Have you ever looked at a seedling in the border and wondered if it was friend or foe? Identifying what’s a self-sown plant and what’s a weed is something that comes with experience, However, until then you can be floundering and either pulling up things that should have been left or carefully tending what turns out to be an unwanted plant. A new book, RHS What’s That Weed?, is designed to help.
Weeds have become a contentious gardening topic in recent years with the RHS renaming them ‘weed heroes’ and many gardens at last year’s RHS Chelsea featuring plants that traditionally have been unwanted. Even so, not all gardeners agree and what’s one grower’s wild flower, is another’s ‘must be dug up’ nuisance.
Opening the book, author Guy Barter, RHS chief horticultural advisor, tells us that attitudes and even the language around weeds is changing, less about extermination and more about control, while things such as cow parsley are being used in wilder borders.
(I was given a copy of the book in return for a fair review.)
He argues that weeds are not just plants in the wrong place but “plants that have an adverse effect on crops or ornamental plantings”. As such, they need managing “in a way that will reduce work and expense, and support wildlife, without sacrificing any of the benefits of gardening”.
Indeed, it would be misguided to remove all weeds as many are important for wildlife. Instead, he says “the modern gardener exercises tolerance where benefits are to be found”.
Key to dealing with them is understanding them and RHS What’s That Weed? opens with a detailed look at how they grow and, more importantly, spread. Among them are plants that were introduced as ornamentals that have now become invasive, including Japanese knotweed and Himalayan balsam.
What follows is detailed portraits of commonly found weeds – annuals, perennials and woody. The latter include things such as sycamore.
The tricky question of identification is added by photographs showing not only the fully grown plant but closeups of both its seedling stage and any flowers.
Information includes its height and spread, when it germinates, where it prefers to grow and, frighteningly, how many seeds it produces per plant. The old adage of one year’s seed is seven years’ weeds is very apt.
With a glossary and suggestions for further reading, it’s a great resource for any gardener.
RHS What’s That Weed? by Guy Barter is publised by DK with an RRP of £12.99. You can buy it here for £11.95. (If you buy via this link, I receive a small commission. The price you pay is not affected.) Alternatively, you may wish to buy from an independent bookseller here. All prices correct at time of publication of this post.
Photography: © Neil Hepworth 2024
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