Weed Identification Chart Green Flowers
Flower Name and Description Seedling Moss
I have three types of moss in my garden - a flat pale olive one that covers rocks and flower beds, a dark green spiky one that gets into pots of seeds and seedlings, and a larger ferny-type one that gets into the grass. If you have the kind of climate that moss prefers, it's impossible to eradicate it from the garden or grass.
As with moss, if you have a damp climate, you're going to find it very difficult to get rid of Liverwort. It has long rubbery green tongues that creep around pots or other places, on which form pitted circles from which grow frilly green 'umbrellas'. Try and remove it from pots, as it prevents air, water and light reaching your plants, so they die.
Fat Hen (Chenopodium album)
A soft annual weed, usually growing only a few inches tall, this has pointed greyish mealy leaves and inconspicuous green flowers. Other members of the family can produce food - a green vegetable like Spinach, red edible fruits or seeds ground and used as flour.
Petty Spurge (Euphorbia peplus)
Similar to the wildflower found in woods, but only 4" or so high. Pairs of rounded leaves with tiny bright yellowish-green flowers with prominent stamens, bracts at the leaf axils. A feeble annual.
Great Plantain (Plantago major)
A tough coarse perennial forming rosettes of thick, short and wide, pointed pale green powdery-looking leaves, with stems about 6" high with a long spike of tiny green flowers close together, followed by brown seedpods. Forms large spreading colonies.
Ribwort Plantain (Plantago lanceolata)
Another coarse perennial with flat rosettes of long, narrow, thick, dark green, ribbed leaves, bearing a tall stem with a short spike of insignificant flowers with prominent stamens and brown seedpods. Several other similar species.
Grass! (Agropyron repens)
In particular, Couch Grass. An insidious plant, spreading overground by stolons rooting at the nodes, forming dense mats, and underground by tough stringy white rhizomes. Extremely invasive, impossible to get rid of. Probably the only way to deal with it is dig when the soil is soft and carefully pull out all the root you can, and repeat ad infinitum.
Common Rush (Juncus glomeratus)
Common in wet meadows, so may invade nearby gardens. Like a very coarse perennial grass, with hollow rounded stems with a sharp point, forming dense clumps. A tuft of brown flowers half-way up the stem produces many seeds which spread the plant. Easy to remove when very young, but hard work with a spade when established.
Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica)
A very familiar perennial weed, almost impossible to remove from your garden, as it spready by means of wiry red stolons and roots as well as by seed. Stems are woody and do not respond to normal strimming. Deeper green, more crinkled leaves than Deadnettles or Henbit, strings of tiny green flowers, and, of course, it stings! If you're interested, it has herbal uses.
Several species of conspicuous perennial plants, mainly of fields or rough grass. Large fleshy leaves with a prominent midrib, tall woody stem, strings of green flowers turning to brown seedpods. Attracts Dock Beetles which also eat the leaves of ornamental plants. Its only good point is that it occurs in the same places as nettles, as a crumpled leaf rubbed on the sting relieves the pain.
White Bryony (Bryonia dioica)
A fleshy climber, a member of the Cucumber Family, with large seedlings with ivy-shaped leaves. Fast-growing, with hairy stems and leaves and thin tendrils, large greenish bell-shaped flowers followed by red poisonous berries. Perennial, with a HUGE rootstock (bigger than a parsnip), so best removed as soon as you find it.
Ivy (Hedera helix)
The familiar creeper that takes over walls and trees has to start somewhere. If you have a mature Ivy in your garden, you're likely to get seedlings, as the birds drop a lot of berries when they're feeding. They grow and spread rapidly, so seedlings should be removed as soon as you notice them. Young plants grow quickly, root as they go, and are more difficult to remove later.
Annual Mercury (Mercurialis annua)
A bushy weed, with shiny dark green pointed leaves and clusters of tiny green flowers with no petals. Most common in southern England. Also a perennial version, Dog's Mercury (Mercurialis perennis), which is hairy and more widespread, growing in shady woods.
THIS PLANT IS POISONOUS
Common Horsetail (Equisetum arvense)
A very invasive perennial weed, with wiry roots which bleed red when cut. No flowers, but brown 'cones' of spores arising on hollow stems in spring. New shoots look like pine trees, with waxy pointed leaves growing in whorls round the stem. Difficult to get rid of, as the waxy coating on the leaves protects it from weedkillers, and the roots can go down several feet.
One of the most annoying weeds in my garden. Although the seeds are shed over a short period, they blow in visible clouds and collect in furry edges to the lawn, and they germinate within hours. I remove them from my seedpots with tweezers, but those that fall in the garden grow into forests of small trees with very long roots in no time.
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