British Columbia: Be afraid. Be very afraid ... of Spanish Bluebell

In case anyone out there still thinks Spanish Bluebell is a lovely plant. In case you haven't been convinced of its invasive qualities, i.e. you've not yet experienced the losing battle of trying to get rid of it. In case you are not convinced that other bluebells such as Camas (Camassia quamash) are a better, native choice, take a look at these pics of Spanish Bluebells growing right through my landscape cloth--both the brown fabric type and the black woven plastic kind. The latter is an area where I built some steps using 4" of gravel, landscape cloth, then 2" of gravel screenings, i.e. this is a hard-packed surface, but now 2 years later the remnants of bulbs below had no trouble coming right through.

 

Looks nice and frightening, but I suspect you'd find that almost any bulb plant (and many other herbaceous perennials) would be able to push through that, regardless of whether native or not ;-)

I've read of Japanese Knotweed breaking through 15cm of concrete - now that is scary!

 

And that's why it's called weed barrier, and not bulb barrier. Still, I don't see any tulips coming through. :|

 

Here's an interesting pic

During my quest to rid my yard of Spanish bluebell I came across an interesting bulb with a group of bulblettes growing off it, which demonstrates how readily they multiply. I still have not found any definitive means of ridding my yard of these invasives. Meanwhile I saw someone selling them on Craigslist recently. :|

 

I have the same problem with bluebell. They are growing everywhere and I don't know how to get rid of them. How do they spread if it is a bulb?
I too have some growing through a rock pathway and places where they shouldn't be.

 

I feel your pain. I've been looking for the definitive way of getting rid of Spanish Bluebell but, short of removing all your soil (which I've considered), it seems a matter of keeping on top of them. I have my good plants in pots that are going to have to stay there until I de-contaminate my beds. Spanish Bluebell propagate by bulb division--as you can see above--by seeds, plus I wondered about the white root hairs ability to form new plants, but have been told not. Regardless, I remove all the white root hairs I can see when I pull up the plants. Instead of using a small trowel, I use a planting shovel to dig deep under the plant (can be more than a foot deep). I then leave the clump on the shovel which I lay flat and use as a small tray to carefully pick through and remove all the plant parts I can see. I'm finding it better to take more time with each area, and surgically removing all I can see. I also don't shake the dirt off the clumps. Better to loose a little dirt than to aid the plant in distributing it's seeds and bulblets. And, of course, cut off the flowers before they go to seed. I'm considering putting the most infected soil in quarantine. I'm no expert, this is just my experience from a few years of doing battle with this invasive plant. Of course, do not compost or recycle the bulbs or flowers in your city's green bin. Put in the garbage. Some say crush the bulbs or thoroughly dry them out before discarding to make sure they never come back to life. Best of luck.

 

The bluebells growing under my fig trees are contained by a stone wall. There are no flowers yet and I am going to try cutting them down with the lawnmower today. The slime they produce when they are cut is awful stuff to get rid of. There was a t v programme on a few years ago about the building of a canoe and the builder actually used bluebell slime to glue part of the canoe together! I have the odd one growing in other areas and these I dig out before they can multiply.

I love the smell of the english bluebells growing in the woods in the UK and have fond memories of them. I understand that they are now under threat from the invaders!

There surely must be a use for the blackberries, english ivy and spanish bluebells all of which I am surrounded by. Ideas anybody?

 

Mowing will not get rid of them. They have been growing happily my lawn for years.