any idea what these might be?

First one a shrub, the name escapes me at the moment but I recognise the leaves. Second one could be a weed but not sure. Not much help really am I.

lol you've sort of confirmed my suspicions! I'm sure I've seen the first one as hedges, or something very like it, but totally unsure of second. if it is a weed, it's contained, so if it looks pretty, I might keep it

The second one may be a Hosta or perhaps a weed - grow it on and see what happens

First one looks like Eounonymus fortunei 'Emerald n' Gold'.
As for second - my first thought was also hosta -but not 100% sure.

thanks, Kfunsters and Kasy; with that hint I've got a direction to start looking in!

The top one is definitely Euonymus, but I'd guess at Euonymus fortunei 'Golden Prince' - only doubt I have is that the size of leaves and upright growth habit showing currently make it seem more like an E. japonica variety rather than one of the E. fortunei.

thanks, Bamboo. I looked up Golden Prince and it does look very smiliar; I thought Euonymous were rather compact plants, and these two I have are already about a foot high,

Lol E Japonica is listed as a hedge plant, which sounds more like it! The pics I''ve found look likely, so I'll go with that label, thanks.

lol I have Japanese Spindle and never knew it!

just checked out Hostas, thanks, Kfunsters - certainly the right leaf shape, but the Hosta leaves seem to have lots of veins, where the ones in my pic have only three each side of the spine. Maybe they're just young. Anyway, I'll keep it going and see what happens. lol it's a "provisional Hosta" now - I did read somewhere that pests love Hostas, and something seems to have taken a shine to my plant ...

Hostas come in so many shapes and sizes - many have ribbed leaves like this one seems to have.

ah, right, many thanks

so I'll call it a Hosta and now I can look up care instructions.

I would agree with Bamboo as my first thought on seeing the photos were the same - except for the name, 'Golden Prince', as I have no idea whatsoever of the names of the different varieties!

Hope they do well for you, Fran!

thanks dear! only time will tell