Celandines romping

Discussion in 'General Gardening Discussion' started by Gay Gardener, Mar 30, 2016.

  1. Gay Gardener

    Gay Gardener Total Gardener

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    I generally have a patch of Celandines which I really like and enjoy. They have tended to keep pretty much to the back corner part of the garden but this year they seem to have spread into the bed too far at a rapid rate. Also they seem to have popped up in other beds. I'm wondering if the excessively wet mild winter has encouraged them ...

    I've done a fair bit of reading about control and there seems to be no consensus. I favour the digging out and binning so as to to not have to use chemicals, but many say that this spreads the bulblets. Will digging them up carefully and putting them directly into bags to go to the dump be the best way?

    Anyone have any success stories?

    Cheers
    GG
     
  2. NigelJ

    NigelJ Total Gardener

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    I have quite a bit of this, it likes damper conditions. I live with it to a large extent as I quite like the bright yellow flowers in spring; they certainly cheer the lawn up (mainly moss otherwise). The good thing is they don't last long and rapidly die down after flowering. I do pull up some of the bigger clumps but it is almost impossible not to leave some of the tubercles behind. Regular cultivation has cleared it from the vegetable and fruit beds. The flower beds especially the damper shadier front one are more problematic as cultivation is difficult with all the spring flowering bulbs and I really don't want to try lifting all of these and then dealing with the Celandine.
    The clumps I pull up are bagged and then drowned in an old water butt.
    The old herbalists used to make an ointment from the tubercles and lard for treating piles: due to the visual similarity with the tubercles hanging down (Doctrine of signatures, like treats like.)
    Sorry I can't be more positive.
     
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    • Gay Gardener

      Gay Gardener Total Gardener

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      Thanks Nigel, I feared that. I did dig a few up just to examine them and found it very hard to find the tubercles as you call them ( was looking for small bulbs), the only thing I did find after a hard look was some things that look like green lentils, I'm assuming these are the culprit. If that's them, tricky beggars to ensure complete removal. At least I'll have a home remedy for me piles though ...

      Thanks
      gg
       
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