Unknown hedge plant

NOVASTAR

I wonder if anyone could tell me the name of this strange looking stem that I spotted today growing wild out of a hedge.
It seems to be of the bamboo family but have never seen anything like it before.
I'm going to try and get it to establish a root as it would look great in my flower bed.
Thank you for reading this.

http://s954.photobucket.com/albums/a...t=SL272002.jpg

http://s954.photobucket.com/albums/a...t=SL272000.jpg

Money_maker

No - its a terrible weed! Hard to eradicate, horsetail or something!



Occurrence: Field horsetail is widely distributed in the UK in meadows, gardens and on wasteland. It grows strongly on arable and grassland but is a particular problem in fruit and other perennial crops, and in nursery stock. Field horsetail is a common garden weed. It flourishes on damp soil.

Horsetail has the ability to accumulate gold in its tissues as well as cadmium, copper, lead and zinc. The accumulation of silica deposits in the stems gives them a rough, abrasive texture. Extracts of field horsetail make an effective fungicide and have been used to treat blackspot on roses and rust in mint. It has herbal uses too.

The plant is toxic to sheep, cattle and horses being poisonous in both the green state and dried in hay. The related marsh horsetail (E. palustre), a weed of wet, low-lying grassland, is also poisonous to livestock.

NOVASTAR

EEEk - thanks Money Maker - it is indeed the very same.

I have now taken the darn thing and thrown it in the bin!!

I just thought that it was maybe some sort of grass .... you can tell that i'm a very novice gardener at the moment! :rotfl:

Money_maker

No problem, we've all done similar!

Grebe

Deffo Horsetail, I have tried everything to get rid of it and nothing works so I have resigned myself to janking the thing out every time I spot it. Don't use your secatures or hoe to cut it as it will blunt the blades in no time. Whatever you do don't think you can cultivate it into a hedge, it really will take over the entire garden.

delmar39

Yes very aggressive weed. This used to come through the tarmac on my drive and in the border down the side of my house. I used a strong weed killer spray to get rid of it from my drive and this worked for a while, but it kept on coming back. As for down the side of my house I simply had to rip it up, but it's tough, very tough. Keep on top of it would be my advice otherwise it will take over (as stated above).