Little Yellow Daisy like flower with no leaves?

[Pat5y]

Hi

Can anyone identify this little plant.
It stands about 2" tall and has no leaves just purple buds.

Just arrived in my garden..

It is quite pretty but is it weed in disguise???

Pat5y

[digger]

could it be burdock?

[Pat5y]

From what I have seen on the web - Burdock is a large plant usually with purple flowers and big leaves,

This plant is tiny and has no leaves at all. The purple round heads I believe will be more flowers. It only stands about 2 inches tall.

I may be wrong of course there may be yellow burdocks out there but I could not find any images on google. ?????

Also this is in flower now. Burdock flowers in the summer I think

Pat5y

[Pat5y]

Found it... I hate to be defeated....

Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara)
http://images.google.co.uk/images?svnum=10&hl=en&cr=countryUK%7CcountryGB&client=firefox-a&channel=s&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial&q=Coltsfoot+%28Tussilago+farfara%29&btnG=Search

[digger]

Thats the one i get confused, but loads of things are in flower out of season where abouts is chalfont st giles my friend?

[Pat5y]

Just north of the village.

I also found this link -

http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/coltsfoot.htm

Which suggests digging it up as it is invasive. What do u think?

[digger]

If you are worried that it may become a problem then perhaps it may be wise to remove it. I was lucky enough to be given a little piece of grazing meadow from my other half which i am planning to let grow into a wild flower area i will introduce some flowers for the first year and then i shall let it develop naturally after that,but i wonder if one plant may become dominant,coltsfoot may do this,we have an area nearby that was logged down in the conservation area plan with loads of wildflowers in it i was going to see if i could buy some seeds of the same for my little piece.

[Pat5y]

I think I will dig it up ....

I made the mistake last year of not identifying a plant in time and found out it was groundelder..... only in a contained part of my garden but I was horrified that I should have had the sense to find out what is was earlier rather than waiting to see if it flowered!!!! of course by that time it had taken over quite a large area and I am still fighting it.

[digger]

groundelder is not good my friend although i am told that two or three applications of a glyphosate weedkiller will put paid to it's invasive ambitions.When you apply the weedkiller the leaves will die back and possibly new leaves will grow weed kill them straight away and the roots will only have enough energy for one more go so as soon as the leaves re appear hit em again with glyphosate and the roots will die exhausted, but the longer the leaves are allowed to grow unhindered the more energy they will manufacture and store in their roots.

[Pat5y]

Problem being the area it has infested has a large shrub [hebe] also under a large Maple tree with lots of bulbs [daffs allium tulips etc] I think it will have to be a dig out job unless I can apply the weed kill to the leaves alone.

Have never had to resort to weedkiller before :eek: so is it a water on the whole area type or is it one that can be painted onto the ground elder leaves specifically?

[digger]

Glyphosate is best bought as a concentrate which is then diluted to apply onto the offending foliage it will kill every piece of foliage it makes contact with,but the advantage is that as soon a s it makes contact with the soil it neutralises and becomes entirely harmless, what i would recommend my friend is due to the ground elder entwining itself among ornamental plants is mix up the solution according to the instruction and then put it in a bucket or similar and wearing gloves of course use an old paintbrush and paint the leaves of the offending plant this will be tedious i know but it will work,weeds do have an annoying habit of rooting next to lovely ornamental plants don't they?

[Pat5y]

Thanks Digger

I will give it a go... will let you know how I get on

Pat5y