Lots of green but insufficient colour. ID please.

Things have shot up in my garden lately, the border areas are all showing signs of activity but so far, nearly everything looks green and I think I need a splash of colour to break things up a little. Can anyone identify the following plants growing in my borders?

5397 seems to be the most common plant in the borders. I have lots of it growing but no idea what it is.

Is it worth keeping all these green plants or should I get rid of them and replace with flowers of some kind? Thanks

 

I think you have a weed problem
Apart from the last pic, which is almost a weed but often a garden plant.

 

As above, with poplar seedlings (5406), blackberry bramble (5402) and what looks horribly like ground elder (5397) ! Get yourself some glyphosate concentrate (not the ready-to-use stuff), some rubber gloves and a sprayer. The only way to get on top of ground elder and brambles is to keep spraying the green growth until all the roots have taken up the weedkiller and died.

 

Right, just so I'm understanding this correctly, they're pretty much all weeds?

If so, is it best to just pull them all out? I'm tempted to get rid of the lot, including the Ladies Mantle. I'll also look into the glyphosphate concentrate suggestion.

 

Glad someone else has responded to this - didn't know how to say "weeds!" in a positive way!!


I don't see ground elder, but rather a group of sycamore seedlings...

Definitely rose bay willow herb, and brambles (wild blackberry).

The sycamore seedlings are actually quite difficult to pull out in their 2nd year, so a garden fork to loosen them up, before you pull, or they will just snap a few centimetres above ground.

The brambles will take a few gos to get rid of. I find if you remove the soil from where the stems go into the ground, you often find a "knot" or "hub" just below ground, where all the stems come together. If you take this out, by cutting the roots that radiate from it, you are much of the way to removing the plant. You will have to repeat (I am currently claiming back a bramble bank, and don't use weed killers other than my hands and secateurs!).

I am fond of ladies mantle, with its soft green flowers, and never-wet leaves. Look at the RHS website, and see what you think. It is easy to remove if it seeds where you don't want it. However, you may well find it easier to clear the lot, and start with a blank canvas. Maybe the ladies mantle could fit in - you can move a clump, if wanted.

 

My guesses:

NS0_5406 bramble/blackberry (hack back)
NS0_5401 sycamore or closely related species, norway maple (can be pulled out by hand)
NS0_5354 poplar, I think (pull out)
NS0_5402 willowherb (definitely pull out before it seeds)
NS0_5392 ladies mantle, which is the only one not a weed, though this one spreads and is groundcover (can be dug or pulled out)

 

Right, thanks for the responses. Most of these weeds have now gone (sort of). The roots of the bramble weren't easily accessible so they've been trimmed for now.

I didn't care for the ladies mantle. It looks like a weed and was more difficult to remove than most of the other weeds. And as JWK pointed out it can become quite invasive (I've noticed it spreading elsewhere).

In place of the weeds some borders have had purple Erysium perennials planted and in others I've used bedding plants to add a little colour. Looks so much better.

 

Ok, don't plant delicate plants next to the stump of the brambles, because you will need to be going back and cutting new growth for a couple of years, each time they appear.

 

Looking at the original photos, I don't see any ground elder, @shiney. There was a lot of young sycamore/maple growth though, which might have been mistaken for mature ground elder. Like you, I've battled with it for years! Only got one tiny patch now. If it wasn't growing amongst the roots of the black currant from Dad, I would have binned it and the host plant years ago. As it is, I will keep it in check by removing EVERY leaf as it appears....