK8BwgIOEC4YgAQYsQMYgwEY1ALCAhQQLhiABBixAxjRAxiDARjHARiKBcICERAuGIAEGLEDGMcBGI4FGK8BwgILEC4YgAQYsQMYgwHCAggQLhiABBixA8ICCxAuGIAEGLEDGNQCwgILEC4YgAQYxwEYrwHCAgUQLhiABMICBhAAGBYYHpgDDvEFmL-XKR1t_-mSBwIxOaAHpKkBsgcCMTi4B7gJwgcIMC4xLjExLjfIB5MB&sclient=gws-wiz

Bloody hell @Utterlyconfusednow that's a seriously long set of roots , we have got a lot of it at work and it keeps coming back but it's only cut back 4x a year.
I think we'd need a tanker of vinegar and a truck of salt .

( please excuse the blob in the corner it's covering a name )

It’s awful and such an ugly plant (I love nature and will give everything a chance, just not this!). As I said I inherited this (moved a few months ago) and it’s a big problem. As is yours! Unfortunately salt and vinegar isn’t going to cut it. It’s going to need that expensive stuff after all with many applications over the course of years, even then it’s never completely eradicated. I could cry.

Do your bosses know how invasive it is and that it can cause a lot of costly damage to structures @ScottBakula ? If not, you might want to tell them.

Goodness, I’d no idea about the roots. I’ll make sure none of mine escapes from where its neighbours are blocking it from getting much light.