Sunday 10 April 2011

Any idea?


Another SOS for you planty people out there.


This has invaded my tiny front garden.

It smothers everything, and provides excellent cover for snails, the other great enemy.


It has tiny bulbs, and slender strap-like leaves.


It also leaves your hands smelling slightly but persistently of chives when it's pulled out to allow the tulips and pansies to survive.


Information and advice welcome!

Later: 

Thank you for your thoughts so far. Here's an update.



Above is the wild garlic that is so plentiful in the Dene, though not yet in flower. It smells unmistakably of - yes, garlic.



And this is the onion weed flower. It smells of chives, according to the many Australian websites that bring despair to the gardener or farmer seeking to eradicate it without the use of Agent Orange.


I don't think my alien invader is either of those rather pretty plants, although it may be related, but this I know: it is impossible to get rid of!


Next day: Many thanks to Rattling On, who correctly identified it as Allium Paradoxum (Few-flowered garlic) and gave me this link: 

http://www.ukwildflowers.com/Web_pages/allium_paradoxum_few_flowered_garlic.htm

Hurrah! Now to discover how to reduce its vigour and curb its Mongol Hordes tendencies.....


20 comments:

Hazel said...

In the Land of Oz we call that onion weed. Here is a forum discussing various ways of dealing with it. http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/forum/5/7/Renovation-and-DIY/topic/308
Good luck

SmitoniusAndSonata said...

Wild garlic ? A sort of minimalist onion plant ?
It's actually rather pretty , but I can see that a little would go a long way . Like forgetmenots , nasturtiums and mint , it might outstay its welcome .

Paddy Paws said...

Hello Rachel. I think it's wild garlic. You'll have a job to get rid of it, and your hands will stink trying to pull it out! Good luck.

rachel said...

Thanks so far - the wild garlic that is all over the Dene here has bigger, starry flowers, and smells of garlic, unlike this which smells of nothing till you pull it, then comes the slightly unpleasant chives smell....

I shall try that website, thank you Hazel.

June said...

I would have said it's wild onion, but it appears you have your answer pretty well nailed down already.

A Heron's View said...

I have to admit that wild garlic is one of my favourite herbs and absolutely love walking through my local woodland, which is full of it for it clears the head and invigorates me.

Content in a Cottage said...

Try loving it.
"A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it."
I feel your pain. I have a similar envasive weed in my front garden. This year I shall mow it.

Anonymous said...

When we were out this morning, I took a photo of a wild garlic flower, and did think about your mystery plant, as they are similar.

jabblog said...

It's a stranger to me!

mountainear said...

Sorry, can't help. Some years ago we had an Allium with similarly invasive qualities but with a yellow flower. Hated it - made gardening smellyily offensive. (a drunk who fetched up on the garden one night and passed several hours cheek to cheek with the rockery must have stumbled off the following morning stinking not only of ale but of onion too. Yeuck.)

Best wishes with you annihilation project.

Lynda (Granny K) said...

Try googling 'Ornithogalum'. I have a well-behaved one in my front garden, free bulbs from a newspaper, star-shaped flowers, about the size of crocus, been in for several years and they smell of onions if you disturb them.

Suse said...

I was going to say onion weed too, and offer my commiseration.

lovethosecupcakes said...

I would suggest wild chives though I'm no expert, far from it. If it is, the whole plant is edible.

lovethosecupcakes said...

I'm now suggesting Star of Bethlehem.

Helen said...

I've been tempted into de-lurking by the mystery! It certainly sounds like some sort of allium but I don't think I've ever seen one quite like that. Most of them have globe-shaped flowers but yours seem to be shooting out in all directions. Could they be walking onions, perhaps? If so, they're examples of quite an interesting (if mobile) plant.

walter and me said...

Definitely not wild garlic or star of Bethlehem....it's very similar to three-cornered leek (allium triquetrum) which is rampant and wild in Cornwall - and very edible, I use it a lot in cooking. However, on your images those yellow 'berry' bits have me completely foxed!

Rattling On said...

http://www.ukwildflowers.com/Web_pages/allium_paradoxum_few_flowered_garlic.htm

Could this be the answer...?

Marcheline said...

I'm jealous. My gardens are full of onion grass, but it just stinks - no lovely white flowers to balance out the deal!

BumbleVee said...

I'd be happy if anything green invaded our garden...... it's still all dead, brown, grey and did I mention dead? .... oh, and most of it still has 2 or 3 feet of snow on it too.....

Helen in Switzerland said...

I think it's what we call Bärlauch - wild garlic in English - it cost ever such a lot to buy and is really good in risotto.
I've just discovered your blog and am thrilled to see you are right by Jesmond Dene - I grew up in High Heaton. I have lots of happy memories of walks with my never forgotten first love down the Dene...sigh...sigh...
I'll be popping by again to see what you are getting up to!

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