SO to dig it, I have to dig up the tulips too.

==>> no you dont.. cut each stem and put one drip of 41% roundup on each cut.. using the expensive applicator at the link ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: any brand will do..

Campanula Rapunculoides. What you've got there is the second year blooming stage. They're much harder to pull cleanly in the first year rosette stage.

Not to contradict ken, but forget the Round-up, too tedious. If your "infestation" is anything like mine was, a long succession of years of work is in the offing.

Taken me roughly 6 years, but this season I have very few (out of the seemingly original "millions'). I started by just pulling them up since they come up easily complete with their "starter" cluster of roots when grabbed close to the ground - except for the tuberous root (usually with new plantlets attached) which has to be dug. The tuber system is sometimes quite a distance away from the showing plant. When I got tired of digging and pulling I'd just cut off the blooming stalk/raceme so they wouldn't set their thousands of seeds. And any time I'm digging in the garden and spade up a tuber, it gets tossed.

Probably more information that you wanted, but working away at them both above and below ground is the only cure.

It is not a campanula rapunculoides. C.rapunculoides has all flowers hanging on one side of the stem(that's why it is called "one-sided" in many languages). Have written about it before. It is an adenophora.

This post was edited by wieslaw59 on Wed, Jul 17, 13 at 21:18

Ken, I avoid round up when ever possible.....I really hate the stuff! But thanks anyway.

Duluthinbloom
Yeah, I have lived here for 20 years now, 5 acres in the country, some of it wooded. Harebell is everywhere! I pull them when I can, dig them out, pull and dig pull and dig. And they are still everywhere. But I won't give up! That clump in the picture is getting cut back, so it won't seed.

I also fight greater burdock, catnip, ground ivy and plum trees. Along with quack grass and thistle!

Thanks

Anyone who has a property and or gardens overrun with the stuff doesn't care much about on what side of the stalk the blooms appear - they simply want it gone. Even if it is an adenophora - we'll still call it a scourge.

If you can't beat it enjoy the flowers! LOL. I'm with you on that one Jenny. I can't get rid of it either in some locations. I tend to let them bloom and then pull them before they set seed. The flowers really are lovely. Somehow it seems easier to get yank em' after blooming too...perhaps the roots aren't as strong and the energy is going into reproducing via seed??? Just a thought (and likely wrong, lol!).

I read about this a long time ago- the only way to tell the difference between Campanula rapunculoides and Adenophora is to check to see what is going on once you peel off the petals. If you see a flat base at the end of the style it is the Campanula. If you see a bulb-like projection at the end of the style it is an Adenophora.

Here is the link to the article about it: The Examiner: Adenophora & its Evil Twin

I have yet to see a good diagram of the difference, so did a quick doodle of it on my computer (how sad is it that I have had a drawing of this in the back of my garden notebook for years, LOL. Plant geek extraordinaire ;-)
CMK

I have 3 of those in a spot I don't really mind them (next to a wood rack). I figured I'd leave them there since it's not really in any gardens. now I think I'll lop them off after blooming so they might just STAY there rather than spread-however I imagine however they ended up where they are (probably bird-spread seed), they might just end up in a garden some day too.

I don't wish to get too deep into common names, and Harebell may well be the local name for this plant in the OP's area, but it is usually considered to refer to Campanula rotundifolia, an entirely different, and much daintier, plant. Just in case someone is put off growing Harebell by this thread.

Here is a link that might be useful: Harebell

This post was edited by florauk on Thu, Jul 18, 13 at 13:55

I ended up with this campanula rapunculoides in my garden from peony divisions given to me locally. I have two clumps growing away merrily intertwined with the peony. I have confirmed that I have the "evil twin" (no gland).
CMK: Great drawing! When I was trying to figure out which plant I had, I kept searching for a drawing or picture. This will be useful for many people, I am sure.

UGH! I am torn as to what to do. I know I should eliminate them. But but but....

They're very nice and very beautiful on other peoples property. So to everyone out there, keep growing them. I like to look at them and that's all I want to do.

I've always thought of these as "alley" plants because that's were I always seem to see them around here - you know, all those kind of forgotten areas along garages and around trash cans.

Kevin

This post was edited by aachenelf on Thu, Jul 18, 13 at 13:30

Thanks Florauk for posting that. I grow harebells, and know they don't look anything like the OP's picture. They do self seed, but are easy to pull out.
I have, however, seen that invasive type of campanula growing in a yard up the street and can see how extensively they are spreading.
The harebell, or campanula rotundifolia is a lovely wildflower in my area.

I found one about to bloom growing through a barberry - will pull the flowers apart to check the structure... then dispatch the thing quickly. These rampant escapes have to be the "Evil Twin".

One house, a few blocks away, just gave up - moved the good plants and has a garden bed devoted entirely to these things. Even en masse, they don't seem to have enough "oomph" to make a show. And I don't say that because I hate them; they just never appear to be anything but weedy.

Now if I could just figure out where the Bishop's Weed came from!

I have this all over my yard too. I live in an old house and I wondered if the owners actually planted them. I try to pull them before they set blossoms. I have seen them growing with ditch lilies and they looked ok for about 2 weeks. I'm ready to give up as they are everywhere now. The bulb is at least a foot below ground, as I discovered when I first tried to dig one out.

I'd not think anyone would PLANT them - they just are. I don't know if the seeds could come in with a load of mulch or top soil, or as someone up thread mentioned, in a plant swap... or in a pot of perennials from a garden center. They escaped somehow and thrive wherever they are - especially in spots that remain undisturbed.

Lupins are like that here, too. Along the side of the roads, in the ditchbanks - lupins are everywhere.

But, Skippy, persistence does pay off. Like I mentioned, it took me about six years of constant deadheading and pulling and tuber digging and I'm finally down to the rare straggler.

Sorry to say, but the picture provided in the link does not show C.rapunculoides.

Here is a link to the proper one

Here is a link that might be useful: Campanula rapunculoides

This post was edited by wieslaw59 on Thu, Jul 18, 13 at 21:15

First, I want to thank Christinmk for the drawing. I remember the discussion back a few years ago, but never got around to checking the flowers out on mine. I had bought 3 Adenophora plants years ago. They do have beautiful flowers, but they just took over my gardens, and I mean really bad. I've tried Roundup several times, but I can never get all of them. I can't dig them out because of the other plants, and besides, you leave any roots in, they'll come back full force. So I keep trying Roundup and it does help. I use a small brush sometimes because of other plants. It doesn't matter if you clip off the flowers, they still spread by roots. Ok, I've just checked the flower on mine. It has the bulb at the end of the style, so it's Adenophora. I just read the link for Adenophora vs the evil twin, and I definitely have Adrenophora. In the article, they say Adenophora doesn't spread like this, but it does. Also, my flowers are not all on 1 side like the link for c. Rapunculoides shows.
As for c. rotundifolia, harebell, I've had that for 15 or so years. I love it. Blooms from mid June thru, quite often, until early November. Spreads a little, but not a problem at all.

Kat

I have this in my yard and it is the only weed I have not been able to get rid of. We've cut it and cut it and cut it and pulled it and pulled it and pulled it. I have a few ideas left on how to get it out of there, so I'm still trying. It's been on the property since we moved here, over 20 years. I never let it flower, so it won't reseed, so I don't understand why it turned up on the other side of the property. This year, I waited for one patch to flower and pulled it out right then, hoping that it had put all it's energy into flowering, maybe that would be it's undoing. But the jury is still out. Waiting to see if it comes back.

I just wanted to say that I love your Campanella! What a pretty plant. I wonder if it would grow here in Vermont. I notice you are in zone 3, so my zone 4 temperatures might suit it.

Also your garden photos from this year are just beautiful! I enjoyed the tour.

Spedigrees, garden campanella is great, this one, trust me you don't want it! It's very invasive, it's everywhere all the time.

A cousin gave me a plant of Adenophora a few years ago. It was in bloom and I thought it was so pretty. Then she said, "it really spreads. I have it everywhere!" That was a red flag to me. I looked it up online and then sealed it up in a trash bag and got rid of it. I'm thankful after reading these posts!