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Gardening

What are you growing that you didn't plant?

(47 Posts)
shysal Mon 08-Apr-24 16:39:07

Following on from Squiffy's thread about her rogue plant, what do you have in your garden that just appeared?
I have carpets of Primroses which flower all year long as well as Forget-me-nots, Stinking Hellebores and Aquilegias. However, I have never been able to get Poppies, Hollyhocks or Digitalis to self seed. sad

NotSpaghetti Sun 05-May-24 00:08:49

Lemon balm Melissa officialis...
Just everywhere this year!

Auntieflo Sat 04-May-24 23:43:44

The tree peony flowered this last week. Here she is.

Marg75 Tue 16-Apr-24 22:31:44

Every year some beautiful small peach coloured tulips appear and I have no idea where they come from!

Mamardoit Tue 16-Apr-24 20:49:36

Violets and primroses have spread into the lawn. They somehow jumped over our neighbours fence. Little holly trees spring up all over the place. I pot them on and give them away if I can. Orange poppies are flowering. I try to pull the seed pods off but miss some because they get everywhere.

Last year we had hundreds of sycamore seedlings appear in the veg garden, beds and in the lawn. They must have blown in from some distance because there are no sycamore trees nearby.

midgey Tue 16-Apr-24 18:38:33

I have not long moved and the only plant that seems to be thriving is willow herb, it’s going to take a lot of weeding to get rid of what’s growing already.

mae13 Tue 16-Apr-24 18:07:56

Strangely, what I'm certain is going to prove to be a Foxglove. They're very elegant, both the pinky crimson and white ones, but I didn't plant it!

My theory is a stray seed was dropped by a passing bird and it's worked.

BlueSapphire Tue 16-Apr-24 17:46:12

Violets from next door and primroses, which must have come from some in pots I had about 25 years ago.

Auntieflo Sun 14-Apr-24 11:58:05

We have a cotoneaster tree that was probably 'planted' by a bird. It has got big over the years but we have it cut back every so often, the birds love the berries.
Also I have a tree peony? that had appeared quite a few years back, and I ever wondered if it would flower. This morning I went to look at it, and lo and behold, it has buds! Wonderful. If it flowers I will post another picture.
These, last pic, are also back this year.

Mizuna Sun 14-Apr-24 08:09:15

... hate them but I love their height and ability to survive wherever they land. This year one is growing in a six-inch pot next to a lavender plant.

Mizuna Sun 14-Apr-24 08:07:45

Giant echium, both on my patio and at my allotment. They self-seed into my tubs and grow to 12 or 15 feet high on virtually no soil. Some people here hatebt

Deedaa Sun 14-Apr-24 00:20:37

Last year I had a lovely clump of sunflowers that grew from the bird seed and I'm hoping for the same again this tear, One side of the garden seems to be covered by young foxglove plants that seem to have been seeded from the one plant I had last year.

Gwyllt Tue 09-Apr-24 23:39:14

Miss A 👍

Callistemon21 Tue 09-Apr-24 23:19:09

I find tiny lavender bushes growing in the cracks in paving slabs and on the outside steps. Yesterday I noticed a Lenten rose flowering; it was growing in a crack in the pavement outside.

If I left everything that seeded itself we'd be living in a house in a forest.

MissAdventure Tue 09-Apr-24 23:03:57

I don't think so, but if I manage to get out and poke around in the pots, I can almost guarantee I will find some more to take a photo or two of.

Gwyllt Tue 09-Apr-24 23:01:56

Miss A fascinated what the plant no one knows have you still got the pic ?

Gwyllt Tue 09-Apr-24 22:59:58

As well as the usual woodland edge plants
Teasels, wild garlick, fox and cubs, pennywort, stitchwort
My delight is vervain which I have only recently discovered supposedly has religious and healing powers.
In an old poem vervain is mentioned along with the local hillside. When we moved in there was non but our builder delivered some soil he had dug out for someone’s patio and what should shoot up. Vervain snd it had spread

MissAdventure Tue 09-Apr-24 22:17:04

I have a plant that appears in various pots each year.

I have posted a photo of it here before, and nobody was sure what it is.

It's quite pretty, with red tinged leaves, so I thought I would keep it, but it always dies back suddenly.

mrshat Tue 09-Apr-24 20:42:16

No idea!! We are waiting to see what appears when they flower! Our garden is a mystery!

Oldnproud Tue 09-Apr-24 08:18:45

Apart from the usual unwanted plants and weeds that have crept into my garden, most of which have been mentioned above, I have a nice, healthy-looking peony that appeared from nowhere a couple of years ago ☺

nanna8 Tue 09-Apr-24 08:03:57

We had a large silky oak that the birds planted for us. It grew and grew , flowered every year but it was in the wrong place so, sadly, we had to have it chopped down. Cost us a thousand bucks to remove it.

Jaxjacky Tue 09-Apr-24 07:59:37

Willow herb has appeared everywhere, goodness knows where from, but it’s got to come out. Sadly nothing pretty as some of you have.

Abitbarmy Tue 09-Apr-24 07:55:39

Stinking Iris.

Curtaintwitcher Tue 09-Apr-24 07:13:31

Trees. I don't know if it was the wind or birds dropping seeds, but I have two oak trees and three sycamores which just appeared. I'm nurturing them with a view to planting them in large pots.

Greyduster Tue 09-Apr-24 04:26:03

Foxgloves; the little orange yellow Welsh poppies come up everywhere; wild strawberries; hollyhocks, which I would encourage if they weren’t so prone to rust.

MiniMoon Tue 09-Apr-24 00:26:18

Last Summer we were delighted to discover wild orchids in a pot in the garden. I'm waiting to see if they are still there this year.
We have wild strawberries. The birds and grandchildren love them, the birds probably brought them and they are spreading all around the place.