The A to Z Book of Weeds and Other Useful Plants

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Daisy is a perennial weed with low-growing rosettes of dark green leaves and distinctive white or pink flowers with yellow centers. It is commonly found in lawns and open areas.

Nowadays, a favourite sight in sheets on motorway verges, where its butter-yellow bunches thrive on an annual mowing regime That’s why it’s a good idea to cut them before they produce seeds to prevent them from growing again. Dandelions also respond quite well to organic, oil-based herbicides.Big blue, white or violet flowers on a handsome plant, one of the signatures of midsummer in limestone grassland and verges Notes: A well-known garden weed with vibrant yellow flowers. You’ll typically find Dandelions in cultivated land and grassy areas.

Shepherd’s Purse has been used in cooking throughout history, particularly in China, where it’s frequently cooked in stir-fries and rice cakes. 58. Poison Sumac Street grass stems from a cross between two other weed grasses: Poa infirm and Poa supina. You’ll recognise street grass from its: A favourite woodland flower, adorning banks and Cornish hedges each spring, each plant is seen to be either male or female to the close observer. The English ivy, also known as the common ivy, is a woody perennial weed that climbs walls, trees, and other structures using aerial roots. It has glossy, dark green leaves and produces small greenish-yellow flowers. Weeds are often edible, although I’d always recommend caution and never eating anything if you’re uncertain of its provenance.This perennial weed features light purple flowers that bloom in the summer. It has spiny leaves that emerge from rosettes and deep roots. It spreads via seeds. A special treasure to find among the dunes and marram grass, with its silvery foliage and blue flowers A self-seeding weed, Aquilegia can get up to 15 cm tall. It has purple flowers, strong roots that will make it hard for you to pool it out and blooms quite early. Flowering shyly by the woodland edge, this familiar plant’s little stars of blue and pink are known to every dog-walker This is a deep-rooted perennial weed and it should be possible to eliminate the problem with repeat applications of a glyphosate-based weedkiller (e.g. Roundup Ultra, SBM Job done General Purpose Weedkiller orDoff AdvancedWeedkiller).

A perennial vine, Bindweed grows in large vines, with roots that spread up to 10 metres. It’s commonly found in Europe as well as North America, and can easily be distinguished through its heart-shaped leaves and white or light pink flowers, which get to about 2.5 cm wide. You might be getting a sense that not all weeds are undesirable. And that’s definitely the case because: Weeds tell you about your soil Nettle stems contain a fibre used to make linen and clothing for just under 3,000 years. 2. Dandelion But the biggest culprits are birds that excrete undigested berry seeds while in flight, which land in your garden. Notes: Grows in gardens and roadsides. English Plantain has tall, thin stems and oval-shaped leaves.

In principle, any plant species could be considered a weed. Most people think weeds are plants that simply appear, spread, and self-seed. Notes: You’ll find it growing in waste areas, gardens and woodland margins. Its tall, erect stems are topped with a flurry of pink blooms.