What is a weed? It is a wild plant that bother you, because it grows and
reproduces aggressively. Often the plant may stay on
the places in the garden, where they don't bother other plants. I also can enjoy of these plants. There are a number of species which are very popular in insects.
Nettle is a host of different caterpillars of beautiful butterflies.
Some wild plants have their own place in the garden and are listed in the page
"summer bloomers".
Sometimes it was difficult for me to choose on which page I would place the
plant.
It
is only a beginning. Next year I will take more photos.
They are arranged alphabetically by Latin name.
Garlic mustard, Jack-by-the-hedge, Garlic
Root, Hedge Garlic, Sauce-alone, Jack-in-the-bush,
Penny Hedge, Poor Man's Mustard. (Alliaria petiolata of Alliaria
officinalis) Mustard family (Brassicaceae)
A species with many names. When you crush the leaves, they smell like
garlic, but it is not related to garlic. (glucoside sinigrine) The flowers
are visited by bees and hover flies. Plants are often found growing along
the edge of forests. In our garden they grow very well. On a few
places I let them grow. It is the host of the caterpillar of the orange
tip.
Kitchen Herb.
A herbaceous biennial plant (sometimes an annual plant)
Bloom time: April to June.
Europe and West Asia. Introduced in North Americas as a culinary herb. It
is an invasive species now.
Daisy, Common Daisy, Lawn Daisy (Bellis perennis)
Family Asteraceae or Compositae
In the garden you see them mostly in the lawn. White flowers. The low leaf rosettes
escape the lawnmower. The Daisy has short creeping rhizomes.
Native to Europe and southwest Asia. Naturalized in North America and
South America
Greater celandine, tetterwort, swallow wort, felonwort. (Chelidonium
majus) Family Papaveraceae
An orange yellow latex contains alkaloids. It was used against warts.
(For me it was not a success) Today is also used in medicines. A
perennial plant. The seeds possess an elaiosome,
which attracts ants to disperse the seeds. Under some shrubs, they
may stay in the garden. They grow very well. I have taken a photo.
On other places I remove the plants. The thick rhizome is difficult to
remove.
Most of Europe and in Central and North Asia.
Bloom time:
May-autumn.
Field Horsetail or Common Horsetail (Equisetum
arvense) Family horsetails (Equisetaceae). A perennial
Like ferns horsetails (Equisetaceae) reproduce with spores. It
lacks flowers.
In spring there appear fertile, light brown, cone-bearing stems.
They are unbranched. Sterile stems start to grow
after the fertile stems have wilted. (after about two weeks) The stem
has whorls of long branches, with rounded ridges.
Every year there are some plants in our garden, but they don't give
trouble. Because of the many ferns they don't get much light. The soil is
rather dry. It prefers moist soil.
It can be very difficult to control. You have to remove the plants
before they have spores. But the reproduction also is by the roots.
The roots are tuber-bearing and rhizomatous.
It is
toxic to some plants and animals. (e.g. grasses and horses)
Europe, China, Japan, North America, New Zealand.
Small Horsetail, dwarf scouringrush
(Equisetum scirpoides) Origin: North America.
I put it on this page, though I bought it. I have many regrets. I had
planted the horsetail near the pond. But in short time, it had spread to
other parts of the garden and formed a dense mat. The roots are tiny, fibrous rhizomes that are
impossible to pull out completely. In the (small) rock garden I had to
remove all stones to get rid of it.
The garden centers should place a warning because of its invasiveness.
The bigger member of the family Rough Horsetail, Scouring Rush (Equisetum
hyemale) (80 to 100 cm) gives no problems in our garden. Small Horsetail, dwarf scouringrush
(Equisetum scirpoides)
Common Hemp-nettle (Galeopsis tetrahit) Mint
family (Lamiaceae, Labiatae). Bloom time: VII - X
The plant has white or pink flowers marked with dark blotches on the
lower lip. The stems have bristly hairs. The leaves resemble those of a
nettle.
On moist to rather dry, nitrogen-rich soil. In forests, along roads and
water sides, but also in grain fields. ( the farmers are not happy.) Sun,
half shade.
I 've read, Lacewing like to lay their eggs on Common Hemp-nettle.
Native to Europe and Asia. But from 1800 also in North America.
Cleavers, Clivers, Goosegrass, Stickywilly,
Stickyweed, Stickyleaf, Catchweed, Robin-run-the-hedge and Coachweed. (Galium
aparine) Family Rubiaceae. An annual plant. Bloom time V - X.
Small white flowers. (2 mm) fruits, The small fruits have like the plant
hooked hairs. They cling to animal to disperse. The hooked hairs on
the square, weak stems and leaves of the plant cling to other plants like hedgerows.
They use them for support and climb to reach sunlight. It is a
fast-growing plant. I pull them up as much as possible.
Both sun and shade. The plant likes fertile, moist soil.
Native to North America and Eurasia.
Herb Robert, Red Robin, Robert Geranium
(Geranium robertianum) Family Geraniaceae. Bloom time V - IX An
annual or biennial plant.
A nice plant which can grow properly. The plants are easy to remove.
They may stay on some shady spots in the garden.
On a dry place the leaves turn red in autumn. The whole plant has an
strange aroma, you always recognize.
The name may come from St. Robert or Rupert the Archbishop of Salzburg from the
7th century. German: Ruprecht-Storch Schnabel.
It was used to halt bleeding.
Native to Europe, Asia, North America, and North Africa.
White Dead-nettle, bee nettle (Lamium album) Mint
family (Lamiaceae, Labiatae). Bloom time IV -XI. Half shade, sun. A
herbaceous perennial plant.
The softly hairy leaves appear similar to those of the Stinging nettle,
but thy don't have stinging glandular hairs. Hence their name "dead
nettle". The seeds possess an elaiosome,
which attracts ants to disperse the seeds. Height 60 cm. Thin rootstocks
with runners.
Native to Europe en Asia.
Yellow Archangel (Lamiastrum galeobdolon subsp.
argentatum) Mint
family (Lamiaceae, Labiatae)
It is a subspecies of the Yellow Archangel. Argentatum points to the
silver on the leaves.
Bloom time: V - VI. Shade, half shade. Height 20 - 60 cm. It is a
ground cover. It can be invasive, but it is a beautiful plant on shady
spots.
Native to Eurasia
Nipplewort (Lapsana communis)
Family Asteraceae or Compositae. Bloom time VI - X. An annual or biennial
plant.
Nippleworts have many small flowerheads. A height of 120 cm is possible,
but there are also smaller plants in my garden (Especially in
September).
The leaves of Nipplewort used to be eaten as a salad. The taste seems to
be nutty. But I've never tried.
Native to Europe, North Africa and West Asia . Naturalized in America,
Australia and New Zealand.
Ground-ivy (Glechoma hederacea) Mint
family (Lamiaceae, Labiatae) Bloom time V -VI. Perennial and very
aromatic. Shade, half shade.
An evergreen creeper with stems that root at the nodes. In our garden
these weedy plants are very difficult to control. The leaves of ground-ivy
are a good remedy against irritation caused by stinging nettle. You have
to rub them on that spot.
Formerly it was used in the brewery. Now it is replaced by hops.
Native to Europe and Southwestern Asia. Introduced to North America.
Broad-leaved Dock, Bitter Dock, Bluntleaf Dock, Dock
Leaf, Butter
Dock(Rumex obtusifolius) Knotweed family, smartweed family
(Polygonaceae) Bloom time VI - IX. Perennial. Reproducing only by seed
Moist, rich soil. Usually I get them away. That's not so easy because of
the large tap-root system.
The top leaves are narrower and smaller than the bottom leaves. The large,
broad leaves are oval and have a heart shaped base.
Height 80 -
150 cm.
Native to Europe but can now also be found in the United States
Common
figwort, woodland figwort, Knotted Figwort,
throatwort, Carpenter's Square, Kernelwort. (Scrophularia nodosa)
Figwort family (Scrophulariaceae) Bloom time VII
- IX. A perennial herbaceous plant. Height about 50-90 cm
I like them at some spots in the garden.
It has a short, knotted rhizome. Hence the name knotted figwort. The
scientific affix 'nodoso' relates also to the roots.
It prefers damp and shady places. Loamy, fertile soil. The plant
has an erect, square, hairless stem with leaves in opposing positions. The
small flowers are visited by wasps and bees. These flowers have green
lower lips and purple upper lips.
Common figwort was used in medicine to treat skin complaints.
Native to Europe and Asia (to Central Asia)
Tansy, Common Tansy, Bitter Buttons, Cow Bitter, Mugwort,
Golden Buttons (Tanacetum vulgare, Chrysanthemum
vulgare) Aster family (Asteraceae or Compositae). Perennial.
This plant is already for years in the front garden and I am glad it isn't
invasive. Perhaps the soil is to dry. It prefers moist to slightly
dry conditions. Full or partial sun.
A plant with deeply divided leaves and yellow, button-like
flowers. Height about 40 - 150 cm. Bloom time VII - VIII.
Common tansy is a toxic
plant.
Native to Europe and Asia. Introduced to other parts of the world. To
the U.S. from Europe as a medicinal plant and as an ornamental plant. But it has become invasive.
Dandelion, common dandelion, lion's tooth, blowball (Taraxacum officinale) Aster family (Asteraceae or Compositae).
From half April. Perennial.
Dandelion haslong, lance-shaped leaves. That's why it got in Old French
the name "Dent-de-lion" (means lion's tooth). Rabbits, horses and many other animals likes dandelions. Because of the
long taproot, they are difficult to remove. It
will regenerate, when you don't remove the taproots completely. When the flowers
appear, I try to remove them all out of the
lawn. The leaves form a rosette can't be killed by mowing Each flower heads consist many tiny ray flowers. There
are no disk flowers. To spread in the wind, the seed has a kind of
parachute. I've read there are
many species of dandelion. But they are very similar.
Dandelion contains homeopathic substances (bitter compounds) to
improve gal and liver functioning. From the latex rubber can be
made. In the Second World War the Soviet Union made rubber extracted from
a Russian dandelion. Now there are experiments again with the Russian
dandelion.
Native to Europe and Asia. Now the dandelion is naturalized all over the
world (North America, southern Africa, South America, Australia etc.)
Ivy-leaved Speedwell (Veronica
hederifolia) Figwort family (Scrophulariaceae) Annual. Bloomtime III, IV.
It's a weed in the most garden. But it is for a short time
The thick and hairy leaves are ivy-shaped. The plant grows along the
ground. It has lilac or blue, tiny flowers on long stalks.
Native to Europe, North Africa and the temperate parts of Asia.
Nederlands /
Dutch
