Clematis or Bindweed?

dawsonjill75

I moved house late last autumn and I’m still discovering plants. There is an arch with a huge sprawling nest of shoots and I’m not sure if it’s Clematis or Bindweed or a combination of both? Before I start chopping down Clematis in error, would anybody know if I’m looking at just Clematis? (Here’s hoping.) Thank you. 

Dovefromabove

That rather looks to me like Fallopia baldshuanica aka Russian vine/Mile a Minute vine ... not a plant to be trifled with ... it has pretty flowers but don’t be fooled by it’s pretty face ... it harbours ambitions of world domination ... I know of one plant that so far has covered a quarter of a mile of roadside hedge. 

Brexiteer

Yes I'd say it looks like Russian vine. It's definitely not the dreaded bindweed. I once had an 18 ×6 bird aviary and it covered the roof in 3 to 4 years 

Obelixx

Russian vine - a thug whose flowers may look good for about a week and then fade to a dull brown.  Best to hack it back, dig it out and plant something attractive with a longer flowering season and maybe even with perfume.

DampGardenMan

It's hard to dig out - I speak from experience, having once (in my naive youth) planted one at my mum's to cover an ugly wall. Spent the next few years trying to get rid of it for her.

I then moved house, and blow me down, a neighbour planted one - it was up a 50 foot tree in a few months. I spent a lot more time tackling that whenever it trespassed into my garden.

dawsonjill75

Thank you for the identification everyone - I’ve had days of hacking it back, it has filled the green wheelie bin twice, a large cardboard box and I’ve got another bin full waiting to go. 

I’m now left with 2 stumps and my problem is I want to dig out the surrounding area for vegetable beds so I’d rather not throw a lot of weedkiller down. We’ve been digging all day trying to extract as much root as possible but the awful thing seems to go under a brick wall and under the lawn.

Any top tips to get rid of it as naturally as possible would be gratefully received!

Dovefromabove

You needn’t throw weed killer around ... I don’t like the stuff but, in extremis, I will paint glyphosate gel onto the leaves of the really difficult to deal with problems. That’s how I got rid of problem weeds and Russian vine before starting our veg patch 😊