A serious weed in gardens, this is a highly aggressive plant that has become a serious ecological problem. It outcompetes our beautiful n...Read Moreative spring woodland wildflowers and has a serious negative effect on pollinating insects.
It has naturalized in 26 states and its range is rapidly expanding in the southeastern US. (It's been recently reported in TX, AL, SC and NC.) Common in the northeast, midwest, Pacific northwest, and southern Canada. Its purchase, sale, transportation, and planting are illegal in my state and at least one other.
It is easily spread by moving earth and by well-meant attempts to dig it out. The soil where it has grown is permeated with tubers to a depth of about 8 inches. I have never succeeded in controlling it with organic methods.
It's important to make sure of identification before attempting control---it's often confused with the beautiful native marsh marigold (Caltha palustris).
Getting rid of it is possible but difficult, and requires persistence. 1-1.5% glyphosate with surfactant is effective when applied in early spring before 50% of the plants are in bloom. (In Massachusetts this is February-April.) The herbicide must be applied yearly for at least two consecutive springs wherever leaves are seen, and infestations should be carefully monitored and re-treated as necessary for several years after that. (Note that most surfactants are highly toxic to amphibians.)
Where this species is growing in lawns, Triclopyr is another effective systemic herbicide that does not affect grass.
This buttercup appeared in our lawns. Thought it was lovely until I identified it. It goes dormant in May here and leaves a bare spot in ...Read Morethe lawn. Now I know why there are bare spots.
Will post a photo I took showing the above ground "bulblets" on the stems. Useful for ID'ing it when not in flower and differentiating it from Marsh Marigold (caltha palustris).
We haven't planted this, but it's everywhere in our back yard. Quite pretty when it's in bloom, but it's on the invasive list and nearly...Read More impossible to get rid of, so I don't recommend planting it on purpose.
I got this plant in Syracuse, NY and planted it under my smoke bush with the daffodils. Now they are smothering my dear daffodils and ar...Read Moree into the lawn. They are beautiful, but don't plant them because they are bullies and take over, killing even the nice bulbs.
I have never planted this, however, it was dormant in the topsoil I saved from where I dug the foundation for my greenhouse (old lawn spa...Read Morece).
I did not know anything about it, and kept right on gardening, digging up the soil, planting plants, which multiplied this plant, literally by the millions. Now it is EVERYWHERE, and you CANNOT PULL THIS UP.
INFORMATION:
This plant usually appears above ground in late February and usually dies back after late April.
It spreads mainly by tubercles (bulbils) that form in the leaf axils and rapidly colonise disturbed soil.
Attempting to dig out the plants often assists their spread as, unless great care is taken, this operation will distribute the tubercles.
Mulching the surface of the soil with a 4in (10cm) deep layer of organic material may smother the weed, but in some situations the only method of control is to use a weedkiller.
Remove all cultivated plants first and then use a glyphosate spray (such as Roundup or Tumbleweed). I am starting to have success with Weed-B-Gone.
I advise strongly against growing this plant. It is a non-native invasive throughout much of the Eastern U.S. About 15 years ago it beg...Read Morean to appear at the edge of our property in S.E. PA, and now our 3-acre plot is completely overrun by it. It gets into everything... beds, lawn, natural areas, and is VERY hard to eradicate. I can't believe it is still legal to buy this plant!
First year I liked it. I thought: nice ground cover in early spring,shiny leaves,cute yellow flowers, but now after couple years it’s t...Read Morehe biggest trouble in my garden: it’s everywhere and I can’t weeded it out especially among perennials, lots of rhizomes always stay and multiply –horrible!
Variable, tuberous perennial from Europe, North West Africa and South West Asia. Has broad, heart shaped, hairless, glossy leaves which ...Read Morecan be all sorts of green, marked with black, silver or almost completely purple-burgandy black upto 2 inches long. Bears solitary, cup shaped, yellow, white, green, orange with usually 8-12 petals. All flowers turn white with age.
Flowers March-May
Native to damp open ground, woods, hedges and lawns. Leaves die back in June and appear again in February the following year. Can be extremely invasive and difficult to control. It grows from bulbils which even if dug up the smallest bulbil with sprout the following year.
Their roots were used in the treatment of piles (which Culpepper stated they were a perfect image of) and scrophula which is a disease it did have a good effect on, it was also used against the plague in Elizabethan (1st) times.
The tubers were also thought to look like minature cows udders and the flower colour glistened like butter, dried tubers were hung in cow byres in the hope that they helped influence the cows to make more milk and butterfat. Which only goes to prove that some people will try anything at least once. The effect is not recorded but taking a wild guess here, it didn't work.
The leaves can be stewed and sauted in butter and served as spinach, the buds can be preserved in vinegar and make a substitute for capers. That is is you can gather enough of the plant to make a meal.
In times gone by there have been reports of 'rains of potatoes' here. This curious claim may be explained by the fact that the R. ficaria tubers are close to the surface and after heavy rain the tubers get washed away with the soil. Handfuls of tubers can be found at the bottom of slopes after a real downpour and may be the potatoes refered to in the reports.
A serious weed in gardens, this is a highly aggressive plant that has become a serious ecological problem. It outcompetes our beautiful n...Read More
This buttercup appeared in our lawns. Thought it was lovely until I identified it. It goes dormant in May here and leaves a bare spot in ...Read More
We haven't planted this, but it's everywhere in our back yard. Quite pretty when it's in bloom, but it's on the invasive list and nearly...Read More
I got this plant in Syracuse, NY and planted it under my smoke bush with the daffodils. Now they are smothering my dear daffodils and ar...Read More
Terribly difficult to eradicate once established, this plant will overrun any other spring ephemerals you have.
I have never planted this, however, it was dormant in the topsoil I saved from where I dug the foundation for my greenhouse (old lawn spa...Read More
I advise strongly against growing this plant. It is a non-native invasive throughout much of the Eastern U.S. About 15 years ago it beg...Read More
First year I liked it. I thought: nice ground cover in early spring,shiny leaves,cute yellow flowers, but now after couple years it’s t...Read More
This plant is extremely invasive in my garden. It is crowding out all the lovely native spring ephemerals.
I never planted this, but it is taking over my garden! Every year I pull it out, and it comes back full-force (or worse) the next February.
Variable, tuberous perennial from Europe, North West Africa and South West Asia. Has broad, heart shaped, hairless, glossy leaves which ...Read More