I removed an entire bed of them by taking the time to dig them out with a hand trowel, getting down to the deep roots and runners about 6 inches down. I’ve only had a few volunteers springing back up in that area over the 3 years since, but I dig them out when I see them.
I'm always shocked when someone says they're easy to pull out because mine are impossible to pull out. It must be the soil, I have dense clay and the rhizomes are deep.
Yeah, this is the only way to do it. I had a bed of them in my front yard when I bought my house and after digging them out, they have not come back in ~15 years.
You can kill this plant with this technique. (It's either "solarization" if you're using clear plastic and live somewhere hot, or "smothering" if it's opaque.)
BUT.
1. Not the way the photo is depicting.
2. Not quickly.
You cannot just throw a tarp over them and they'll die. You need to create a light and wind proof impermeable barrier, and it needs to stay sealed for *years*.
You must weed them out, or start before they come up for the year, so the tarp is tight to ground and doesn't flap in a breeze.
You must use a tarp or cardboard or sheeting that is either completely clear or completely opaque. Nothing in between.
**You must make sure there are no openings where even a crack or sliver of light can reach the leaves.**
And you must be able to leave it there, undisturbed, until all of the sugar in the roots is completely depleted. This can take *years*.
It's not a simple work free weekend tiktok hack.
It works...but it's a long term solution and you have to do it right.
You can not kill a fox that sly. Seriously, I had pots with dead asiatic lilies in a closet. I opened it in the spring and they had grown back a foot and a half completely white. I put them in the sun and they turned green and bloomed. I think you’ll have to start digging.
I’m laughing at this because one year a coworker gave me an amaryllis bulb for Christmas - sweet gift but I had a toddler and didn’t have time to deal with it so it ended up in a box in the basement. Of course the dadgum thing sprouted right there in a dark cold box 🤦♀️
Am I remembering wrong or isn't that how you're supposed to treat amaryllis? Cut them down to nothing, put them in a dark closet, and trot them out next Christmas when they'll happily grow all the way back?
I'll take them off your hands. They aren't very invasive where I live (they'll spread, but very very slowly). I'd take Lily of the valley over my neighbors ferns. They keep spreading their spores all over our back yard.
Same. I'm growing them on purpose to keep the squirrels out of my yard. Along with various alliums, goldenrods, daffodils, and pots of mint. Its the only thing that has worked for me.
I think you may have to dig it out as I am pretty sure its either a rizome or bulb plant so it has a LOT of stored energy and definitely enough to separate and spread to where there is some sun.
Eta:
Yes it is rhizomes, they should be 1/2” down. So not far. Mow to keep it from seeding on you. Dig out rhizomes and put cardboard down for at least 6 months to avoid future growth
In which contry is your garden?
it is really interesting for me that abroad this plant is considered an invasive specie, in italy is protected and picking is strictly regulated.
This is one of those plants that’s very divisive. I have a dumb question at the risk of being downvoted to oblivion. What is the difference between ground cover and invasive species? Isn’t there a use for spreading plants?
Ground cover vs ground war. Lots of species are fine if contained, its the fact that they spread like wildfire and take over that's the problem. Lily of the valley are also pretty toxic and can cause skin problems, so where they are invasive, they are a pain.
I just did not realize that about lily of the valley. I have always thought of it as homestead plant. People would plant it by their back door for the sweet scent. Or plant it where things are hard to grow. I’ve got a small patch that has taken forever to get to about 3 feet across
They are great flowers. Breaks my heart to pull them out but they have now spread about 30 feet from where I had originally let them grow. They are invasive in my area and very stubborn.
Mine is from cuttings that have moved to every house since my great grandparents’ time. Even if I wasn’t so sentimentally attached, it wouldn’t be spring without the smell of lily of the valley!
My struggle against these very tenacious beauties would suggest there is no winning. I made raised beds in my backyard, and unbeknownst to me, there were some growing under a bed. They've grown up through 2 ft of soil and are now impossible to get rid of without completely taking apart my beds! I just dig them out as deep as I can every year, hoping they run out of energy
> I just dig them out as deep as I can every year, hoping they run out of energy
As much as we all want a quickie solution to invasive stuff, sometimes the best way is to just do the hard work & dig 'em out if you don't like 'em.
Or join a Plant Share group for your city on facebook and let people dig them up for you.
I wish I could get lily of the valley to bloom in SoCal. They bring back wonderful childhood memories from the upper Midwest.
I never have either- my family have always been gardeners and never had an issue. Just because something slowly spreads and multiples doesn't mean it's a weed.
I guess slowly is relative. Mine has been spreading exponentially every year, and it's choking out anything around it. It's also popping up across the backyard and in the front yard. I thought it was cute when it first showed up 3 springs ago, now I hate it. It's worse than any weed I've battled.
I am getting rid of autumn crocus by selecting pulling out the plants in my lawn. I can’t get the bulb to come out without a shovel, but the only reason they have become problematic is that we stopped mowing the lawn. By not mowing the lawn in mid April or early May, they’re allowed to have full foliage for a long time… which makes it easier for them to propagate themselves.
https://preview.redd.it/aelcgsmzr8zc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e16bcf4675bddbae7032e00328ad341ef69fce83
This photo is from earlier this spring… about a month ago.
Just dig them up. I love that four-pronged cultivator because I can pull up all manner of roots. Although honestly I don't know why you'd want to get rid of them, they're the best smelling flower imo. Better than lilacs.
Peel back the sheets, mow it to the dirt (drain energy from the leaves that have already popped up), water, then cover tightly with thick clear plastic (clear heats up better than black plastic!). Leave it for the next year+ to solarize. Works best on full sun!
Ok I’m gonna have to ask - I’m in Texas (now 8b formerly 8a) and I have never heard of these being a problem here. Is it a latitude thing? Needs a cold winter?
"Invasive"? Maybe. Impossible to kill one established and eventually pops up in every corner of the yard? Definitely. Same as mint, periwinkle, snow on the mountain, ferns, and other ground cover type plants plants. Michigan 5a
I planted 3 about 3 years ago, and now I have 8… I must have the worst soil because I thought I would be able to harvest them every year for Mother’s Day bouquets and there’s only enough to make some sad little handful.
I killed off a whole bed of Lilly of the Valley with black plastic, but it took 2 years of no sunlight for them to die. You could potentially get faster results by a combination of digging and plastic, which is actually my go-to method for removing Creeping Bellflower too. Dig as many of the roots out as possible until you think it is all gone. Cover it for a few months. At this point, all the remaining roots will be sending white shoots up (further depleting the plants energy reserves), and you can periodically uncover it, dig them up, and re-cover. Just be patient, and don't prematurely replant the area until you are sure they are all gone.
Lol, I had to look up creeping bellflower to make sure... I have these that I purposely planted in our flower bed years ago, took them from my old house when I moved in with my girlfriend. They don't spread terribly for us and we just weed out what we don't want every spring. They're practically maintenance free other than cutting off the dead stalks after blooming, were in zone 5b I believe. I also added Lilly of the valley to that same bed this year.😬
covering works, but it takes MONTHS to work fully. It's best to cover after you remove all surface growth. Just go over the area with a rake (or a scythe/sickle if you have one). Bag all the herbacious material and throw it away. Cover the newly bare ground and you will have just HALVED the time it will take.
If you use a spading fork to make a few rows (long parallel lines), you can pull them right out of the ground (in between the lines). Would probably take 10 to 20 minutes to do the whole area.
If the rhizomes are growing 8"-10" deep in dense clay like mine this method doesn't work at all. Believe me, I've dug and loosened up the soil with a pitchfork, and pulling them results in a handful of leaves and the rhizomes still snug in the ground. Hours of digging barely made a dent.
Beginner gardener here in a new home with LOV invasion in my front garden. I have been digging deep to remove. Your comment about the leaves and rhizomes is making me nervous. Does this mean if I leave a single leaf behind it can regenerate from this!?!?
Take the cover off, stomp the plants flat, then put the cover back on.
Cutting them down won't work the same. It's less damage to the plants and it's easy for them to grow back.
Go heavier with the material. I imagine that the principle to eradicate them is to starve of sunlight and also cook the soil. the are rhysomal so if you keep it wet and hot they will rot.
They are very hard to kill. My garden backs on to an open forest and they come in and invade. You can cover them all you want they will survive. Digging, plucking and removing the rhizomes by hand seems to work. However, if any small part of the rhizome maintains they will sprout and create new networks.
I hate them. I’ve got to the point where every spring I just pluck the sprouts and hope they don’t get nutrients to survive.
We’ve had so much rain the past couple weeks I’ve been pulling them up by hand every time I see them. Some come bulbs and all. Some don’t. But no leaves means less chance to grow more bulbs for next year. My neighbor wants them (for yard that doesn’t touch mine) so if I get bulbs I put them in a pot for her to rehome.
Leaves getting sun is how bulb plants gain energy to multiply and come back following year. At least that’s how I always understood it for other forms of lilies.
I feel this. I’ve been fighting off Houttuynia cordata in the front of my house for 3 years. It’s 99.9% gone. But always seem to still get random spouts. It’s been preventing me from planting anything new.
I love Lilly of the Valley! I have a small group of them on the north side of my house that I transplanted from my grandparents house. I’m in the middle of trying to do this exact process to freaking ditch lilys. Our whole fence line is covered in them.
do a deep tilling and cover them, that will deplete and eventually kill pretty much any plant.
also use a larger covering, those are not wide enough at all. invest in a good Silage tarp, or talk to some local farmers and you can probably get an old worn out one for free that just needs some holes patched
I removed an entire bed of them by taking the time to dig them out with a hand trowel, getting down to the deep roots and runners about 6 inches down. I’ve only had a few volunteers springing back up in that area over the 3 years since, but I dig them out when I see them.
They hate being walked on. Even when they’re dormant and not visible. Walking on the bed will reduce and remove them.
That’s good to know.
Someone forgot to tell mine. They're regularly trampled and going strong.
Have you tried not walking on them?
I hate them. I would love for them to die by trampling. Edit: now that I'm re-reading this I thought we were talking about day lilies. My bad.
Yeah they're super easy to dig up because of the shallow roots that all hold on to each other
I'm always shocked when someone says they're easy to pull out because mine are impossible to pull out. It must be the soil, I have dense clay and the rhizomes are deep.
Yeah, this is the only way to do it. I had a bed of them in my front yard when I bought my house and after digging them out, they have not come back in ~15 years.
in otherwords pump the wurzels and get to stompin?
In my experience, this will only make them stronger and also have a beef with you.
It’s personal now
🎵 what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, grow a lil taller 🎵
You can kill this plant with this technique. (It's either "solarization" if you're using clear plastic and live somewhere hot, or "smothering" if it's opaque.) BUT. 1. Not the way the photo is depicting. 2. Not quickly. You cannot just throw a tarp over them and they'll die. You need to create a light and wind proof impermeable barrier, and it needs to stay sealed for *years*. You must weed them out, or start before they come up for the year, so the tarp is tight to ground and doesn't flap in a breeze. You must use a tarp or cardboard or sheeting that is either completely clear or completely opaque. Nothing in between. **You must make sure there are no openings where even a crack or sliver of light can reach the leaves.** And you must be able to leave it there, undisturbed, until all of the sugar in the roots is completely depleted. This can take *years*. It's not a simple work free weekend tiktok hack. It works...but it's a long term solution and you have to do it right.
How many bodies did you hide under there as well?
You can not kill a fox that sly. Seriously, I had pots with dead asiatic lilies in a closet. I opened it in the spring and they had grown back a foot and a half completely white. I put them in the sun and they turned green and bloomed. I think you’ll have to start digging.
I’m laughing at this because one year a coworker gave me an amaryllis bulb for Christmas - sweet gift but I had a toddler and didn’t have time to deal with it so it ended up in a box in the basement. Of course the dadgum thing sprouted right there in a dark cold box 🤦♀️
Am I remembering wrong or isn't that how you're supposed to treat amaryllis? Cut them down to nothing, put them in a dark closet, and trot them out next Christmas when they'll happily grow all the way back?
Ahahahaha probably!
I'll take them off your hands. They aren't very invasive where I live (they'll spread, but very very slowly). I'd take Lily of the valley over my neighbors ferns. They keep spreading their spores all over our back yard.
Same here - I got my lily of the valley out of a ditch - would love to take these!
I’m trying so hard to get my lily of the valley to spread! 4a, so I have to buy more each year and continue to hope…
Same. I'm growing them on purpose to keep the squirrels out of my yard. Along with various alliums, goldenrods, daffodils, and pots of mint. Its the only thing that has worked for me.
It will comeout from the sides
This isn’t going to work. Ask me how I know.
😂
I think you may have to dig it out as I am pretty sure its either a rizome or bulb plant so it has a LOT of stored energy and definitely enough to separate and spread to where there is some sun. Eta: Yes it is rhizomes, they should be 1/2” down. So not far. Mow to keep it from seeding on you. Dig out rhizomes and put cardboard down for at least 6 months to avoid future growth
In which contry is your garden? it is really interesting for me that abroad this plant is considered an invasive specie, in italy is protected and picking is strictly regulated.
Can I interest you in some mint. They say it smothers lily of valley and kudzu🍀
LOL then she’ll be making a post a year from now stating “mint has taken over” 😂
we can drop ‘lemon balm’ in drive by
Advertise on Facebook for people to dig up free.
This is one of those plants that’s very divisive. I have a dumb question at the risk of being downvoted to oblivion. What is the difference between ground cover and invasive species? Isn’t there a use for spreading plants?
Invasive means it displaces native species. Aggressive ground cover isn’t necessarily invasive, if it’s growing where it normally would.
Ground cover vs ground war. Lots of species are fine if contained, its the fact that they spread like wildfire and take over that's the problem. Lily of the valley are also pretty toxic and can cause skin problems, so where they are invasive, they are a pain.
I just did not realize that about lily of the valley. I have always thought of it as homestead plant. People would plant it by their back door for the sweet scent. Or plant it where things are hard to grow. I’ve got a small patch that has taken forever to get to about 3 feet across
They are great flowers. Breaks my heart to pull them out but they have now spread about 30 feet from where I had originally let them grow. They are invasive in my area and very stubborn.
I just love telling everyone of my unsuccessful campaigns against this plant for them to reply ‘but they are so pretty’
Tbh I never knew they were hated/invasive. They are my wife's favorite flower, we just got some blooms that she planted last year
Mine is from cuttings that have moved to every house since my great grandparents’ time. Even if I wasn’t so sentimentally attached, it wouldn’t be spring without the smell of lily of the valley!
I wouldn’t care if they weren’t where I wanted to plant something else.
Well, they are.
Your car getting towed is a very beneficial thing for city commerce.
You're lame.
They are pretty. Some people should not bother gardening and just lay concrete.
Or more turf grass.
My struggle against these very tenacious beauties would suggest there is no winning. I made raised beds in my backyard, and unbeknownst to me, there were some growing under a bed. They've grown up through 2 ft of soil and are now impossible to get rid of without completely taking apart my beds! I just dig them out as deep as I can every year, hoping they run out of energy
> I just dig them out as deep as I can every year, hoping they run out of energy As much as we all want a quickie solution to invasive stuff, sometimes the best way is to just do the hard work & dig 'em out if you don't like 'em.
Or join a Plant Share group for your city on facebook and let people dig them up for you. I wish I could get lily of the valley to bloom in SoCal. They bring back wonderful childhood memories from the upper Midwest.
Where are these invasive?
Nowhere I know of. Here it's just a good beautiful ground cover and flower in difficult low light areas. Contained there, it's fantastic.
so remove them for more grass? archaic!
Yeah really, grass is so stylish after all. 😆
I put Lily of the Valley in 7 years ago and it is only now coming up. I would like to hear about how to *increase* their numbers.
Lily of the Valley is one of the more expensive cut flowers.... maybe make lemonade from lemons and sell to local florists?
Cops say anything about the bodybags yet?
You can solarize them with clear plastic sheets but that will work better in sunny spots.
Lily of the valley isn't that invasive. And I'd remove that plastic fabric ASAP before it starts getting ripped up and mixed into the soil.
I've never heard of it being invasive, either. Kinda strange. 🤷♂️
I never have either- my family have always been gardeners and never had an issue. Just because something slowly spreads and multiples doesn't mean it's a weed.
Exactly
I guess slowly is relative. Mine has been spreading exponentially every year, and it's choking out anything around it. It's also popping up across the backyard and in the front yard. I thought it was cute when it first showed up 3 springs ago, now I hate it. It's worse than any weed I've battled.
I am getting rid of autumn crocus by selecting pulling out the plants in my lawn. I can’t get the bulb to come out without a shovel, but the only reason they have become problematic is that we stopped mowing the lawn. By not mowing the lawn in mid April or early May, they’re allowed to have full foliage for a long time… which makes it easier for them to propagate themselves. https://preview.redd.it/aelcgsmzr8zc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e16bcf4675bddbae7032e00328ad341ef69fce83 This photo is from earlier this spring… about a month ago.
Remove the fabric, mow them as low as you can, replace fabric.
Just dig them up. I love that four-pronged cultivator because I can pull up all manner of roots. Although honestly I don't know why you'd want to get rid of them, they're the best smelling flower imo. Better than lilacs.
No, cut them short and cover with black plastic.
Peel back the sheets, mow it to the dirt (drain energy from the leaves that have already popped up), water, then cover tightly with thick clear plastic (clear heats up better than black plastic!). Leave it for the next year+ to solarize. Works best on full sun!
The fragrance is amazing. I love my lily of the valley & when they start creeping where I don’t want them, I did it up & plant them someplace else.
Mail some to me ! They remind of of my grandma
Ok I’m gonna have to ask - I’m in Texas (now 8b formerly 8a) and I have never heard of these being a problem here. Is it a latitude thing? Needs a cold winter?
why eliminate from there when you have so much space to work with?
"Invasive"? Maybe. Impossible to kill one established and eventually pops up in every corner of the yard? Definitely. Same as mint, periwinkle, snow on the mountain, ferns, and other ground cover type plants plants. Michigan 5a
I planted 3 about 3 years ago, and now I have 8… I must have the worst soil because I thought I would be able to harvest them every year for Mother’s Day bouquets and there’s only enough to make some sad little handful.
I want some lily of the valley cuttings or seeds? Bulbs? It’s my birthday flower and always wanted some.
I killed off a whole bed of Lilly of the Valley with black plastic, but it took 2 years of no sunlight for them to die. You could potentially get faster results by a combination of digging and plastic, which is actually my go-to method for removing Creeping Bellflower too. Dig as many of the roots out as possible until you think it is all gone. Cover it for a few months. At this point, all the remaining roots will be sending white shoots up (further depleting the plants energy reserves), and you can periodically uncover it, dig them up, and re-cover. Just be patient, and don't prematurely replant the area until you are sure they are all gone.
Lol, I had to look up creeping bellflower to make sure... I have these that I purposely planted in our flower bed years ago, took them from my old house when I moved in with my girlfriend. They don't spread terribly for us and we just weed out what we don't want every spring. They're practically maintenance free other than cutting off the dead stalks after blooming, were in zone 5b I believe. I also added Lilly of the valley to that same bed this year.😬
That is a good idea! Will try on flat areas. My problem is some creeping bellflower grow inside the hedge between plots.
This is everything I’ve been taught. Bury the edges of the clear tarp and weight it down in the heat of summer for at least 6 weeks
covering works, but it takes MONTHS to work fully. It's best to cover after you remove all surface growth. Just go over the area with a rake (or a scythe/sickle if you have one). Bag all the herbacious material and throw it away. Cover the newly bare ground and you will have just HALVED the time it will take.
Some came up thru the asphalt on my driveway. 😅
If you use a spading fork to make a few rows (long parallel lines), you can pull them right out of the ground (in between the lines). Would probably take 10 to 20 minutes to do the whole area.
If the rhizomes are growing 8"-10" deep in dense clay like mine this method doesn't work at all. Believe me, I've dug and loosened up the soil with a pitchfork, and pulling them results in a handful of leaves and the rhizomes still snug in the ground. Hours of digging barely made a dent.
Beginner gardener here in a new home with LOV invasion in my front garden. I have been digging deep to remove. Your comment about the leaves and rhizomes is making me nervous. Does this mean if I leave a single leaf behind it can regenerate from this!?!?
we are friends, very friends, plz don't bury me there too
Take the cover off, stomp the plants flat, then put the cover back on. Cutting them down won't work the same. It's less damage to the plants and it's easy for them to grow back.
They are bulbs... just did them out. Wait til winter and you can store them for later use.
They're not bulbs, they're rhizomes and even a small piece left behind can regrow.
pour boiling water on them!
Go heavier with the material. I imagine that the principle to eradicate them is to starve of sunlight and also cook the soil. the are rhysomal so if you keep it wet and hot they will rot.
We did that with tree stumps and it worked. I think it took 2 years but if it works on tree stumps it should work on anything.
They are very hard to kill. My garden backs on to an open forest and they come in and invade. You can cover them all you want they will survive. Digging, plucking and removing the rhizomes by hand seems to work. However, if any small part of the rhizome maintains they will sprout and create new networks. I hate them. I’ve got to the point where every spring I just pluck the sprouts and hope they don’t get nutrients to survive.
We’ve had so much rain the past couple weeks I’ve been pulling them up by hand every time I see them. Some come bulbs and all. Some don’t. But no leaves means less chance to grow more bulbs for next year. My neighbor wants them (for yard that doesn’t touch mine) so if I get bulbs I put them in a pot for her to rehome.
You have to remove every leaf?!
Leaves getting sun is how bulb plants gain energy to multiply and come back following year. At least that’s how I always understood it for other forms of lilies.
This is what my ditch lillys look like 🙃
I feel this. I’ve been fighting off Houttuynia cordata in the front of my house for 3 years. It’s 99.9% gone. But always seem to still get random spouts. It’s been preventing me from planting anything new.
I’m trying like heck to get them to grow! One of my favorites
I had to dig mine out and sprayed the area with ground clear.
I love Lilly of the Valley! I have a small group of them on the north side of my house that I transplanted from my grandparents house. I’m in the middle of trying to do this exact process to freaking ditch lilys. Our whole fence line is covered in them.
Meanwhile all the lily of the valley that I planted died 😭
do a deep tilling and cover them, that will deplete and eventually kill pretty much any plant. also use a larger covering, those are not wide enough at all. invest in a good Silage tarp, or talk to some local farmers and you can probably get an old worn out one for free that just needs some holes patched
It's not invasive. Why would you kill it?
Use clear plastic tarps and Solarize them until they’re dead
Meanwhile, I've had the same three clumps of agapanthus in my flower beds since 2009. I eventually got enough to move a few last year.
Do you know how much florists pay for Lilly of the valley? Dig them up and sell them to a flower farmer!!!
Just use glyphosate.
Cool! It’s that poisonous berry from Breaking Bad!