Perennial Weeds

To help new gardeners identify common perennial weeds, please post a picture and brief discription of weeds you encounter.

Couch Grass

   

Couch grass looks like just like a tuft of any grass, but underneath the ground forms a dense root system. It spreads quickly by sharp ended rhizoms.

Removal is fairly labour intensive if the ground has been left uncultivated,  all the roots/rhizoms need removing. Normal the root/rhizome network is shallow

Creeping Buttercup

   

Fairly common and spreads quickly by sending out runners (like strawberries) but will also disperse seed

Easy to remove with a trowel

Creeping Thistle

   

Common on allotments and multiplies via brittle root system and wind dispersed seeds, moderately difficult to remove from very overgrown plots. Ensure you lift with a fork and remove all pieces of root

Creeping Buttercup



Fairly common and spreads quickly by sending out runners (like strawberries) but will also disperse seed

Easy to remove with a trowel

Now is a good time to tackle these as they remain dark green and carry on growing and multiplying slowly throughout winter. Even when the soil is very wet, the roots can be removed cleanly unlike a lot of other weeds.

GROUND ELDER

The bane of my life I will take photos tomorrow.

This is an invasive herbaceous perennial. If you don't dig it out as soon as you see it you will have it for the rest of your days. It's impossible to get rid off.

It spreads by rhizomes with fleshy white roots that form a solid mass underground and will weave through all other plant roots - once it's in your lawn you will have it for ever more.

It will regrow from a tiny piece of root, it also forms a flower similar to ammi, parsley and will also spread easily from seed.

I read that you can cover and will dispear if you starve it from light. I covered for 2 years and it just crept out the sides even though I contained it. It was already in the grass.

I've dug it up for 20years solid and I still have carpets of it in areas of my borders.

I've been trying to get rid of ground elder since it appeared in a border 2 years ago. I find it difficult to dig up by hand, the stems break easily so it's hard to follow them back to the main root. It's the only thing I use weed killer on. It's definitely weakening, another year and I think it'll be gone, but then there wasn't that much of it in the first place and I caught it early. If it's already well established in a mixed border I can see it being impossible to get rid of.

GROUND ELDER

The bane of my life I will take photos tomorrow.

This is an invasive herbaceous perennial. If you don't dig it out as soon as you see it you will have it for the rest of your days. It's impossible to get rid off.

It spreads by rhizomes with fleshy white roots that form a solid mass underground and will weave through all other plant roots - once it's in your lawn you will have it for ever more.

It will regrow from a tiny piece of root, it also forms a flower similar to ammi, parsley and will also spread easily from seed.

I read that you can cover and will dispear if you starve it from light. I covered for 2 years and it just crept out the sides even though I contained it. It was already in the grass.

I've dug it up for 20years solid and I still have carpets of it in areas of my borders.

Ah yes the dreaded ground elder or Devils Cheese as we used call it when we were kids. Dam near impossible to get rid of without a strong weed killer like RoundUp sprayed regularly.

My hated weed is Mares Tail.
An explanation about it and how to get rid of it from the gardenshop.ie can be found here https://www.thegardenshop.ie/mares-tail/

   

I've been trying to get rid of ground elder since it appeared in a border 2 years ago. I find it difficult to dig up by hand, the stems break easily so it's hard to follow them back to the main root. It's the only thing I use weed killer on. It's definitely weakening, another year and I think it'll be gone, but then there wasn't that much of it in the first place and I caught it early. If it's already well established in a mixed border I can see it being impossible to get rid of.

When I came here it was a thick carpet in all the borders. If I had known what I do know I would have weed killed everything for a couple of years. I covered a few by with sheeting. One I dug up. I've never got on top of it.
My neighbour moved in a few months before me - across the busy road so we didn't meet for a year or so! She was a big fan of gardening and knew what it was like. She didn't plant anything for 2 years, weekilled every few months and dug every bit. 
I wish I had that knowledge then.