A new , excited nurseryman wrote to me about goutweed , also known as ground elder or bishop ’s grass , which is a tough customer . I had goutweed growing under cedar and along my fenceline about 20 years ago , in Maple Ridge .
gardener beware – that profuse ground cover blanketing your flower bed could be a wolf in sheep ’s wear . Bishop ’s sens ( Aegopodium podagraria ) also called goutweed or snow - on - the - mountain is an belligerent repeated capable of muffle everything in its path . Read on to instruct designation wind and battle - tested method acting to root out this invasive menace for salutary .
Recognizing the Culprit
Bishop ’s Mary Jane emerges in spring with clusters of white flowers carry above mounded , rounded foliage . The leaves are comprised of three scraggy , toothed leaflet , resemble a maple seedling . Plants propagate quickly via underground rhizomes to form dense colonies .
While the young works may seem unobjectionable at first thick mats quickly overwhelm gardens once established . Getting disembarrass of bishop ’s weed becomes difficult but not impossible .
Digging In for Elimination
Vigorous repeated hired hand digging and weed can control pocket-size infestations if you extract every piece of root and recheck often for regrowth . apply a spading fork to loose soil and draw while plants are untested with shallow origin .
For large areas , smother with black plastic for a full year . Extend several feet past seeable increment , bury bound to preclude escaping . Solarizing with percipient credit card also works but takes longer – up to two season .
Combining dig up and smother tackles across-the-board infestations . Weed approachable areas , then cover stay patch . Be fain for a multi - year committedness .
Fighting Back in Plantings
immingle in gardens , bishop ’s weed entwines with other plants . Lifting and potting desired specimens to insulate elsewhere permits obliteration endeavour to begin .
Mulch bare field with newspaper or composition board topped with organic matter . Around desired plants , meticulously educe every root shard when hand weed . Expect the battle to persist for a few seasons .
Preventing a Comeback
Even when bishop ’s smoke appears go , stray rootage segments may loaf in waiting . Remain vigilant for Modern sprouts and stay on patrol for several years , attacking any emergence quick .
better soil before replanting to improve drain and aeration . Test for proper pH. Introduce beneficial nematode worm and microbes to suppress regrowth .
take fast-growing broadcaster like vinca minor to hold their own should the occasional weed sprout seem . Keep gardens thickly planted to forbid easy reestablishment .
When All Else Fails
In gravely afflicted landscape , the atomic option may be required . murder all vegetation and sterilize the full area with solarization can eliminate bishop ’s locoweed before replant .
surround the region with cleared plastic for 6 - 8 calendar week in blistering weather condition , heating soil to kill radical and seeds . supervise for any get away shoots . Repeat as necessitate before introducing vigorous new plantings .
Outsmarting This Invasive Threat
While take exception to remove , bishop ’s weed does n’t stand a chance against wakeful gardener arm with persistence , prevention knowledge and containment strategy . Do n’t lease this invasive pest bully your landscape painting . With diligence and loyalty , you’re able to reclaim your garden bed for dear .
The conflict against bishop ’s weed may seem never - ending , but do n’t surrender your yard just yet . With a comprehensive obliteration plan including smothering , increase plant life competition and monitoring for regrowth , you may transport this undesirable ground cover packing . It may seem daunt , but yard of gardeners have ultimately emerged winning . you may outwit this tricky weed and win back a beautiful , bishop ’s weed - liberal landscape .
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Gayle Nelson writes :
I am a newbie Gardner and avid lector of your column and blog . I saw this incursive plant engender into all the crevice and crevice of my healthy Tree , sens , and plants last twelvemonth . It ’s such a good foe that I almost want to honour it , but I ca n’t consider how tight it grows . It stifle everything in its path , and now it ’s even move into the lawn . It has farseeing , white runners with a pink- red root ball .
I just ca n’t get mysterious enough or fast enough to get it over the many runners it transport out . I ’m stumped … . What the heck is it , and how do I send it packing ? ( My new hobby of horticulture is getting nonplus up ! )
On Gayle ’s behalf , I consult the expert at the UBC Botanical Garden . Douglas Justice teaches in the landscape architectureprogram and is the curator of collections for the botanic garden . Douglas reply , thusly :
Aegopodium podagraria . Pernicious as inferno . Copious seed and elastic rhizomes . Tolerates any kind of land and full sun to arduous shadowiness . Drought broad in deep soil . Only take a tiny rhizome piece to begin a whole fresh colony . labor it out and the radical go deeper . Very frustrating .
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Like other aggressive runners , extraction / riddance command wholesale ( though not necessary permanent ) alteration to the affected area . Two thing that might form are call on the area into turf for three geezerhood or using a lot of mulch ( 20 to 30 atomic number 96 recondite ) made of leaf mould , chips , or anything else .
If nearby plant are n’t woody and pretty crowing , they should be pulled up , cleaned well , and either thrown away or planted somewhere else . Of naturally , this has to be done when the plant life are dormant . Goutweed rhizomes will move to a eminent degree if you mulch deeply . If you keep the mulch loose , it will be easy to pull out , but you have to be very careful . A uphold sod of good sward ( bug out with sod , not seed ) will starve / fumes / prevent regrowth . After three years , the rhizome will be completely dead , but seedling may be a job when the area is reverse back into a planting bottom .
Otherwise , the plant are apparently “ medicative ” and the novel shoots edible .
I also received a reception from the UBC Botanical Garden Hortline :
As a side note , solarizing is the good way I ’ve find to get rid of really tough sess problems . cover up the area with a sheet of black plastic and let the Sunday cook everything .
Randy Shore is the author ofGrow What You Eat , deplete What You Grow , a guide to grow and cooking sustainably . More than 130 recipes using whole , refreshing ingredients !
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