Valerian Weed or Flower
A garden weed is a plant that grows in the ‘wrong place’.
From self sown seeds I have Valerian growing in walls and cracks in pavements that despite the colour at this time of year are weeds. I must get them out before they seed and invade the few remaining gardens in our road that have not already received free plants from the overgrown Vicarage garden.
Facts about Valerian
- When you hear it is called Jupiter’s beard and that it has fragrant, scarlet to red or white flowers growing in dense clusters on 3-foot stems you may start to like the plant.
- They begin blooming in spring and continue over a long period if old flowering stems are removed but do not grow well if the soil is too rich.
- If flowering stops due to hot summer weather cut plants back by about a half to promote another round of bloom in late summer.
- This plant is best when massed and is often naturalized along old walls and rocky outcrops.
- Valerian (Centranthus) makes a long-lasting cut flower and is a good plant to supply butterflies with nectar.
- Centranthus rubervalerian alba has white flowers, coccineus has deep red flowers and roseus bears rose-colored flowers (no surprise with the names then).
3 thoughts on “Valerian Weed or Flower”
This plant is spreading everywhere in my local area. The damage to walls as seeds take hold in a crack. I witness people letting the plant grow and the resultant damage, making the walls dangerous and being likely to fall down after time.
Even the local church has pants thriving on it’s outer walls, shouldn’t the PCC be warned of its danger?
yours truly
as with any weed? remove them before they seed or reduce their numbers and keep a check on them each year.
The plant Valerian (weed) does damage the walls of buildings. The roots are large and woody – they cling to the bricks.
Did I really read this advice in the gardening section? ‘If flowering stops due to hot summer weather cut plants back by about a half to promote another round of bloom in late summer.’ They don’t really need any help to multiply – their seeds will happily land on any rough earth, especially by brick walls and grow quickly. I think the damage they could do to properties certainly outweighs the prettiness of the flowers.
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