Learn / Ask The Landscape Professional
We lose this flower bed every mid-Summer. I weed whack the remains and it comes back. Do you have any ideas to keep it from dying each year? Ed
Answer
The plant in the photo is Bishops Weed
(Aegopodium podagraria 'Variegatum'). This
plant prefers and thrives in shade to part-shade
sites. THIS IS AN EXTREMELY INVASIVE
PLANT. BE CAREFUL. I'm guessing it dies off
in your garden because it is getting too much sun
and the soil dries out. DO NOT TRANSPLANT
IT TO THE SHADE. YOU WILL BE SORRY.
Bishop's Weed goes by several other names:
Goutweed, Ground Elder, Herb Gerard, and
Snow-in-the-Mountain and once planted is
virtually unstoppable. It is considered an invasive
plant in Connecticut and a number of other
states because it will crowd out native species.
Bishop's Weed grows easily and spreads rapidly
by fine, white underground rhizomes (roots), that
if not completely removed will quickly regrow
the plant. If you are going to keep it, the only
sensible thing to do is to keep it containerized.
In Ed's garden pictured above, he actually has it
"containerized" into a confined space.
Disposal is another problem. It is safe to put
it in trash bags that you know will be incinerated, but don't take it to your town
dump and don't give to your friends to try in their gardens! One way to remove
Bishop's Weed is to cover it in black plastic in the spring after it starts to grow
and leave the plastic in place all summer.
Bishop's Weed has been around for centuries, and dates back well before the
Romans who used it as a food source. Over the years, it had been also used
as a medicinal herb, although that use has diminished in modern times.
In short, Bishop's Weed is a TRUE GARDEN THUG; avoid it at all costs!
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About Linda Lillie
Linda K. Lillie is the President of Sprigs & Twigs, Inc, the premier
landscape design and maintenance, tree care, lawn care, stonework, and carpentry
service provider in southeastern Connecticut since 1997. She is a graduate of
Connecticut College in Botany, a Connecticut Master Gardener and a national
award winning landscape designer for her landscape design and landscape installation work.
