About a year and a half ago, we bought a house with a wonderful garden. The previous owner was the director of a local garden park and had his personal favorites around his home. These included many wildflowers he had collected across North America, some rarities that he had acquired, and some varieties that he had bred himself. It has been a pleasing puzzle to figure out what we have growing here. This plant has us stumped. The plant is one to two feet high and is blooming now with white flowers, mostly with four petals (though those could be bracts below a spike of true flowers). The leaves are heart- to arrowhead-shaped. The foliage has an unpleasant, sour, kind of rank scent. The plant is flourishing in an area that gets a few hours of morning sun, it is spreading, and it is running rampant over heuchuras, wild ginger-roots, jacks-in-the-pulpit, and other shade lovers. What is it?
Thanks, Oscar. Now that we have a name, we can find more about the plant via the internet. A quick search has already revealed that (1) we don't have one of the varieties with interesting variegated foliage, (2) we don't have one of the varieties with a pleasant scent, and (3) it's going to be an all-out war to keep the thing from taking over the shade bed and perhaps moving on into the house. I notice that it has crossed the property line into our neighbor's garden, and I'm not sure how to break the news to her.
Houttunyia is very invasive. I have mine in a concrete and stone planter so it can go no farther, however I nave been pulling it out for about 4 years now and still have it. Round-up knocks it down, but will take more than one application. Linda
Thanks, Linda. There are many other plants in the bed that I want to save, so I'm reluctant to use Round-Up. I'll see how well hand weeding works.
