On Thu, 8 May 2003 13:41:21 +0100, "Ophelia"
wrote:

~
~"Rick McGreal" wrote in message
...
~ I hope I have spelt that right....
~
~ Anyone know how to curb this little runaway?
~ Its spread quicker than ground elder!
~
~ I don't want to get rid of it all....Just to stop it from spreading!
~
~ The only good point is that it looks quite nice!
~
~Love my Montbretia (I think it is spelled They are wee bulbs and you need
~to remove some. I halved mine this year and since no one was interested
~they had to go in the compost
~
~Ophelia
~
~

I had a bit of mass dig earlier this year getting shot of four huge
clumps. They had been four 6" diameter clumps three years ago, filling
in gaps in my newly planted-up shrub border. Now the shrubs have grown
and the crocosmia were winning... I planted the removed clumps in the
wooded bank opposite, in among ivy and sycamore seedlings and other
wildstuff. Should do well :-) I even resorted to Kill Weeds Dead Fast
on one clump, growing in the daffodils...

The lucifers in the back garden are not of the same thuggish
persuasion. It's the common montbretia that's the pest. I wish the
lucifers *would* increase!

My best advice is now they're up and you can see the leaves, don't
just pull, stick a fork underneath and lift the clump to loosen it,
then pull the individual unwanted corms out.

I also put some in pots - they do brilliantly in terracotta as you can
move them into gaps in a bed when they flower then hide them behind
the shed afterwards so this might be your best solution - dig them
all up, and replant in 6-8" pots and sink the lot in the ground,
rather like mint.


--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

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