Aegopodium podagraria (common names: Ash Weed)

Oh dear, Peter. That looks like Ground Elder to me.

yes would agree with spritz, best corse of action is contact weed killer which will also do the roots.

Thanks for the answers :o) I just looked it up, eek!! I'm pretty sure I pulled this up twice last year but it keeps coming back. It's between a fence (hidden by the doormat) and paving so a real pain to get to. Will have another go at it this week.

Who found its botanical name then? :-) Unfortunately, it's still Ground elder and sorry, but you can't just pull this one up. Majeeka is right, it needs a VERY strong weedkiller with glyphosate in it. Even then it will take several goes to get rid of it. It has rhizomes which spread under the ground rapidly so it may well be under your paving. Good luck with this one!

And to think they sell the variegated form as ground cover!

I know, Andrew, I've had a few people point to it in their gardens and ask, with a proud smirk on their faces, "And guess what THIS plant is?" Sorry to say, Peter, we had the plain green ground elder, like you, and it took 4 years to get rid of it all. You'd better start NOW.

Thanks everyone, a trip to the garden centre it is then - I was pleased I'd managed to avoid using weedkiller so far.

Just think yourself lucky that you haven't got Japanese Knotweed. We had it back in Kent. It is illegal to dispose of it in Dustman rubbish or municipal tips or anywhere else, and it can't be composted and weedkillers don't touch it, so you have to cut it off, dry it and burn it. Its roots go down...and down... to Australia, and you think you've dug it all out and then - Hallo, what are those pretty little pink shoots over there? It really is the WORST weed ever. And I do believe it was brought over from somewhere (Can't remember where?) as an ornamental plant for a stately home by a plant collector. I must google it. Excuse me.... Later - OOOh! it gets worse - you have to fill in 'appropriate Waste Transfer documentation' from the Environment Agency and you have to carry out a risk assesment and inform the disposal operator (who must be trained) several days beforehand etc etc. And there's a whole section about the wretched stuff! It grows at a rate of 2 cms per day! And yes, it was introduced into the country in the 1800s. Wow! Am I glad we left that behind! I do hope that nobody reading this has got it in their garden? ( Maybe you are cosseting it as a rare species?) :-(

There was some growing on the boundary of ornamental woodland (owned by the Council) at the bottom of my road. They bought some industrial strength weedkiller and it only took two applications to kill it off, but it is not available to amateurs so as spritz probably realised, the best thing to do if you have knotweed is move house :-)

ABSOLUTELY! And we put the price up for the exotic plants in the garden, too!!! LOL (Oh dear, poor things - I feel guilty now)

I am plagued with this stuff in my front garden its such a pest,I dont use weedkiller as a rule but I am tempted

Yeah, I really wasn't keen on the stuff either but I'd already pulled it out a couple of times last year. It sounded pretty thuggish from what everyone had said.

great stuff...and if it gets delusions of grandeur and decides to take off for parts unknown...it's pretty easy to rip out...I have it along the north side of my house as a foundation planting...I make sure to take the bloom off so it doesn't go to seed (it's invasive enough with the rhizomes..) and sometimes use the lawnmower. also a whip and chair.

Hee - hee! Yes it is invasive, but where I have it, it has to cross the lawn to do damage, so it is fine. I mow the little devil too!

I agree its Lovely :)

Ha ha .love/hate says it all...perhaps they should have called it that instead of bishopsweed... I learned the secret of containing it though...
" rip it out by the roots...it will love you for it." maybe it should be called masochist's weed...lol. Seriously: I just pull as much of the root as I can get my hand on...and snip off any small growth...seems to retard it and gives whatever it's crowding a chance to get the upper hand.

I've had this in a few gardens. Lovely so long as you keep an eye on how far it's spreading!

On the other side of the hosta is an Heuchera Palace Purple...and every summer I do a major rip-out of the aego...it loves it...doesn't seem to set it back...infact it looks better, grows taller and seems less prone to spreading!! haha I keep it in check around the hosta and heuchera and the tree seems to love it's spot with the ground cover around it's trunk.

lol, bindweed was my worst weed in england, up here its mares tail

Same here, in our patch in Fife, Islander!

The one you are buying or the one you are selling, David??