This is the second spring in our house, the previous owners had planted lily of the valley and we spent the entire growing season last year pulling them out of the garden and lawn!
I didn't see any so far this spring and thought I had gotten rid of them for good. But after returning from a weekend away this Easter holiday, I came home to new shoots everywhere! What can I do to get rid of them. I should note, I love the flower, but am getting rid of them because they are such garden thugs!!
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I hope you were successfull. We plan on replacing our turf this fall, so we will probably end up doing what you did. Keep me posted.
I've got my fingers crossed for you :)
Yes, they seem to be gone. I haven't seen any new shoots yet but our growing season is a bit later than yours so maybe they will show up yet. We dug out the whole area where they were and by hand went through the dirt really carefully to find any bits of roots. We dug 2 or 3 feet deep as the roots really went deep.
I will check with our local garden club, I know they are having their annual plant sale - I don't know if anyone buys these plants anymore. I hear there is a less invasive variety on the market.
Firsthomegirl - did you get rid of all your LOV in your garden and lawn? We are planning to re-turf the lawn in a couple of weeks. I spent hours digging last year and they are back this year full force! I would be interested to know what you did differently.
Any advise on this would be much appreciated
Although I love them, I surely wouldn't want them riddled through the lawn.
SunnyT, have you thought of offering them to someone for free, if they came and did the digging themselves? I put a free ad in the Buy and Sell paper to give away a large rhododendron in the Freebie section, and I got lots of responses.
The previous owners planted a patch of lily of the valley in our front yard before we moved in to cover a big empty patch where some shrubs died and they completey took over and started growing into our lawn. When we changed the shape of our front bed we dug really deep and I went through all the dirt to get all the roots and any bits of roots we cut while digging it all out.
Pretty plant but so invasive.
I had no idea they were so invasive. I just bought 2 small plants, and I think I'd better put them in a container instead of adding them into the garden bed. Yikes! I do love the fragrance of them, though. I tried at least 3 times to plant LOV from the pips you purchase in the bags, and failed each time. For this 4th attempt, I went for established plants.