Help identifying plant /weed

[peaches36g]

I'v now been doing this gardening malarky for about 8 weeks. (It's great fun and I'm enjoying it) Have learned that my soil is acidic and everyone grows rhododendrons around here. I have these two plants in my garden and no idea what they are. Can anyone help identify them. I'v pulled out plants that I thought were weeds a few weeks back and don't want to be making the same mistake again. Thanks in advance !

Sorry for wonky pics (again)

[foxoles]

Foxglove

[peaches36g]

Thanks for the reply ! I'll make sure I wear my gloves

[55palfers]

May be Lungwort (Pulmonaria) perhaps

[fouronthefloor]

It looks a bit like evening primrose

[sherman]

A weed is only a plant in the wrong place. If its wrong get rid of it.

[popeyewhite]

Doesn't look like foxglove. Wrong leaves for digitalis.

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

It's definitely not foxglove. Leaves are the wrong shape.

However, I did also think it looks a bit like evening primrose.

It's not pulmonaria either. The habit is wrong: pulmonaria is much lower to the ground, has wider leaves with distinctive white spotting. Also, pulmonaria doesn't produce big stout flower spikes like that, and would have finished flowering by now.

I would let it flower and see whether you like it. If you like it, it's a "plant"; otherwise it's a "weed".

Also, letting it flower will tell us whether or not it's evening primrose. If it produces yellow flowers that open in the evening surprisingly late and very rapidly, and each flower only lasts until the following day before the next wave of flowers opens the following evening, then it's evening primrose.

Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Monday 22 May 07:56

[Mr GrimNasty]

I can't see the picture but if people are suggesting foxglove and others are not convinced then I'd guess it might be some sort of verbascum.

Any flowers will reveal the answer soon no doubt.

[peaches36g]

Thanks very much for all your replies ! As soon as it flowers I'll get a photograph up. This gardening thing is very addictive lol

[peaches36g]

Hi there ! Thought I'd just post an update now that the plant has started to flower. Flowers are a kind of lilac/white. Does this mean it is foxglove and not evening primrose ? Thanks

[Mr GrimNasty]

Saw it now - it's a foxglove, they come in loads of colourways.

[mike74]

Definitely foxglove, very handy if there's anybody you'd like to bump off.

[popeyewhite]

Foxglove, that's a surprise. Off to specsavers!

[Simpo Two]

Foxgloves, lovely 'country' flowers and pretty much self-managing. Just don't eat them as they contain digitalin, a heart drug.

[V8LM]

And it may be a two-year plant so next year, no worries.

[peaches36g]

So it might not appear next year? I have a wee dog , althhough she doesn't tend to nibble the grass or the plants, I,m a bit worried worried about it being a foxglove, which is a shame because I really like it's colour and hight. Unsure if I should just pull it out and replace with something else. ?

[Mr GrimNasty]

It's normally a biennial, but next year's flowering plants are probably busy quietly growing already.

I say normally, because they are sometimes weakly perennial and some may linger on, clump up, and repeat next year.

I think they have bred a true perennial version for gardens now.

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

I'm surprised. The leaves didn't look at all like foxglove, but the flowers are definite. However, the flowers look like a cultivated variety rather than the wild ones I've got in my garden, so maybe the leaves are different as well and that's what threw me off the scent.

Foxgloves are often described as biennial, which means that they live for only two years and then die, usually after flowering. But I often find that they'll soldier on for another year or even several years, especially if the plant has produced more than one growing head - so I think of them as short-lived perennials. But if it's only got the one head (the one that's produced the flower spike) then that will almost certainly die after flowering and you may be left with nothing.

It will probably set seed, and you can either just let the seeds disperse themselves and hope that you'll get new plants nearby, or collect the seeds. It's easy to collect them - they are like dust, so just shake the seed pods over a plastic container. Sow the seed immediately by sprinkling on the surface of some damp compost, and they'll germinate within a week. Once the seedlings are big enough to handle, you can plant them out, or grow them on over the winter and plant them out in the spring.

I tend to collect seed, grow them and plant out in the spring - that way you get to choose where they grow. I've tried just leaving them to their own devices and I tend not to get any young plants - perhaps because the emerging seedlings get removed when my wife does some hoeing. Growing the seed yourself is much more reliable.

If your dog isn't in the habit of eating plants then I wouldn't worry about it. You've probably got other poisonous plants in the garden without realising it! Our garden is frequented by cats, many of which chew on grass - but I've never known of any problems due to the foxgloves. We also have a laburnum tree which is poisonous.

Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Monday 29th May 02:21

[Simpo Two]

peaches36g said:

So it might not appear next year? I have a wee dog , althhough she doesn't tend to nibble the grass or the plants, I,m a bit worried worried about it being a foxglove, which is a shame because I really like it's colour and hight. Unsure if I should just pull it out and replace with something else. ?

I found this: https://www.vetary.com/dog/condition/foxglove-pois...

However it doesn't say whether the dog has to nibble a leaf or eat the whole thing to be affected.