Gardening Question
There *must* be gardeners who read this blog. I know for sure that there are people in my neighbourhood who read this blog.
To all of you, what is this plant?
This is a baby one. It looks like rhubarb, no? Except the stalks never get red and the leaves are fuzzier.
I pulled all these roots out of my front bed this afternoon. There were a bunch of baby plants, but I just took photos of the best examples. Look at how giant that root is compared to how tiny that plant is (second from the right)!
Last summer, the biggest plant grew to be over 6 feet tall. If you measured around its leaves at the widest part, it was probably 4 feet in circumference. It overshadowed the lilies, which was a shame. Last fall, my landlord scythed it, and this spring, I mercilessly pulled the root out.
How do I get rid of it permanently? Will more come back?
5 comments:
you can tell it's a weed cause it looks like another plant and the roots are so much bigger than the above ground part. I don't know what it's called but you may have gotten the whole thing. To be sure, you could dig down and see if there's leftover root ball and get rid of the little hairy roots that were attached to the main root. Then you may have to weed new sprouts out over the summer.
The lillies will be lovely this year.
As everyone knows, I am a terrible gardener. However, I am an expert google searcher.
I think you've got Common Burdock growing there and here is some internetty advice:
Control:
Common Burdock seeds generally remain viable for two years, however the seeds have been reported to last as long 10-20 years. Consequently, control efforts will have to be monitored for several years to ensure the remaining Common Burdock seeds do not germinate and repopulate the area.
Mechanical control: Common Burdock cannot tolerate cultivation, so control may be possible with repeated tillage. Young Common Burdock plants do not produce seeds, therefore they do not need to be pulled up or cut down. When cut down or uprooted, any root fragment that is left behind can grow into an entirely new plant and can contribute to Common Burdock’s spread. An effective control is to cut off emerging flower buds. The plants will have to be monitored throughout the summer as buds can reform after cutting.
That's a crazy looking plant.
hi megan,
nice to find your blog and get some snippets from the old 'hood.
i recently finished my first (brutal) semester at library school. do they really think deluging us with that many assignments will make us better people? good god.
thanks for the blue triangle terminology. it think it's going to come in handy...
susannah
I don't know what it is either, but let us know when you find out. my friend in chicago has a bunch of it at her new house -- she thought she had lucked into a thriving rhubarb patch. I kind of hated telling her all she had was a vicious feild of weeds.
I found this, but I didn't look through al the pictures:
http://www.wssa.net/Weeds/ID/PhotoGallery.htm
maybe it'll come in handy.
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