Invasive woody bush in lawn

I have what I thought was willow growing thoughout my front lawn. Living in Victoria the lawns are now all brown with the exception of this invasive plant that's sprinkled throughout. If left it grows very tall and it's nearly impossible to dig out. Up till now I've been cutting with the mower but it's continually spreading. Any words of wisdom would be welcome.

 

Not sure if this is the same, but I have similar problem in my backyard. The culprit is some Prunus (P. cerasus?) with small fruits which do not hang for too long and fall off very easily but taste the same as big plums. Other Prunus species may also be invasive.

 

Thanks for the reply but I'm pretty sure that's not it. There's never any flowers or fruit.

 

Very likely to be sweet cherry rootstock sprouts. What's the shadow coming from, a cherry tree?

 

No, it's a weeping birch. I think I've seen the same type of bush growing along roads; however! I can't see it in any of my neighboring yards.

 

Sweet cherry is very common in this region, as a planted orchard fruit, as a rootstock for ornamental cherries, and as a naturalized weed. Seedlings and root sprouts are frequent.

 

We have a plum tree in the garden that does this- Id definitely say Prunus.

 

Thanks all. I think it may be the cherry as the leaves are similar. I'm surprised though that the lawn directly around the tree are free of these seedlings.

Any ideas on how to get rid of the seedlings without digging up the lawn?

 

If they were seedlings, you could just pull them up. However, they are root suckers, so without removing the tree's roots (and so damaging it), all you can do is cut them off or continue mowing them down.

 

Yea if a neighbour has a prunus thats where theyll be coming from. Our plum pushes up suckers well away from the parent tree.