Ten ‘Popular’ weeds


Japanese Knotweed and Bindweed making a happy display on my allotment every summer!

We made a new video showing ten more common weeds, which after this post hopefully will also be more popular! Unfortunately the embedding did not work this time so please click on the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=777Or-msBFo

A brief description of the weeds with pictures by my partner Matt Summers, unless stated differently, follow below this introduction. Most weeds have been covered in a more detailed post in earlier posts and then mostly about their whole family for which there is a link on the start of each plant description.

Weeds are not at all bad; they are just inconvenient for us human beings!

Maybe we were just going to plant another more attractive plant in that place or maybe we desperately needed that exact spot for making a new drive for all our vehicles we need to park in front of our house? Or another more common reason is to just remove it as it looks aesthetically not pleasing to our tidy eyes!

Don’t worry I can just be as bad sometimes and not have a really proper reason for removing a weed…

But this is the exact reason why I write about them and try to make us see all their known good uses they got.

All their bad reasons for existence are mentioned already on many websites and this is hopefully not why you came to my site in the first place?

Continue reading “Ten ‘Popular’ weeds”

The Boraginaceae or Borage Family and their uses: Green Alkanet, Forget-me-not, Houndstongue, Viper’s-bugloss, Oysterplant, the Gromwells and Lungworts!

The Pentaglottis sempervirens or Green Alkanet. (picture by Ericoides-Wikipedia)

This week I would like to talk about most of our native genera of the Boraginaceae or Borage Family. This is family number 114 in Stace.

My customers sometimes complain about 2 members of the Borage family: the Green Alkanet; scientifically known as Pentaglottis.

To a less extend they complain about the abundance of seedlings of Forget-me-nots in their gardens, but I think that is just showing off! As who can be upset when you see all that magnificent blue; they are all wonderful weeds really!

All there uses and benefits will be explained in this as well as in the next post, which is entirely about the Comfrey.

Pictures by Matt Summers, unless stated.

Blue background is for general interest, Pink as a warning or medicinal use and green background for all other known uses such as food and wildlife. Please use the jump links in the contents below also for quick access. Ecology information from PlantAtlas 2020 Online, Wikipedia

Contents

General Anatomy of the Boraginaceae

Pentaglottis sempervirens  or Green Alkanet

Myosotis or the Forget-me nots

Ornamental Use

Cynoglossum officinale or Houndstongue

Medicinal Use and Warning

Echium vulgare or Viper’s-bugloss

Warning

Mertensia maritima or Oysterplant

Lithospermum spp. or Gromwell

  • Lithospermum officinale or Common Gromwell
  • Aegonychon purpureocaeruleum or Purple/ Field Gromwell

Pulmonaria spp. or Lungworts

  • Pulmonaria obscura or Suffolk Lungwort
  • Pulmonaria officinalis or Lungwort

Continue reading “The Boraginaceae or Borage Family and their uses: Green Alkanet, Forget-me-not, Houndstongue, Viper’s-bugloss, Oysterplant, the Gromwells and Lungworts!”