Unknown Weed

Hi,

I am having problems with an unknown weed in my garden, it just keeps coming back each year.  I have attached a picture of it, any idea what it is and how I can get rid of it?

Thanks

Hi Andrew

If it has yellow buttercup like flowers during March/April, then I think it looks like Celandine.  This is a very invasive weed and impossible to remove by hand as any tiny bit of root/tuber left behind grows a new plant.  I have a garden and orchard full of it.  I have tried spraying with Roundup, but haven't been very successful - but I do have a lot!  The only consolation is that it does seem to die back in May/June.  Let me know if you find a cure. 

Yes, it is Celandine, and as Sue8 says, it is very difficult to get rid off. It can be dug out, but the roots sometimes go up to 8" deep. You must get all the little root 'nodules' out or new plants will grow. Little and often to try to eradicate it is the answer, whenever you see it dig it out thoroughly. You could try spraying with Glyphosate with a little washing up liquid added, if that's practical, as this will help it stick to the very glossy leaves better. Make sure you don't spray any plants you want to keep. Sadly I can sympathise with you as I seem to have imported it into my new garden, I suspect, in Council compost!

Great, thank you both for the info, sounds about right as I thought I had got rid of it last year but I think it was around May time which will tie into when it dies back.  I will try the Glyphosate, most of it I can dig out as the soil is quite loose but sounds like it is there for good, not to worry, at least I know what I am dealing with now.

Thanks again

Oh, Andrew, enjoy your celandines.  they do very little harm, are beautiful in flower, and disappear very quickly.  Just pull them out where youwant another spring flower to grow.  i am sure they do more good than harm by feeding insects early nectar and being the harbinger of spring according to Shakespeare.

Can you recommend a glyphosate weedkiller for the previous problem - have looked at some of those available but there are mixed reviews about their effectiveness.

just found these in my garden and now know what they are!   They are so pretty that I think I would rather take Happy Marion's advice and leave them in a small patch so I can see their flowers (I'm new to the UK!!)

I have one flower in a side border beside some early flowering wallflower.  This is much too early on January 11th but oh so cheering just before the very cold weather we are about to have.

I have just been moaning on another thread about celandines.  Alan Titchmarsh wrote about them also saying impossible to eradicate.

I have some I will just let come - digging up carefully if they are in the way so the root nodules don't fall off. The worse are the ones in my WHITE border, they are growing very strongly - even now

Cutting flower heads off helps a bit 

I'm a big fan of the yellow lesser celandine. I've got several patches. As Marion says, it's one of the first flowers of Spring.

There's a really nice ornamental cultivar, called C. 'Brazen Hussy'. It has the same lovely yellow flowers, but amasing burgundy leaves. Choice. And it doesn't spread like the wild one. I reckon it's mice that spread the wild one about. It's nice, but if it likes your soil, it can turn into a real pest. I notice there's some small bits coming up again in my garden, and there's me thinking I got it all out last year!

It's a lovely little plant in the right place but I have it on my rockery and it completely swamps the alpines! The bulbils are tiny and impossible to remove from the soil - don't know what the solution is!