I’d like to dedicate this post to my blogging friend, Carol at Flower Hill Farm, for her long-suffering with this invasive plant, her nemesis, Bishop Weed, also known as Goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria).
But first, a disclaimer. I call this ongoing series “Most Hated Plants,” but some have taken issue with “hating” poor defenseless plants. Most Hated Plants is really a shorhand way of saying:
- I don’t really hate the plants.
- I do hate that nurseries continue to propagate and sell these plants
- I hate that landscapers continue to install them
- And I hate that people continue to plant them
- Invasive plants are wiping out native habitats leaving wildlife no place to go
- Invasive plants cost taxpayers $138 BILLION dollars every year
- I really would like to see homeowners do their homework prior to purchasing ANY plant
But instead of saying all of that every time I refer to the damage caused by invasive plants, I simply say MOST HATED PLANTS as my short hand.
Bishop Weed is native to Europe, northern Asia, and Siberia and was brought to this country as an ornamental plant. It was first noticed to have escaped cultivation and become invasive in Rhode Island in 1863.
Also known as Goutweed, it wreaks havoc in moist, partly shaded woodlands and disturbed areas. It forms a dense mat that prohibits other plants from establishing.
This trait is especially harmful in natural wooded areas where it outcompetes native plants. Because of this, many native woodland plants are now highly endangered.
I’ve been attempting to rid my property of this plant since 2001 when I first moved in. It feels like a losing battle because it returns with a vengeance especially after the rain. We pull, and we pull, and then we pull some more. But it always comes back.
That’s because Bishop Weed not only spreads by seed, it also spreads by underground runners. If you’re pulling but don’t get every last piece of those runners out of the ground, it will pop up again almost immediately.
My neighbor across the street is the head propagator for Morris Arboretum. Her garden is her own beautiful private botanic garden. Really, it’s stunning! But she has been battling Goutweed for the 30 years she’s lived in her house. Trust me, she REALLY hates this plant!
Risa Edlestein, my blogging buddy at Garden and the Good Life, has started a discussion on the best ways to eliminate this invasive plant from the landscape at the Ecological Landscaping Association Group on LinkedIn.
It is banned for sale in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont, and is considered a noxious pest from Eastern Canad to Georgia and into the midwest, plus is invasive in the Pacific Northwest.
A much better alternative to this noxious, invasive plant is the native Golden Alexanders (Zizea aurea), in the same family as Bishop Weed, but a much gentler inhabitant of native ecosystems, and a host plant for Black Swallowtail butterfly caterpillars.
So, Carol, this one’s for you, in hopes that you will make headway in this battle!
Recommended Invasive Plant Resources:
Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants
What’s your nemesis plant? What are you doing to eliminate invasive plants from YOUR landscape?
© 2010, Carole Brown. All rights reserved.
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Carole,
I do very little ornamental planting because I barely have time to keep up with my veggie garden, but SOMEDAY, I plan to. Thank you for your educational pieces. I now know that when that someday comes, I’m not just going to go to the nursery and pick out pretty plants. I’ll do my homework, and most likely consult with you, first.
We are pretty lucky here in the UK, there aren’t that many things that take over in the way you guys have. I only have one I really really hate and have to deal with – technically it’s a weed, a pretty weed but a total pain – the morning glory vine, tiniest bit of root left in the ground and it will populate everywhere!
Rachel Mathews´s last blog ..Don’t be Fooled by The Landscape Man!
Common sorrel. Rumex acetosella. It’s all through my garden. I think I have sheep sorrel, too, which I should dig up and throw in a salad. Once I’m sure it really is sheep sorrel.
We have morning glory, too, but not very much.
Stacey Cornelius´s last blog ..Why great marketing isn’t about getting noticed (and why it’s good to be irrational)
Chickweed. At least what I think is chickweed. (The stems are slightly sticky.) Infested my backyard gardens three years ago and I can’t get rid of it. I’ve resorted to spraying with Roundup and others, but it just came back with a furry this spring — already it’s starting to climb other plants! Any suggestions would be most welcome.
On another note, I talked a new gardener out of planting purple loosestrife this weekend. It may not be as invasive in southern Ohio as it is in Michigan, but she listened.
Marsha Stopa´s last blog ..The Surprise of Spring Depression
Poison ivy. SOOO allergic to it, and being another one of those runner-plants….
Buckthorn. This property was overgrown with it when we moved in, and having never gotten the help I needed to really make headway, it’s taken over even more.
Summer privacy tho’, until Kathe decides what she wants to do about permanent hedging, so it’s not all bad.
Wow, I had no idea bishop weed was eeeeeevil. I have it and most of my neighbors have it, and we like it because it requires so little attention. In my defense, I wasn’t the one who planted it!
Purple loosestrife (fortunately, not on our property, but along the roadway). Costmary (my fault, I planted that one). Bamboo (agrh!). Bittersweet (lovely colors in the fall, a nightmare to remove).
I had no idea that was banned. It looks like any other typical ground cover to me. Then again, I wouldn’t be able to tell this plant apart from most others. This is why my gardening consists of things that don’t need attention: daylilies, bee balm, hostas, bleeding hearts, a purple plant that blooms in late summer (don’t ask me what it is), and a white lily that I planted a few years ago that I can’t remember the name of.
Lisa´s last blog ..Let’s Talk About Permission Marketing: A Lesson in What Not to Do
I just hate dandelions. Which are everywhere including my garden. They are truly evil. Except to my 4 year old. So I guess they aren’t all bad.
This is what’s worked the best for me. And we had bishop’s weed thick all around the border of our yard. I put a flat spade in the earth about 6″ deep in a 2-foot square. Flipped that earth upside down then plucked the roots out. They look like white worms and can be up to 3 or 4 feet long to my count. Dig big squares b/c if you leave a fragment of roots, it grows from both ends. Oh, and plan to do this all again next summer. Rest easy, though, you’ll only have a 1/4 of the work to do. And some day … maybe it’ll be gone. Maybe.
Like your other blog! http://gardenandthegoodlife.typepad.com/
Thanks Georgia. That’s an excellent blog by my friend Risa Edelstein.
@Andrea – And Mike & I. We love them, much to the frequent annoyance of our neighbors.
The is a honeysuckle plant ruining my life as we speak. Then there is the quince tree. Whats a freaking quince? The fruit fell rotted into the ground( our fault) then the ground wasps came. Its only a tiny garden.
Vona, I will take your honeysuckle plants any day. I love the stuff and can’t get enough of it! And, while it isn’t a problem where I live (too cold), Kudzu has pretty much taken over all the trees once you get to about South Carolina or so.
Along with most hated plants, can you do a series on most hated pests? And start it with the japanese beetle? Those things are everywhere – they’re hard to kill and they stink when you try to kill them.
Sherice´s last blog ..Schedule Facebook Posts, Keep Up with Social Networks using Sendible
Oh Carole, I am so behind in blogging … I had not seen this post! Thank you for the empathy and link. I inherited my goutweed. I do not mind saying I HATE THE PLANT! It is such a killer of so many other plants and I truly have oceans of it… I will go to the link above and see if anyone has good ideas for being rid of it! Great post!
Carolflowerhill´s last blog ..Silent Sun Setting Sky Into Frost Then Heat Bursting Blooms
I’d never heard of Bishop Weed before. Good thing I read this because I’ve been wondering what kind of ground cover I might put in a corner of the lot that has no turf. (It was mostly ivy, moss, and shade, but we took some trees down recently.) Carole, do you have a post on good ground covers that aren’t a problem? (I know it will vary by area, but no harm asking…)
We have a lot of ivy in that one side of the lot that I’m trying to tame, morning glory in another corner, and dandelions, various weeds in our so-called-lawn, and Herb Robert. The Herb Robert I don’t mind so much which is a good thing because it’s everywhere!
Tzaddi´s last blog ..Introducing Smoothies: Mixed-for-you Semi-custom WordPress Websites
For me it has to be garlic mustard! I can live with the dandelions, chickweed, and lambsquarters because they don’t grow out of control in my landscape, but garlic mustard is invasive, determined, and produces so many seeds that it can really take over and crowd out native plants. At least garlic mustard is also edible and not nearly as bad as some of the invasive grass type weeds.
Kenny´s last blog ..Blewitt Mushrooms for the Adventurous Gardener
Kenny, Garlic Mustard definitely is a scary one. It has taken over the groundcover areas of many of our local woodlands. You say “at least it’s edible” but that is a whole lot of eating to control that one.
Creeping Bellflower (Campanula rapunculoides). Goutweed has appeared for me too, but stayed within certain geographic confines. Campanula r. presents itself in every patch of exposed earth in my inherited yard to differing degrees. Not only does it spread via Rhizomes at a rapid pace, but leaves horizontal Parsnip-like feeder roots down 6-9″ which allow the plant to take multiple treatments of Glysophate and return in the exact same place. It is also a prolific self-seeder if allowed to bloom. My solution has been to dig, unearth the feeder roots (follow the little Rhizomes down into the soil with your finger and weed tool to loosen the soil as you go until you find the big problem) and sift the soil for any root matter. From that point, returning bits are more easily treated with Round-up or dug out. In a rock garden I’ll be starting on reclaimed soil, I’m going to try 5 pages depth of newspaper as a biodrageable landscapers cloth before topping with new material to help starve out anything under my new plantings. Will see how this works out in the next year or two.
{ 1 trackback }