We have a weed that we are trying to remove from our garden. It seems to have underground roots which is making it very difficult to eliminate. Can you identify this and give us any suggestions for how to get rid of this? We did try weed killer already.
These somewhat look like young Polygonatum - which would normally be considered a garden plant. Do you have any other photos?
If this is Polygonatum, and it certainly does look like it, have you tried simply digging it out? From what I remember when I grew it many years ago, the roots are quite thick and shallow.
I'm attaching some more photos as requested. It is hard to believe that it is a garden plant because the roots seem to go to China. We have tried digging it out and it just seems to keep popping up more often when we do that. If this is Polygonatum, then I'm assuming it is fine to just let it grow.
so what happened? what does it look like today (July 17th) ----- if it is "Solomon's Seal" - wow, you are lucky - design your garden with it. It is well behaved and easy to maintain - I never touch mine here on the mainland side of Salish Sea. It is reasonably drought tolerant - and the best use is in a dry shade location - which most of us at the coast have on one or more sides of an old house/cottage. in order to integrate (bring your garden design together) - just mark this plant (patch) now - then when it starts to rain again - dig some up - and move it along to another spot - the old garden design premise about "if you don't know what to plant, repeat what you already have." ---- so true. I don't know who to attribute that to - likely an England gardener of a few decades ago, and all their famous border gardens. again - I hope it has turned out to be Solomon's Seal - latin name above - it will serve you well for as long as you will be there in that home. ps - there is a wild version - false solomon's seal - common in the Okanagan etc. In the shady forested areas. It's easy to find info in the popular "Lone Pine" publishing wild plant ID books. - I am not affiliated in any way, just that we have found them useful for many years, and the price and availability is right - and if you ruin your copy in the rain (or loan it out!) - it does not break the bank to get another copy here is another great place to start to find the wild version - E-Flora Trees of British Columbia EDIT TO ADD - thank you! now I am curious, inspired by your initial question - here is a good comparison with photos of Solomon's Seal - and - False .... start here at this URL False — and true — Solomon’s seal | Identify that Plant
The native plant known as 'false' Solomon's Seal, Maianthemum racemosum, is a "perennial herb from a stout, fleshy, knotty, brownish rhizome" (E Flora BC). Likewise 'true' Solomon's Seal, Polygonatum odoratum "slowly spreads by thin rhizomes to form colonies in optimum growing conditions." (Missouri Botanical Garden) Having grown both, I can attest to the fact that neither are too difficult to dig up and/or eradicate if necessary. Then, there's another false Solomon's Seal called Maianthemum stellata (Star-flowered False Solomon's Seal) which grows from widely spreading rhizomes (a bit like the rampant Maianthemum dilitatum (False Lily-of-the-Valley). I have a feeling that it is Maianthemum stellata you are dealing with. I have grown it too and must say it is challenging to contain or eliminate in areas where it's been growing for a while. Weed killer takes longer to kill rhizomatous plants because they have so much reserved energy in those long roots. My philosophy is not to let plants like these ever see the light of day. Eventually they will grow weaker and weaker from lack of photosynthesis until they finally expire. (I got rid of Japanese knotweed over many years by pulling every shoot up as soon as it emerged.) You may need to be patient but I'm sure you will eventually be successful.
(note by admin: the post below by Margot was in response to some very clever person who has now been removed for spamming--but still some good info in Margot's note, so it stays!) Vinegar kills the green growth of plants; rarely the roots. Very small weeds that have recently germinated may be successfully eliminated with vinegar but larger ones with established roots, especially tap roots or rhizomatous roots will recoup and regrow new leaves. Vinegar Weed Killer Myth Revisited - Garden Myths It is just as easy to manually pull off the green parts of weeds as it is to spray them with vinegar. As I mentioned before , you can kill the most terrible weeds if you prevent them from photosynthesizing long enough. While it's true that layers of newspaper, cardboard, even plastic and carpeting effectively smother weeds, they should be used (if at all) in only small areas. Materials like these create a barrier between the air and soil and compromise the development of a healthy soil. Organic mulches, applied after weeds are removed are a much better alternative even though more work initially. As Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott summarized in her article on the myth of paper-based sheet mulch: • Newspaper and cardboard sheet mulches can be effective for annual beds if they are properly maintained. • Sheet mulches can prevent water movement and gas exchange if they are too wet or too dry. • Use site-appropriate mulch materials. Permanent, ornamental landscapes, non-maintained sites, and restoration areas are not appropriate locations for newspaper and cardboard sheet mulches. For more information, please visit Dr. Chalker-Scott’s web page at Linda Chalker-Scott | Washington State University. I am curious what the 7 killer (household items) to get rid of weeds may be. Sometimes household chemicals are worse overall than those sold specifically to kill plants.
