Creeping buttercup - opinions please
Supernoodle
Posts: 954
I typed a post and then accidently hit and advert on the page and lost it all. So having to retype - which takes ages as ipad speaks a different version of English than used on planet Earth and keeps "correcting". So apologies for errors in what follows. too fed up to keep correcting the corrections!
I've got some creeping buttercup in a border. Having identified it via Google my immediate thought was to get rid of it - it's in damp clay where it will be very happy.
however I'm wondering whether to keep it. It's in my "thugs border" - large established shrubs and daylilies, lysimachia, bergenia. I need some ground cover in one particular area (which needs summer colour) so if it spreads there it might be nice. I love yellow.
however having recently declared victory over the ground elder in that area I wonder if leaving it would be foolish.
would be grateful for thoughts and opinions, and any info about its habit. Eg will it flower in shade?
many thanks
Posts
Bear in mind that the seeds stay viable for decades so if you ever decide to use that border for something else you will be plagued by it forever. I am still removing seedlings after about 30 years and I always dig up new seedlings before they flower.
Not a fan!
It will grow anywhere and get tangled in the roots of treasures as it sends out runners. It is a pernicious plant and really hard to get rid of once established. I clear it from my borders every spring and still find it popping up all through the growing season but then I am surrounded by arable land and pasture.
If you want ground cover, get yourself some alchemilla mollis which also has yellow flowers. It will self seed with gay abandon but at least it doesn't do sneaky runners. A word of warning though - most people find it too invasive too.
There are all sorts of ground cover plants that would be more attractive and make a better foil for your other plants so I would advise you have look at the RHS Plant Selector feature on their site and have a look at these too for starters
http://www.bhg.com/gardening/flowers/perennials/easy-ground-covers/
http://www.bhg.com/gardening/flowers/perennials/10-top-groundcover-plants/
http://www.countryliving.com/gardening/garden-ideas/how-to/g789/ground-cover-flowers-0509/
http://www.finegardening.com/flowering-ground-covers
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
In a border I'd get rid of it quick - it'll spread and invade everywhere. We allow some to survive along the edge of the lawn against the sleepers of the Shady Bank, but we strim it back before it seeds.
As Obelixx says, there's lots of much better groundcover plants than Creeping Buttercup
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Good luck with that!
It's the bane of my life in my flower borders! I hate it! It's the only thing I've ever actually resorted to weed killer to attempt to kill!
kill it and kill it quick, its second only to ground elder in my books!!