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| I left this gooseneck loosetrife above ground for the winter to kill it and it just laughed at me, rooted, and took hold. |
The Daily DuBrule
I ache all over. I just spent many hours over the last couple of days digging out gooseneck loosestrife (Lysimachia clethroides) from one of the prime, sunny, well drained spots in my yard. When I moved in eight years ago there was a weeping Siberian pea shrub, a small stand of gooseneck and a tidy border of Geranium 'Biokova'. All was well with the world. The Geranium is long gone, swallowed up by this fast spreading perennial which has tried to swallow up my gorgeous Japanese irises, my blueberry bushes, my 'Therese Bugnet' rose, and a bunch of daylilies. Finally, I said "ENOUGH!".
Since I have a dumpster in my driveway for my deck replacement process, I decided that now was the time as I was NOT throwing this plant in the compost pile. I left the last batch that I dug out a few years ago above ground for the winter so that it would freeze. Instead, it rooted in and now I have it under my Norway spruce border. Into the dumpster it goes. I love to dig holes but digging this plant out is nothing but tortuous labor. The roots are tough and the tiniest piece left in the ground will sprout. I devised a method. Jump up and down on the shovel with my heaviest work boots on. Slice off a chunk. Flip it upside down. Beat it with the shovel. Kneel down and shake off the good topsoil (this used to be a turkey farm so the soil is very fertile). Toss the roots into the wheelbarrow. Sift through the soil and find all the broken bits of roots and toss them too. On to the next chunk.
I cursed this plant the whole time, knowing full well that I wasn't going to finish before I had to go back to work for the week AND that I have this plant in two other places in my yard. I must admit that when it is in flower it is covered, I mean absolutely buzzing, with bees. It can be a nice cut flower. But anything that spreads that quickly and is that hard to get rid of is truly scary.
My question is, with all this invasive plant banning going on, why didn't this plant make anyone's list?
I knew enough not to plant gooseneck loosestrife in the garden, so I put the divisions that a neighbor gave me (she HAD SO MUCH -- here take some!) into a pot.
ReplyDeleteThe plants in containers were very pretty and the fall foliage color is quite attractive. But now the pots are crowded, and need to be divided. You have convinced me to simply dump them into the trash and not the compost!!