Plant ID needed - They're growing everywhere!!

adouglasmhor

Davesnave wrote: »

I think people will work on it quickly; they are far too valuable to disappear permanently from the countryside. Mind you, could've said the same about elms!

I was nearly killed by Dutch Elm disease in the 70s.

My dad was a landscape architect and parks department official and we would be in his car in a strange town and he would spot an infected tree and take his mind of the road to look at it; causing more than one near miss.

rubytuesday

Davesnave wrote: »

It's not ground elder, but ash. The grey stem and buds there gives it away.

I pulled-up thousands of these in my time maintaining my old Dad's garden. For interest, I once chose a random square metre and counted 54 of them! If you get them early, they are easy enough to extract.

Those who are suggesting that ash are a problem will be heartened to know that a disease new to this country will probably wipe out over 95% of ash trees within a few years. That's what's happened in Europe. It's bad news if, like me, you grow ash as firewood.

On the positive side, disease resistant clones will appear, and people like me will grow them. What was it Arnie said.....?

Oh I meant I think what is growing in my garden is ground elder - off out now but will post a piccy later. X

D-K-M

I have plenty of ground elder in my garden - if the stems are green, softish then it's probably ground elder, if the stem is darker and looks more woody you probably just have tree babies.

If it is ground elder you will never eradicate it, you just have to learn to keep it in check

Davesnave

adouglasmhor wrote: »

I was nearly killed by Dutch Elm disease in the 70s.

My dad was a landscape architect and parks department official and we would be in his car in a strange town and he would spot an infected tree and take his mind of the road to look at it; causing more than one near miss.

It's still active. I have a very long elm hedge which is cut by tractor once a year, and it stays healthy. The former owners here let one tree grow, and that was killed when it reached 20' or so.

sb44

I had a few of these that were sprouting in my patio pots. We have two small patios with a lawn in the middle so nowhere to grow anything, so I have kept a couple of these in pots to grow to attract the birds when they get to a decent size, plus they will add a bit of height and greenery to the garden.

I have just found that they can grow up to 14' tall in about 3 years, although they will be a bit restricted I suppose if I keep them in a decent sized pot. Hopefully this will attract a few birds.

Just found this which may be of interest:

http://www.coppice.co.uk/woodland-types/ash/ash-cultivation/

Davesnave

sb44 wrote: »

Just found this which may be of interest:

http://www.coppice.co.uk/woodland-types/ash/ash-cultivation/

Have you booked your flight on the Hindenburg yet?

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/UK_outbreak_map_13-05-13_Map2b.pdf/$FILE/UK_outbreak_map_13-05-13_Map2b.pdf

purple_ronnie

Pretty sure they are ash seedlings Don't let them get too big though as they are then really hard to pull out !

Badrick

purple_ronnie wrote: »

Pretty sure they are ash seedlings Don't let them get too big though as they are then really hard to pull out !

Been doing battle with one of these for a couple of years, it got down between garage and party wall, only way to get at it is with extendible lopper and SC weedkiller. :mad:

rubytuesday

Here is my suspect - my friend thinks it looks like an ordinary elder.

Lavendyr

purple_ronnie wrote: »

Pretty sure they are ash seedlings Don't let them get too big though as they are then really hard to pull out !

Yes, this. Definitely ash seedlings, we used to get tons of them in our old garden (and still get a few in our current place). Have them out ASAP, they set very deep roots.