"Know your enemy" – Sun Tzu.

There are a lot of resources for methods to get rid of weeds but for the best results you must first know which weeds you are trying to control.

Unless you are a student of botany, typical weed identification guides are fairly botanical and it may be difficult to follow the description in order to identify weeds. You also don't have to visit a herbarium as we have a better solution for you.

In this comprehensive guide brought to you by Weedicide, we'll help you identify common garden weeds in the United Kingdom with ease.

Different weeds commonly found in the United Kingdom are differentiated based on their structure and then identified using the type, size, availability, and appearance. A few quick tips on how to cope with different types of weeds are also provided.

First, we categorize weeds according to their leaf shape and size, so it is easier to identify:

Grassy Weeds

Appearance: Blooms early before the actual plant starts to grow. Aquilegia is a colorful flower with quite strong roots that makes it difficult to pull out.

---

Appearance: Similar to fern like structure. Can survive in the doughtiest conditions.

---

Appearance: Pretty pink flowers – seen in late springs and summers. It grows on dry soil and prefer dry environment.

---

Appearance: Red/purple coloured flowers.

---

Appearance: Kidney-shaped flowers with prominent veins. Mostly seen between mid to late June.

---

Appearance: Small flowers with hairy dark green leaves. Visible white flowers bloom from late spring to autumn.

Tips: Since these Mouse-ear chickweeds can easily skip a mowing session, you can look for controlled and selective herbicides to get rid of these weeds.

---

Appearance: Evident purple ting– easy to find in closely mown areas. Blooms during June to October.

---

Broadleaf Weeds

Appearance: Fine hairs on only one side of the stem in a single band.

Tips: Control chickweed by pulling with the help of an old table fork. Mulching over vacant garden space in winter will reduce chickweed problems.

---

Appearance: This annual weed does not last for more than one year. Not common in properly maintained gardens. Sometimes misinterpreted as the Common Chickweed weed but the Pimpernel has bigger, more square-shaped stems. The name comes from big, intensely orange or red-colored flowers.

Tips: Ensure your garden is clean. The Scarlet weed finds it very difficult to thrive in well-maintained, periodically groomed lawns.

---

Tips: This is one of the most tolerant weeds. Though easy to remove, comprehensive eradication is often difficult. Repeated hand weeding might work in some cases. Known to cause big patches that can easily destroy your garden’s beauty. Not easily eradicated by generalized herbicides. Better handled with selected herbicides that are known to kill the Ribwort.

---

Appearance: The leaves of this kind of weeds are easy to identify with five different segments and toothed edges. The yellow flowers and fleshy petals also contribute in easy recognition.

---

Appearance: The leaves are simple and basal, forming a rosette above the central taproot. The flower heads are yellow to orange colored, and are open in the daytime but closed at night.

Tips: Brush scattered plants with a clove oil-based organic herbicide. Reduce reseeding by popping off the flowers before they develop seeds.

---

Appearance: Cats Ear looks like a stunted Dandelion. It is often found on drier soils.

Tips: Cats Ear is often ignored in rigorous mowing in a lawn. This is why, specific herbicides are sprinkled to reduce the growth of Cats Ear.

---

Appearance: Creeping Buttercup is best seen on wet heavy soils. This Creeping Buttercup particularly grows with its creeping stem and extends upwards on a regular basis. With fibrous roots, Creeping Buttercup is very difficult to remove permanently. It blooms yellow flowers with 6-9 petals each.

Tips: A continuous practice of years can be sufficient to weaken its root.

---

Appearance: Forms large patches and regulates through a deep root system. Birds-foot trefoil doesn’t need any particular pattern for growth – as can be grown by under-runners like stolons and rhizomes. It blooms bright yellow flowers – which easily resemble with Honeysuckle.

---

Appearance: The Daisy is quite easy to recognize for its fleshy round leaves. The Daisy can easily grow very close to the ground – even in close mown lawns too. The flowers bloom from spring to early autumn – featuring a yellowish center for easy distinction.

---

Woody and Vining Weeds

Appearance: Green, arrow-shaped leaves and 1-inch-wide morning glory-type flowers that may be pale pink or white

Tips: Digging, cutting it back to reduce reseeding, or brushing it with a glyphosate herbicide

---

Appearance: Most morning glory flowers unravel into full bloom in the early morning. The flowers usually start to fade a few hours before the “petals” start showing visible curling

Tips: Easy to pull or cultivate with a sharp hoe when young or you can spray them with an organic herbicide containing clove oil.

---

Appearance: Campanula has really attractive flowers –blue in color.

---

Annual weeds vs. perennial weeds

Based on their nature, weeds are divided into annual weeds and perennial weeds.

Annual Weeds

Broadleaf winter annual weeds:

• Seeds germinate from late summer through fall
• Weeds over winter and continue to grow in early spring

Broadleaf summer annual weeds:

• Seeds begin to germinate as soils begin to warm up

Grassy winter annual weeds:

• Seeds germinate in late summer to early September

Grassy summer annual weeds:

• Seed germination begins in early to mid-spring
• Seeds continue to germinate in the summer

Perennial Weeds

Broadleaf Perennial Weeds:

• Perennials are persistent from year to year
• Range from weeds that are easy to eliminate, to some of the most difficult to control

Grassy perennial weeds/Sedges:

• Some of the most difficult weeds to control in a lawn
• Total lawn renovation is usually necessary

Other classifications include common weed, easy to control weeds, difficult weeds, and Trees and Stumps.

Small standing trees and roots are also unwanted and categorized as weeds. The way to cope with them is to use an axe to cut then down (from November to March).

Control Measures

Various control measures to get rid of weeds include pulling weeds, digging weeds, mulching, cultivating, reducing, reseeding, crowding plants, glyphosate herbicide, organic herbicides, corn gluten herbicides, and flamers etc. Choose one that suits the plant and your budget, and keep your garden free from weeds.

If you enjoyed our weed identification guide, help us out by sharing it via your favorite social media site(s).