Hi all, first post and I'm hoping you can help me. I've owned my home for 3 yrs and have a perennial that I can't identify (my flower freak mom can't even help). Reason I need to know the plant, is because last year about 1/2 way thru the summer my perennials died off. The leaves seemed to develop spots and quickly dies after. Anyway here is the perennial. It will eventually have a stalk of small purple flowers (roughly 5-6" tall) at the top of each stem. Now, I have one more. This vine is taking over my front landscaping. It's making it's way thru my bushes and has started to climb into the perennial shown above. I need to identify it so I can get something to kill it off. Image below. If someone could help me, especially with the vine, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!
Thanks, that would make sense. It does end up flowering (flowers are a light purple and a funnel shape) if I let it go. How can I kill it without taking out my bushes and perennials?
Wow, you guys know your stuff. I just got back from the local garden center where I took samples of both plants. The top pic is purple loosestrife (or Canadian Lythrum as the dude at the store called it). And he said the vine was a wild varient of Morning Glory. The only way to kill the morning glory is with roundup, which will be terribly difficult because it's tangled into my bushes :( Thanks for the help!
The farmers call a plant common here, a wild species of the morning glory, bindweed. Perhaps because it binds to everthing. :) The roots go down 8-12" (20-30cm) and then runs laterally eventually putting out new plants. Very difficult to control once it has a start. My suggestion is to pull the vines from the plant as much as is possible and then paint them with roundup. Harry
I'll also defend Canada a bit - not a single reference online to calling that plant "Canadian lythrum". Read more about Lythrum in the garden (and why you ought to consider removing it).
Lythrum certainly a problem here south of the border too. A favorite birdwalk near a local wetland by the confluence of the Little Spokane and Spokane Rivers, is overrun with it. Saw plenty of it in the Seattle area too, and across the state. Harry
Thanks guys. I wasn't trying to blame Canada or anything ;) it's just what the old timer at English Gardens called it. I've been reading a lot about the lythrum in the past couple days and am pretty sure I'm going to remove it. It's odd to me that it hasn't gotten any bigger in the 3 yrs I've live here but am definatly concerned that the seeds will make their way into the edges of the lakes around MI. That wouldn't be cool... Harry- the term "bindweed" was a huge help as there is a LOT of information about it online. Basically it says that I'm not going to be able to get rid of it, but someone suggested I take a small deli container, add about 1" of roundup concentrate into it and add the ends of the plant into the container. I assume the thought behind this is for the plant to obsorb the roundup into the roots and I can avoid possibly killing off my bushes. because I'm not spraying.
Sounds good, I'll have to try that method on the morning glory I have growing. By 'paint' I meant use a brush to apply the round up directly. Have had mixed results with round up though. Don't know if they still sell any straight vegetation killers in Canada, like Triox, (Might not even sell it here anymore, as I try to avoid using such things and so haven't looked for it), but as long as you are using it directly on the morning glory and are carful not to hit your ornamentals with it, that might be more effective. Also if your ornamentals are woody plants, a sprinkling of Casoron (a pre-emergent herbicide), in the early spring might control the spread. I myself try to avoid the 'better living through chemistry' adage, and so tend to live with what I can't pull by hand. Harry
Hi there- I just have to say I HATE THAT VINE! Round-up will help for awhile but sad to say, you have this problem for life :( Just try to control it. The good thing is that if you tug on it, usually the whole thing comes and you will be amazed at the length of the vine and root system. NEVER NEVER NEVER put it in your compost heap either. You have to burn it or dry it up. It roots in the most horrible conditions. It is sooo vicious. GL, Erica PS- Also have that flower. I consider it a weed and I hate it too. Glad to know of it's name now, though.
