Unwanted Plant Growth in Backyard Landscapes
Weeds ain't your garden's buddies, man. They're those unwanted plants growing where they don't belong, yet their reputation as nature's nuisance is softening with the growing awareness of their benefits and the rise of naturalistic gardening.
These pesky intruders can outshine your garden plants, both physically and resource-wise. They suck up water and nutrients, and some even provide shelter for pests or diseases. But, it's cool if you let them roam free in more laid-back areas like wildflower lawns, casual borders, and garden edges. Just let them bloom for the pollinators and yank out their seeds to stop them spreading. Some weeds look shabby in your prized garden zones, while others are extreme invaders or potentially harmful and deserve immediate action. Knowing your garden weeds is the key to a thriving garden.
Weeds split into two main groups: Annuals and Perennials. Here's our guide to help you tackle the most common UK weeds in gardens, should you feel the need.
Perennial Weeds
These bad boys are the biggest pain in the neck for gardeners as they are vigorous, long-lived, and fast-spreading. Keep a sharp eye out for them and nip them in the bud at the earliest sign of growth, especially stopping them from setting seed. Check your garden boundaries, too. Weeds often creep in from neglected plots or wild lands. Tackling perennials includes thoroughly diggin' out all their roots, even the tiniest pieces left in the soil can sprout new plants. Cover the ground with light-excludin' material for at least a year. Synthetic weedkillers work, but they're harsh on the environment.
Bindweed
Commonly referred to as Hedge bindweed (Calystegia sepium), this mischievous sucker has twining stems clothed with fresh green, heart-shaped leaves, and huge, saucer-shaped white flowers in summer. Beneath the surface, look out for its masses of pencil-thick, fast-spreadin' white roots. They're brittle, so dig 'em out with cares. In late summer, keep an eye out for long shoots that creep along the ground and root if not removed promptly.
If you can live with some bindweed in the garden's edge, it offers nectar-rich flowers for pollinators and serves as a food plant for the convolvulus hawk-moth.
Bramble
Known as Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus), this sucker sports long, thorny stems, dark green, ribbed, serrated leaves that turn purple in winter, five-petalled white flowers in late spring, and black fruits from July to autumn. Bramble is cunning as its thorny stems arch or creep from the parent plant to root wherever they touch the ground. If left unchecked, bramble can form a vast colony. However, pulling the newly-rooted sections in winter and early spring, followed by diggin' out the parent plant with a sharp spade, can keep it under control.
Bramble provides a home for hedgehogs, birds, and other mammals, while its flowers offer food for bees, and its berries are devoured by birds. Its leaves are a food plant for the bramble shoot moth.
Couch Grass
Produces grass-like blades that look innocent above ground, but lurkin' underground, it forms a mass of thin, white roots that spread rapidly. Once established, couch grass can be tough to eradicate, but regular removal helps keep it in check.
Couch grass serves as a food plant for several butterfly species, including the speckled wood.
Creeping Buttercup
Sports fresh green, three-lobed leaves with serrated edges, bright yellow buttercup flowers, and runners that form roots and new plants when they touch the soil. To remove creepin' buttercup, excavate the main plant, but follow the runners and trace any new plants that have formed elsewhere in the border.
Creeping buttercup is an excellent food source for bees, and its leaves are a food plant for the small beetle Chrysolina staphylaea, the leafhopper Eupteryx vittata, and the lunar yellow underwing moth Noctua orbona.
Dandelion
Well-known for its bright yellow, composite flowers, round heads of grey-white seed, and edible, toothed leaves growin' from a long, brittle taproot. Dandelions can be yanked from the ground, but be careful not to snap the taproot, from which a new plant can grow.
Dandelion flowers provide food for several bees and other pollinators, and its leaves are used as a food plant by the garden tiger moth.
Dock
Gigantic rosettes of large green leaves that grow from deep roots and quickly develop a long, deep taproot. Removin' young, small plants saves a lot of effort later on. Tall, upright stems produce masses of seeds in summer and autumn.
Docks have a range of wildlife benefits - broad-leaved dock is one of the food plants of the small copper butterfly.
Enchanter's Nightshade
Sports slender stems with oval to heart-shaped leaves, tiny white flowers in summer, and slender white roots that spread quickly. It's a sneaky weed that's hard to remove due to its fiddly roots.
Enchanter's nightshade is used by flea beetles, sawflies, and stiltbugs. Its leaves are a food plant for several moth species, including the elephant hawk-moth.
Ground Elder
A ground-smotherin' perennial with dark green, pinnate leaves and elder-like flowers on tall stems in summer. It's an exceptionally vigorous and hard-to-eradicate weed as its thin, white roots are brittle, making it difficult to remove completely.
Ground elder flowers are popular with pollinators.
Horsetail
Also known as Mare's Tail, horsetail forms upright stems up to 60cm high with narrow, needle-like leaves that resemble little conifer trees. Horsetail is an incredibly deep-rootin' weed, with rhizomes that can grow several meters deep, making it difficult to eradicate, but repeated hoevin' and diggin' out weakens it over time.
Horsetail is a food plant for a number of invertebrates, including the horsetail flea beetle and the horsetail weevil.
Japanese Knotweed
A tall, vigorous invasive weed that forms large clumps of bamboo-like stems with purple spots, upward of 2m tall, clothed with light green, heart-shaped leaves. It has incredibly strong roots that can damage buildings. Although it's not illegal to grow Japanese knotweed in your garden, it's against the law to allow it to spread onto other people's property or into the wild.
Japanese knotweed flowers are popular with pollinators.
Common Stinging Nettle
Has stems that can grow to around 1.5m high, bearing oval to heart-shaped, finely toothed leaves with stinging hairs. Its roots spread rapidly to form dense clumps just beneath the surface. Control is easiest in spring when the first emergin' shoots indicate the whereabouts of the roots, which can be pulled out in long pieces when the soil is damp.
Common stinging nettle is a food plant for several butterfly and moth species, including the small tortoiseshell, peacock, red admiral, and mother of pearl. Its seeds also provide food for birds.
Creeping Thistle
Initially forms rosettes of long, jagged-edged, silvery-green leaves, then develops a tall, branched stem topped with pompon-like purple flowers. Both creeping thistle leaves and stems are clothed with prickles. The fluffy seeds disperse on slightest breeze. Underground, the roots spread and grow deep, making it challenging to dig out completely.
Creeping thistle flowers are popular with pollinators, and its leaves are used as a foodplant by caterpillars of the painted lady butterfly.
Annual Weeds
Complete their life cycle within one growing season, with the fastest-growin' weeds producin' several generations. Annuals are more of a nuisance than a significant threat due to their short life span. In most areas of the UK, annuallys survive winter, often hidden under leaves and plant debris, maturin' and seedin' early in the following spring. Hoein' and hand-weedin' is effective when weeds are small, ideally on a dry breezy day, so the growth dies quickly once severed from the root. A weed burner can kill small annual weeds in paving, crevices, and gravel.
Common Weeds:
- Annual Meadow Grass: Forms little tufts of slender green blades that bear fluffy seeds in as little as six to eight weeks.
- Hairy Bittercress: Forms tiny rosettes of divided, mid to dark green leaves and seeds on short stems 3-8 cm tall.
- Chickweed: Forms dense mats of slender stems clothed with small, green, oval leaves sprawlin' over the ground for up to 30cm.
- Cleavers: Known as goosegrass or sticky Willie, forms tall, very thin, sprawlin' or climbing stems clingin' to their host, and tiny, rounded seeds.
- Fat Hen: Abundant weed that loves rich soil. Toothed grey-green leaves clothe upright stems that grow to 45-60 cm tall, topped with whiteish-grey flowers.
- Groundsel: Grows to around 15-25 cm high, with branchin' green, sometimes purple-flushed stems and bearing little tufts of yellow flowers followed by fluffy seed heads.
- Herb Robert: Member of the geranium family with rosettes of divided dark green to purple-flushed leaves and small mauve flowers.
- Shepherd's Purse: Forms tiny ground-huggin' rosettes of green leaves and produces short stems of white flowers, followed by heart-shaped seeds.
References:[1] RHS.org[2] Gardening Know How[3] Wikipedia.org[4] BBC Gardeners' World
Incorporating the weeds discussed, the lifestyle of a gardener may involve battling both perennial and annual unwanted plants in a home-and-garden setting. Perennial weeds, such as bindweed, bramble, couch grass, ground elder, horsetail, Japanese knotweed, and common stinging nettle, require persistent monitoring and removal due to their vigorous growth and tendency to spread underground. On the other hand, annual weeds like annual meadow grass, hairy bittercress, chickweed, cleavers, fat hen, groundsel, herb Robert, and Shepherd's purse, can be controlled through regular hoeing or hand-weeding while they are still small and immature. Knowing the characteristics and habitat of these weeds is essential for maintaining a thriving garden and minimizing negative impacts on its ecosystem.