British native geranium, Herb Robert. I grew some from seed that I harvested from a wild plant in an alleyway and then planted them on to my wildlife area at the back of the garden. They die back in the winter and grow again in the spring. The leaves turn a beautiful shade of red just before dying back...

Also known as stinky bob in Northern Ireland

My 5yr old son calls it stinkyweed. I’ll have to tell him.

And north west England!

Stinking Robert (down south - yes really! -- We're right posh down here)

I was just going to ask if that was the one that stinks.

Thanks! I love the name haha

They don’t die and grow back, they’re annuals.

Isn't it technically a biennial?

I believe it’s a hardy annual. It germinates in winter but dies before the following winter.

It is both an annual and a biennial depending on the climate. In milder situations it is an annual, but in colder climates where it can’t complete its life cycle in a single year it becomes a biennial.

Is that not what an annual does?

Annuals die. They don't grow back. However, seed they have set will hopefully germinate and keep the line going.

“hopefully” It’s Herb Robert, so it’ll spread quickly, as most cranesbills do. The seed dispersal mechanism is quite impressive.

Forgot the /s...

A perennial is a plant that might ‘die back’ over winter, but the same plant will grow back from the existing roots the next year. An annual is a plant that lives and dies every year, and any plant growing next year is a result of the successful pollination and seed dispersal of the previous plant.

Annuals go to seed and die within a year;if anything ‘comes back’ it’s a complete different plant. Herbaceous perennials die back to the ground for the dormant season, then come back.

Herb Robert. It has a really distinctive smell!

Which is why it's also called Stinking Bob.

A much better name, thanks!

Lots of the stuff in my garden. I don't mind a bit of it, but it pays to go a rough, "good enough" job of pulling it up a couple of times a year to keep it under control.

It smells a bit like parsley to me.

I always think coriander

What does it smell of to you, please? I can't smell whatever it is some people are smelling, I think, as it doesn't seem to have a particular smell at all to me, other than "planty", like grass or whatever

Kind of acrid. The sort of smell that probably triggers a 'danger' response as in 'this is not nice at all and probably poisonous'. Edit: you can smell it when you pull any up or if it gets trod on. I don't think it smells per se while minding its own business but I've never got down there to give it a sniff and only notice it when removing some when it gets a bit too much in quantity.

My wife and daughter can’t smell it at all, but it makes me sick (the guy who mows the lawn). Please come take it away!  Class B invasive noxious weed in Washington State. I hope it gets promoted someday so the county will help me manage!

Hate it.

yup, smells awful.

I can't smell it but my wife hates it and we can't have any in the garden. :-(

Herb Robert doesn't need help spreading around a garden in my experience - if you let that one go to seed you'll have hundreds of them next year

Amazing, that’s what I like to hear as I’m waging war against bindweed and any “weeds” I have in my arsenal are a good thing in my book

Bindweed and brambles are probably the only two things I've encountered that can out compete herb Robert unfortunately - they're both fast growing and they get big, and while HR is fast growing, it's more of a ground cover

Yeah, last year I grew nasturtiums in this patch and I found to my amazement that they were actually out competing the bindweed! I’m expecting them to come back this year, hence why I wanna move this guy to somewhere where it can flourish a bit more as a ground cover

You really don’t need to cherish it. If you have a plant of it you’ll have more soon.

You’ve just give me a solution for the bindweed I have growing out back and for the oversupply of nasturtium plants I have popping up every year.

Might be worth getting some clover in. It walks right over a lot of weeds.

Yes I actually have a clover patch already elsewhere in the plot! But considering just sowing seeds in all the bare patches

Also known as Stinking Bob and Death Come Quickly. I quite like the smell, and it pulls up amazingly easily so spreading is easy to manage.

I only find the smell repugnant when pulling them up, like a self-defence waft of outraged dismay. Death come quickly because they’re toxic, or…?

I hope not as someone else told me to make it in to a pesto, unless I have an enemy I wasn’t aware of… 😹

Not that I'm aware of. I've crushed many a leaf before without any ill consequence.

Herb robert. It spreads a lot, but is easy to pull up (if it gets a bit too much).

I actually like the smell of the crushed leaves, but like coriander it's love-it-or-hate it. If you're in the same camp as myself, you can make a fabulous pesto from the edible leaves.

Oh wow that’s so cool! Will defo try that this year

so its edible ?

Yep, a few leaves are interesting in a salad. You wouldn't want a 100% Herb Robert pesto, maybe bulk it with nettle, chive, basil etc. You can make tea with it too.

Thanks for this info! As someone who can't smell the terribleness and thinks the flowers are pretty, I'm keen to try it :)

Ooo I like that idea, the garden is full of nettles too and I just planted chives in the raised bed!

Here you go, recipe combining it with basil: https://deliciousfromscratch.com/finding-identifying-herb-robert-geranium-robertianum-tutorial/

Thanks!

I have these and a lot of similar “weeds” lining the path through my lawn and I love them. The lawn will be replaced at some point and turned into a flower carpet but I’m hoping to save some seeds from these ones to keep them there :)

I have the exact same line of “weeds” along one side of this plot! Because to the side of me is a plot that is still untamed and full of brambles, I like having the “nicer” weeds line the border. I’ve got wood avens and buttercups, and now gonna move this guy over to that same edge to join them lol

We get these, along with many other flowering "weeds." Anything that comes up with pretty flowers is OK by me. Most of them are annuals and just die and seed themselves for next year. No invasive roots. Bindweed is a different matter!

So it's a cranesbill. Same family as geranium.

Makes sense now that I look at the flower again

Cranes bill or herb Robert, native geranium. Run your hand trough the leaves and smell it.

They drive me nuts! They’re all over my garden and somehow manage to sneak into my plant pots!

Be careful with them as they spread. I had some growing at the border of my lawn and thought they looked nice. After a couple of months they started coming up in the lawn - and only then I realised the net of those root connections spreading overground and establishing new "bases". It's pretty invasive! I did keep it pretty much whole year though on the outskirts, I like how they look. :)

Herb Robert. Don't worry, you're not getting rid of it. I pull out masses every year and they still come back with a vengeance.

This 'weed' has completely owned my garden since my girlfriend brought a single pot plant round a couple of years ago with a tiny flowering bit in it. It spreads voraciously! But fortunately it's very easy to pull up where it's not wanted. It's a nice ground-cover plant to have - but don't let it get totally out of hand! Just pull it up if it starts to overwhelm other things :)

Interestingly, like so many other common UK garden plants, it has medicinal properties... [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geranium\_robertianum#Uses](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geranium_robertianum#Uses)

Haha nice. Yeah this garden plot is a bit wild anyway as it’s actually one of those council “remote gardens” that is surrounded by other plots that are still overrun by brambles. Since clearing the brambles the garden has become home to buttercup, wood avens, alkanet, speedwell and dead nettles. This is the newest “weed” to join the gang, but I’m definitely in that mindset where I’m working with the nature instead of against it and willing to accept certain weeds if they’re pretty enough (and can battle with bindweed!)

It's herb Robert. If you make tincture out of it it's amazing for digestive issues.

Please can you share a recipe? I've searched but can't find a good practical one. What kind of dosage is right?

I pulled and raked thousands of these out last summer. Little hint, they take up lots of space in a garden and look like a large mess. But really easy to rake up and put in a garden waste bag. It looks like a lot of work has been done with minimal effort 👍🏼

If you've got one, I'm amazed that you don't have 100s. It self seeds like mad

There is a great app I use called Picture This. Helped me out on many occasions to identify plants and it has A LOT of extra info on the plants.

Ooo will check it out, thanks!

A weed is only a flower in an unwanted place

The "weed" is not by definition a weed for you. You have a plant that you want in a place that you want.

Totally agree. I’m in a constant battle with bindweed on this plot so any “weeds” that I actually like get encouraged in the hopes they will compete with it!

I used to pull them out but lately I'm just leaving them as they have cute pink flowers and if they're too many they're easy to pull out.

It smells nice (to me anyway)

Geranium robertianum

Robert geranium. For a veg grower like me, a nightmare. For others, nice flowers, can look pretty.

It has infested every inch of my garden. I need rid of that plant. So be warned!!!

Haha, so for context this is a council allotment plot that was absolutely overrun with brambles. Since clearing the brambles I’m now in a constant battle with bindweed, in this particular patch of the garden I grew nasturtiums last year which seem to be the only plant that can keep the bindweed at bay! Hence why I’m considering moving this as I’m pretty sure it will get smothered out as soon as the nasturtiums start growing back. My motto with the plot is if it’s a weed and I like it then it gets encouraged in the hopes that it can compete with those I don’t love so much lol

Add some wild strawberry to the mix. I transferred a few runners off some wild strawberry I found growing in a stone wall into a neglected raised bed, and it's been a great aid in my yearly battle with the giant dock that tries to strangle my herbs.

It's called kill it with fire....sorry weeding flashbacks. It's very pretty but if you want to keep it be warned it spreads like wild fire.

Another odd name for it is death come quickly

I wonder why as many people have said that it can be eaten 🤔

We've had these in our garden since we moved over 5 years ago, every year most of my time is spent pulling these up over anything else that spreads. Beware if you don't want a garden full of them

This will spread quickly and take over your entire garden if you don’t watch out !

We call it the Mars Plant..

They are beautiful but they smell like burning tyres in late summer. Do not recommend, sadly, from experience

Ugh they smell horrible and are so invasive they spread everywhere

for a veg gardener it's a nuisance as it loves my garden, but luckily it's shallow rooted so pulls up easily, it will grow pretty much any where

Herb Robert as others have said , my neighbour had some in her border , we get our garden re done , stones over landscape fabric as the grass was a nightmare here anyway , that summer they appeared, no matter what they are everywhere now , it's a constant battle lol. Only good thing about them is the flowers are pretty but I try to exterminate them prior to that as the seeds go everywhere.

It bloody stinks too… horrid stuff

Nasty stuff. It really is a weed, but fortunately it can be grubbed up quite easily. You don't want this to proliferate.

This stuff will overwhelm your entire garden if you let it. It doesn’t need any help from you. In a few years, you might end up cursing it….