Hello all, I have Ornithogalum sp. or umbellatum all over my yard. It is early spring and only the leaves are coming up now. These plants were very charming at first but now they have filled my yard. My grass is doing poorly and I wonder if these bulbs take a lot of nutrients from the grass. In any event, it has become too much of a good thing and they have to go. My question is, if I keep cutting off the leaves, will it eventually kill the bulb? Besides digging them up (which would take forever), is there another way to eliminate these from my yard? Thanks so much.
While "star of bethlehem" can be a little too successful for a flower bed... If all I had was turf... I'd be all in favor of the flowers crowding it out... Hate that exotic turf... Think I'd be finding additional bulbs for the lawn... Like maybe starflower (Ipheion sp). Would love to see a pic of the lawn when it blooms...
Yes, eventually. Wait until the plants are just starting to bloom and cut them down then as close to the ground as possible. At this stage the plant has dissipated its whole energy preparing to bloom, and nothing went back yet to feed back the roots. Repeat next year if needed. This method I learned from rabbits who very effectively managed to kill Crocuses that I tried to naturalize in my lawn. Having said that, I totally agree with stone that nothing looks as sad as a lawn without any flowers growing in it. I call it "green winter".
Thanks Sundrop and Stone. Sundrop, I will try the mowing method you suggest. It sounds like it will work. I appreciate your thoughts regarding flowers in the lawn. I do have wild violets, some daffodils, the awful creeping charlies with pretty flowers and sometimes, wild ranunculus. In the fall, I intend to plant some scilla and puschkinia. I just don't like the ornithogalum because it's so invasive and the flowers don't appear here until it's mid to late June. That means my yard looks like Venus until then, will all the tall leaves sticking up in clumps. To each his own, they say. Thanks for your recommendations.
Sounds beautiful! I just realized that in your case it can be a little more challenging than I described above. There are probably a lot of seeds in your lawn that will keep sprouting in the years to come. Don't worry, you will just have to repeat the procedure for several years, instead of for a year or two.
Thanks for the additional advice. Yes, I expected I would have to repeat the process for several years. It's time for a change!
