I'm a fairly novice gardener and am trying to identify a plant that is
spreading and starting to take over a flower bed. I've searched the web
trying to identify it but have found anything yet. To my untrained eye its
leaves looks a bit like those of an ivy plant, but I could be way off the
mark there. Each leaf is a mixture of red, green and gold, and the stem is
also red. The leaves are not shiny. Above ground the stems grow upwards
rather than spreading, but the tallest shoot is only about 6 inches tall.
Underground however there is a huge mass of quite thick and very tough roots
which all the stems are connected to.

Does anyone know what it is?

I want rid of this plant before it takes over more of the bed and so far
have been trying to dig up all the roots. Is that the best approach?

in article , Andrew Jackson at
wrote on 28/5/03 9:25 am:

I'm a fairly novice gardener and am trying to identify a plant that is
spreading and starting to take over a flower bed. I've searched the web
trying to identify it but have found anything yet. To my untrained eye its
leaves looks a bit like those of an ivy plant, but I could be way off the
mark there. Each leaf is a mixture of red, green and gold, and the stem is
also red. The leaves are not shiny. Above ground the stems grow upwards
rather than spreading, but the tallest shoot is only about 6 inches tall.
Underground however there is a huge mass of quite thick and very tough roots
which all the stems are connected to.

Does anyone know what it is?

I want rid of this plant before it takes over more of the bed and so far
have been trying to dig up all the roots. Is that the best approach?


Have a look at this:
http://www.batesgardens.com/images/Houttuynia-cordata-'Chameleon'.jpg

Digging out all the bits you can find is probably the best thing, yes. You
could try weed-killing it if other plants aren't going to be affected by
spray-drift etc.
--

Sacha
(remove the 'x' to email me)

That's the one!

So its not normally a weed and usually planted as ground cover, and I've
gone and ripped most of it out already :-)


"Sacha" wrote in message
...
in article , Andrew Jackson at

wrote on 28/5/03 9:25 am:

I'm a fairly novice gardener and am trying to identify a plant that is
spreading and starting to take over a flower bed. I've searched the web
trying to identify it but have found anything yet. To my untrained eye
its
leaves looks a bit like those of an ivy plant, but I could be way off
the
mark there. Each leaf is a mixture of red, green and gold, and the
stem is
also red. The leaves are not shiny. Above ground the stems grow
upwards
rather than spreading, but the tallest shoot is only about 6 inches
tall.
Underground however there is a huge mass of quite thick and very tough
roots
which all the stems are connected to.

Does anyone know what it is?

I want rid of this plant before it takes over more of the bed and so far
have been trying to dig up all the roots. Is that the best approach?


Have a look at this:
http://www.batesgardens.com/images/Houttuynia-cordata-'Chameleon'.jpg

Digging out all the bits you can find is probably the best thing, yes. You
could try weed-killing it if other plants aren't going to be affected by
spray-drift etc.
--

Sacha
(remove the 'x' to email me)

Andrew Jackson wrote in message ...
That's the one!

So its not normally a weed and usually planted as ground cover, and
I've
gone and ripped most of it out already :-)


Can be a bit invasive though, especially if it's in a damp area. Doubt
that you will have killed it all though as it is tough as old boots.

Mike
www.british-naturism.org.uk