We all suffer from weeds, especially me! But mostly they are annual weeds and the problem is that they grow to flowering and seeding so quickly that is impossible to get on top of them. It is true that one year’s seed is 7 years weed!
However I also have some perennial weeds and one, pictured here, is a real blighter that I have had in some parts of my garden for years, in fact, since I first came to Aston Clinton over 30 years ago. Recently I found that it had spread to the other side of the garden under a bush and not knowing what it was decided to ‘google’ weeds. The first site I came to, garden withoutdoors, led me through a number of pictures until I came upon ‘my weed’ It was called Enchanter’s Nightshade. This website claimed that it was an annual and can be eliminated by pulling up. I know how wrong this is since I have been trying to remove my weeds for many years but up they come again the following year and smother any plants I am trying to grow. Despite the mistake of claiming my weed to be an annual this is a good website full of information.
RHS Gardening describes Enchanter’s Nightshade, or Circaea lutetiana to
give it its Latin name, as a native plant common in woods in shade or
semi-shade. It has tiny delicate white flowers and unassuming foliage that
belies its creeping and persistent habit. At full height, enchanter’s
nightshade can reach 2ft in height and flowers from June to August. On one
website, a contributor said that she liked the plant for its flowers! However,
it is a real persistent weed that spreads through ‘Stolons’; little white root
like runners that are just below the surface. If you do not get them all out
when digging the weed up they will shoot again and also form overwintering
rhizomes. Removing these weeds by digging can cure the problem but though I
have reduced their presence, I still have not got rid of them, even after 30
years. I am now going to turn to Glyphosate-based weedkiller as a last resort
and because this is a good time to deal with it whilst it is in flower!
Ralph Weston