Can anyone ID this extremely evasive plant/weed. I thought I had got rid of it once, but it's come back with a vengeance and is spreading even more. Any tips on eradicating it once and for all would be very gratefully accepted.
It's a nightmare trying to get rid of it. I've been battling it for well over 10yrs. Glyphosphate has no effect as it just runs off the waxy leaves. They also produce bulblets about the size of a pea which manage to bury themselves very deep into the soil - 12" or more. The birds love the berries and having eaten them they distribute the seed in their droppings. Most frustrating is when they appear right by the root system of a shrub or perennial making it impossible to dig them out.
I pull the leaves up soon as I see them or how them off. They seem to grow from around Feb until around May when the flower spike appears.
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
@Pete.8 I agree...quite a bit of it is growing amongst roses and other plants which makes it very difficult to tackle. I think the only solution might be to wage war on the foliage, by cutting it down as it appears so hopefully over time the plant will be weakened and die off.
Sounds a lot like ground elder, my most hated weed and one I have battled with for a year, but finally managed to control. The trick for me with GE was to never, ever let the thug flower. It also spreads from the titchiest piece of root, so when I find a small plantlet, I am very mindful about lifting much more than just the plant I can see, gently shaking away the soil from the roots and not disturbing them too much. GE has the added truck up its sleeve of popping up at the base of good plants, meaning it is almost impossible to remove. I have, in the past, lifted whole good plants just to remove a GE seedling, then replanted the good plant 🙄
@Pete.8 I agree...quite a bit of it is growing amongst roses and other plants which makes it very difficult to tackle. I think the only solution might be to wage war on the foliage, by cutting it down as it appears so hopefully over time the plant will be weakened and die off.
That approach definitely helped me to control the GE in my garden. Constant smothering with mulch and constant ripping off of leaves, if they appeared in the lawn, too.
The colour of those leaves makes me think about coloured Arums. White Arums usually have plain green leaves.
I think you must be thinking of Zantedeschia (Calla) type arums. I don't know what grows wild in France, but here in the UK, we have native Arum maculatum (Lords and Ladies, Cuckoo Pint, and many other 'common' names) - plain green leaves, sometimes with dark spots (maculatum means 'spotted'), and we have the original poster's plant Arum italicum, which probably doesn't belong in the UK, but often found in the wild - garden escapes maybe - very similar but with the white markings on the leaves.
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The leaves die down in late spring so while it is difficult to eradicate it’s usually not too much of a bother.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I've been battling it for well over 10yrs.
Glyphosphate has no effect as it just runs off the waxy leaves.
They also produce bulblets about the size of a pea which manage to bury themselves very deep into the soil - 12" or more.
The birds love the berries and having eaten them they distribute the seed in their droppings.
Most frustrating is when they appear right by the root system of a shrub or perennial making it impossible to dig them out.
I pull the leaves up soon as I see them or how them off.
They seem to grow from around Feb until around May when the flower spike appears.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I agree...quite a bit of it is growing amongst roses and other plants which makes it very difficult to tackle. I think the only solution might be to wage war on the foliage, by cutting it down as it appears so hopefully over time the plant will be weakened and die off.
The trick for me with GE was to never, ever let the thug flower.
It also spreads from the titchiest piece of root, so when I find a small plantlet, I am very mindful about lifting much more than just the plant I can see, gently shaking away the soil from the roots and not disturbing them too much.
GE has the added truck up its sleeve of popping up at the base of good plants, meaning it is almost impossible to remove.
I have, in the past, lifted whole good plants just to remove a GE seedling, then replanted the good plant 🙄
I think you must be thinking of Zantedeschia (Calla) type arums. I don't know what grows wild in France, but here in the UK, we have native Arum maculatum (Lords and Ladies, Cuckoo Pint, and many other 'common' names) - plain green leaves, sometimes with dark spots (maculatum means 'spotted'), and we have the original poster's plant Arum italicum, which probably doesn't belong in the UK, but often found in the wild - garden escapes maybe - very similar but with the white markings on the leaves.