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Wordless Wednesday: Ghosts of Summer
Tag Archives: Weeds
Wild and Weedy Wednesday: Virginia Creeper
All along one side of the garden some Virginia Creeper has attached itself to our fence… it is only a flimsy wire fence intended to keep deer out of the garden, so we are not sure how long it will hold up! But for now the creeper remains simply because it is so pretty.
Virginia Creeper, 29th September 2024
Parthenocissus quinquefolia is an invasive and non-native vine that pops up in gardens and hedgerows seemingly from nowhere. The name means ‘virgin ivy with five leaves’. The berries are rapidly eaten by the birds in the autumn, so they obviously disperse the seed. But the creeper will also ‘jump’ from one spot to the next and can be seen climbing telegraph poles and streetlamps even in towns and villages.
Virginia Creeper a month ago
Here you can see the dark berries…
The vine fixes itself via tendrils that have pads on them which stick to the surface of walls, trees etc. These are hard to remove from fences, but should we need to lighten the load we will just have to cut the roots in places and the plant will then die back.
At this time of year the foliage is quite beautiful, turning red, purple, pink and orange. Here is a photo from last year, taken mid-October…
In spring the tiny flowers attract thousands of bees and other pollinating insects. It is also good cover for small birds, so – along with the berries – there is something for the wildlife for much of the year.
I would never plant this in a garden, simply because it can get out of control rather quickly and the leaves are also troublesome when they drop in the autumn. (But they do look fabulous climbing up buildings!)
Do you See Virginia Creeper in your part of the world, either in the wild or in gardens?
This is the last weed I will share this year, after covering another twenty wild flowers and weeds growing in and around my garden. I think my favourite this year was the saxifrage I covered here. Or was it perhaps the mallow…. or even the chicory?! I look forward to sharing more wild and weedy plants from my garden next spring. In the meantime, happy gardening and happy weeding! 😉
Wild and Weedy Wednesday: Lysimachia arvensis
I’m back with another weed to share today, and it is one that I have seen regularly both in the UK and Germany since I was very young.
Lysimachia arvensis (also Anagallis arvensis) is known to me as Scarlet Pimpernel, and it pops up in gardens and meadows all over the place almost year round.
The bright orange flowers have always identified it for me, but I have recently heard the flowers can be blue! Well, if you have ever seen a blue scarlet, do let me know!
Its creeping habit means it can spread into flower beds sneakily. It is, however, an easy plant to pull up, with only shallow thin roots. The flowers are barely a centimetre across, and only open when the sun shines, while the soft green leaves seem pretty resilient to heat and dry weather.
What I didn’t know until now is that it is toxic, and animals avoid grazing it due to its extreme bitter taste. It has nonetheless been used in herbal medicine for treating wounds, and even internally for treating depression or mental disorders. This explains the common (and nowadays rather disrespectful) name in German: Gauchheil, roughly translated as ‘healing the cuckoo’! 😜
Have you seen Scarlet Pimpernel in your garden? And does it always make you smile with its bright and cheery flower? I love seeing it as it reminds me of when I was first told its name in my Mum’s garden when I was a child. 😃
One more Wild and Weedy Wednesday post to come, and then I will be wrapping it up for another year. I have covered so many of our weeds and wild flowers again this year, but I think I will still have a few to share next spring…
Happy Weeding!
Wild and Weedy Wednesday: Chicory
This beautiful blue flower lines the roadsides and lanes all summer here, and one single plant has established itself right in the middle of our meadow…
Chicory – Cichorium intybus
It is a bit too far in for me to photograph it properly, so the rest of my photos are from just beyond the garden fence on the lane up to the main road. The common name for Chicory in German is ‘Wegwarte’, which means guardian of the path. So apt!
They have been flowering for several weeks already now, and will continue flowering intermittently until the first frosts.
Chicory grows up to about a metre tall, but the stems tend to bend over making it seem shorter and untidy. In addition, the flowers usually open in the mornings, and close as the day warms up or if the sun is too strong. So the plant only looks pretty in the mornings or in half shade, although on cloudy days the flowers will often stay open longer.
Chicory has been used for various things in the past, including a coffee substitute. The roots are dried and ground for making coffee or tea, which is said to be good for the digestive system, and used externally it is supposed to make the skin look younger. 😉
I love seeing these blue flowers waving in the breeze at the side of the roads and I hope a few more will spread to my garden one day.
Does Chicory grow near you?
I am taking a couple of weeks off from these Wild and Weedy Wednesday posts, but I do have one or two more weeds to share in September, so until then…. Happy Weeding!
Wild and Weedy Wednesday: Bohemian Knotweed
I am sure many of you have heard of Japanese Knotweed, a huge plant that is considered one of the worst invasive species worldwide, growing up to 30cm a day and spreading by rhizomes deep in the soil.
Well, we have something similar in our garden: Bohemian Knotweed. Reynoutria x bohemica.
It is in fact a cross between Japanese Knotweed and Giant Knotweed. The leaves are much larger – up to 30cm – and a kind of elongated heart shape. It can grow to over three metres tall and the stems are extremely tough and hollow, resembling young bamboo shoots.
It is actually a very attractive plant, and I expect that was why Japanese Knotweed was introduced to parks and gardens as an ornamental plant in the west in the 19th century – before they realized how rapidly it spread.
Not only does it have beautiful foliage, the white flowers which open in August also look quite majestic the way they stand upright. (And in autumn the leaves often turn a lovely burnt orange colour.)
Bohemian Knotweed is supposedly even more invasive than its parents, but we have been able to confine it by cutting it down or mowing over it in the two or three areas where it has always grown. It is extremely resilient to all growing conditions and can even grow through concrete! The roots can be up to 3 metres deep and extend up to 7 metres horizontally, so it is almost impossible to remove without using chemicals.
Apparently it is edible: the young shoots are said to taste like rhubarb. Wikipedia says:
Young leaves and shoots, which look like asparagus, are used. They are extremely sour; the fibrous outer skin must be peeled, soaked in water for half a day raw or after parboiling, before being cooked.
I will not be trying it. 😉 It also contains valuable Resveratrol, which in herbal medicine is said to reduce inflammation.
I was worried at first when we found it growing within our fence, but it has not posed a problem so far, so hopefully it will remain that way.
Have you had any experience with aggressive knotweeds?
Thanks for visiting. Until next Wednesday,
Happy Weeding!
Wild and Weedy Wednesday: White Goosefoot
This is one of the most common weeds that pops up in my flower beds and vegetable garden all through the year. So common and so unspectacular in fact that I have never bothered to identify it. Until now! Its common name is Goosefoot, or White Goosefoot, but there are many other regional names. Another common name is Lamb’s Quarters. (Any ideas why?!) Botanically it is called Chenopodium album, and is widespread across all of Europe, Asia and North America.
Definitely a weed, not a wild flower! Here it is growing in my strawberry bed, where I also grow Coriander (Cilantro) and salad greens.
In most parts of the world it is treated as a pesky weed in crop fields. In India however, it is harvested as a kind of spinach. Maybe I should try cooking some up one day! It is very high in vitamins and minerals, such as Vitamin C, A and Calcium.
Goosefoot grows upright and produces a long white flower bud that looks almost as if it has mildew. I have seen them up to a metre tall, but I usually pull them up before they even start budding. And if they are mown down they branch out like this one, trying to creep into my new flower bed…
In some years I have seen them with a distinct reddish tinge to them which makes them look much prettier. Perhaps I will come across one later in the year. It is the food plant of several moths/butterflies that I have seen here, such as Skippers and Plume Moths.
Do you recognize this plant? I’ll bet it has made an appearance in your garden at some stage. Do let me know if you have seen it!
Thanks for reading, and Happy Weeding!
Wild and Weedy Wednesday: Milk Thistle
A group of very tall weeds caught my eye earlier in the summer. When I looked up the name I found out it was possibly what we picked as children to put on a nettle sting or insect bite. We called it Milk Thistle. I wonder if any of my readers can verify this, as I know there are several wild plants called milk thistles, depending on where you live!
The botanical name is Lactuca serriola. You can see a single one below… about 2 metres tall.
Another common name for this European native is Prickly Lettuce (see the leaves on the one below) and Lactuca serriola is in fact the wild form of our common cultivated lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and is edible, but very bitter.
And yet some have quite smooth leaves, like in the next photo. This plant does indeed have a milky substance in the stems that has a pain-relieving and calming effect. In herbal medicine it is used both internally and externally, especially for curing warts!
The fleshy stems are tall and slender, with tiny yellow dandelion-like flowers at the top – less than 1 cm in diameter.
The seedheads resemble tiny dandelion seedheads too. They have been flowering for a few weeks and are now all going to seed.
The German name is Kompass-Lattich (Compass Lettuce), which refers to its tendency to grow with its leaves growing slightly upright in a north-south direction. They actually twist their leaves in that direction in order to avoid strong sunlight burning the foliage at midday. I can’t be sure they actually do grow like that, but am watching them!
They seem to grow mostly where the ground is quite damp and are quite common in fields, footpaths and at the edge of woodland. Another German name is Zaun-Lattich – Fence Lettuce – because it tends to grow at the boundaries of land where fences are erected. (See below!)
Have you ever come across this weed? Or perhaps you remember it from your childhood?
I still have a few weeds/wild flowers to share this summer – why not join me one week!
Have a great Wednesday, and Happy Weeding!
Words and Herbs 