"That ......

[TheOstrich]

......", said Mrs O, "is vetch!"
"Nah", says Ossie
"Yes it is"
"No it isn't, it's purple clover "

It's been coming up in huge patches across the front and back lawns, amidst the white clover, buttercups, daisies, celandines - we have (not by choice, mind you) inherited quite a wildflower garden.

"It's definitely not clover!"
"Yes it is - look, the bees like it! And anyway, vetch looks nothing like that.
"Perhaps it's bugle ..."

Out with the gardening books. Inconclusive. Go online to the rhs site. Nothing in particular. Mrs O goes outside and picks some of the offending plants, and brings them into the house for further minute inspection. Ferret around Google on "purple common lawn plants / weeds / problems". Eventually we get a breakthrough .....

It's Selfheal. Of the Mint family. "Prunella vulgaris" And by all accounts it's a flippin' aggressive, invasive triffid, and a nightmare to eradicate .....

https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/13944/Pru ... is/Details

Have spent the last hour trying to root it out of the front lawn where it's making a determined beeline for the neighbours ....

[Kaz]

Oh heck Any sort of mint is terribly invasive! I once made the mistake of planting some in a bed that surrounded our bungalow - it took off like a rocket and was a beggar to shift! These days I grow mint in a pot

[JanB]

We have penny royal growing in our garden. It smells lovely and is supposed to help keep mozzies away. But by heck, it whizzes around the flower beds, so I have to keep cutting it back and pulling up the roots.

It's fine in the garden, as it gets strimmed and it doesn't need water. The Portuguese make tea with it

[miasmum]

Its pretty and encourages the bees, I'd leave it, but then my lawn is full of dandelions, plantain and clover for the tortoise so what's one more invasive species

[JoM]

That’s what it is then, I’ve seen that on the common.

Funnily enough I was only thinking about vetch this morning. There’s one area of our walk which is usually covered in it but there’s no sign of it this year, same with clover and the wild orchids, which I always look out for. In fact, there aren’t many wildflowers at all. Must be the long dry Spring we had perhaps?

[TheOstrich]

A., the guy who does our mowing, came this afternoon. I pointed out a clump on the front lawn I hadn't got out yesterday.

"It's a [expletive deleted] weed," he said, "Luckily you ain't got too much of it."
"Wait till you get round the back ...," I replied

He left muttering about re-turfing the lot!

[cromwell]

You live and learn. I thought Prunella Vulgaris was a Greek actress.

[Gal2]

[JoM]

Ossie!!!
The path down to the gate in our back garden, which is our main way in, splits the lawn in two and I walk down it many times every day.
I cut the lawns last Monday. Walked up and down the path each day and on Friday noticed something purple in the lawn on the left.

It’s your bloody triffid, and loads of it too! I swear it just appeared overnight

[Gal2]