There’s nothing noble about these weeds!
Q
These are coming up all over my garden and I didn’t plant them. Are they a goodie or baddie? Tasha Lyons (via email)
A
The weed is called Cuckoo Pint or Lords-and-Ladies (Arum maculatum). It is a native wildflower found growing naturally in woods and on verges, and far too often in our gardens.
It can spread by the underground tubers, and if allowed to flower will also seed itself around (you may have noticed the spikes of orange berries in the autumn). Once it has flowered the leaves will quickly die away leaving behind the spikes of berries.
Those plants appearing in your lawn probably won’t come to much as the leaves will regularly be cut off during mowing.
The surest way to get rid of it from the flowerbeds is to dig it up, tuber and all, but sometimes the tubers are inaccessible or really deep in the ground and hard to get out so it isn’t always easy.
Your best bet, without resorting to chemicals, might be to try and slow it down by pulling the leaves off – if you can do this all in one handful then they will probably break off at the tuber and it won’t put on any more growth this year.
If you can do it again as soon as you see new growth next year, you will eventually eradicate the tuber through exhaustion. Alternatively, paint on a systemic gel weedkiller.