Weed?

little_sarah_2

Just tried this once and it deleted it......

Hi all,

Can anyone help me identify this plant please? I'm fairly sure it's a weed, as it spreads very quickly and isn't very nice!
I'm a bit of a newbie to this, we've just bought our first house after years of flats, so it's lovely to have a garden which has obviously been so well looked after as we keep finding lots of lovely flowers and fruits popping up.

This weed also seems to keep popping up too despite us pulling it up frequently, and it smells horrible. It's got purpley/red leaves and red stems that don't seem to root very deeply.

Thanks in advance,

Sarah

misskool

cow parsley. I've got loads of it as well.
http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/cowparsley.htm

You need to make sure you pull the roots, the stems break near the roots if you just tug at them

little_sarah_2

Fantastic, thanks very much!
I'll make sure I get the roots and keep attacking it

£$&*"($£&(

I'd say not cow parsley - leaves are wrong and it would be in flower - it's hard to say from the pictures. Looks a bit more like rough chervil - looks like it's straggling as well so might even be some Geranium thing going on here.

Money_maker

Grahawk is right, it's herb robert. Very smelly but very satisfying to pull up.

£$&*"($£&(

Money_maker wrote: »

Grahawk is right, it's herb robert.

I thought about herb robert but even here I'm not convinced about the leaves. Herb robert has more cut leaves though it is a bit tricky from the OPs photos.

Karmacat

Thats called creeping buttercup round here - looks very nice and all that, but its very invasive. It has the same red stems, same leaf, pretty flowers. At first, I didn't see why gardener friends wanted to get rid of it - but it can grow very large, and it takes over. The only good thing is, the root system makes it very easy to pull up, its small roots, very shallow. Is that the one you're thinking of?

izzwizz_2

Herb Robert is low growing and has quite a pleasant smell (it's a member of the hardy geranium family). Definitely not cow parsley since ours is in full flower even here in Northern Ireland. I've no idea what it is!

little_sarah_2

Thanks everyone.

If it helps, one piece of it has flowered today, with little purple pretty flowers. I'll try and take more photos today to see if I can get a clearer one.

tenzing

Yes, definitely Herb Robert - a wild member of the geranium family.

Kay_Peel

It's called Stinking Robert around here. :rotfl:

It's easy to lift out of the ground or hoe out of the back of the border, but that little blighter gets everywhere.

:beer: