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Do you have a plant that has proved hard to kill?

ElferElfer Posts: 329
in Plants
Came across this on Guardian, do share your experience on this thread (and the guardian if you like, no affiliation).
We are surrounded by a lot of weed and ivy infringing into our garden, it's a constant battle so would be good to have some tips on how to deal with it.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/may/05/tell-us-do-you-have-a-plant-that-has-proved-hard-to-kill?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other



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  • GravelEaterGravelEater Posts: 123
    I guess you've tried the advice here (for ivy):
    https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=192

    We hit some ivy with glyphosate, it dried up and has gone a after ~4-6 weeks.

    Ornithogalum Umbellatum aka "Star of Bethlehem" is a tough bugger to remove, other than manually removing the bulbs by hand.  Glyphosate is pretty much all we have, and it does bring the bulbs to the surface, or so I have experienced (non scientific controlled testing).  One still have to remove the bulbs though.
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 22,606
    When I tried glyphosate on ivy it didn't have any effect at all. 
    I find bindweed impossible as it grows too near other plants to use weedkiller and it lurks under walls and just when you think you've dug it all out it reappears.

    As for proper plants, not weeds, acanthus mollis is pretty hard to get rid of. It just appeared in my last garden, I never planted it and the garden was a blank canvas, no flower beds. It was eaten by deer, dug up by me, attached by the frost and burnt up in the SW France hot sun but it always came back. I did like it but I only wanted one plant and it popped up in several places.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • micearguersmicearguers Posts: 620
    Given the turn towards glyphosate, it is perhaps worth pointing out that the question in the article is If you’ve got an example of foliage which has flourished against the odds, then we’d love to hear about it - it's not about weeds or invasive weeds or unwanted thugs, but Not all of us are naturally green-fingered – and so it is always a joy when a plant not only doesn’t immediately die but thrives in our care.
  • IlikeplantsIlikeplants Posts: 894
    Spiky spreading mahonia and snowberry. Tough roots. I haven’t resorted to poison yet though.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,549
    creeping jenny
    Devon.
  • Ladybird4Ladybird4 Posts: 36,836
    For me its Mares Tail.
    Cacoethes: An irresistible urge to do something inadvisable
  • TerryannTerryann Posts: 44
    I have a clematis, Armandii, I think, that was just too big and collapsing the metal arch it was growing on.  I tried for 3 years to kill this, by cutting stems back to under the ground, it's too near a rose that I don't want to lose, to dig out, so I thought by cutting it back as soon as I see the new growth would do it, but it has now grown back again.  Have now put up some wooden posts all along the fence line for it to grown on after it beat me, It's now on probation for a few years. 
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,549
    Silverweed  grrrr.
    It's in the grass  , laughs at the lawn mower and sneaks into the borders
    Devon.
  • ElferElfer Posts: 329
    Ilikeplants said:
    Spiky spreading mahonia and snowberry. Tough roots. I haven’t resorted to poison yet though.
    I was thinking of planting a mahonia soft caress in between a Hydrangia and Zantedeschia aethiopica, you've got me thinking now.
  • IlikeplantsIlikeplants Posts: 894
    @Elfer some people don’t have a problem with mahonia so it may be the type I have. I don’t want a spreading and spiky plant attacking me in a flower bed. The previous owner put down black plastic sheet covered by tarmac rubble and grit so it’s been impossible to remove it as the roots sucker everywhere. Will be a big job to clear and dig out but I might have to tackle it one day.
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