your best bet.. IMHO .. is a straight shovel .. and a furrow .. cut once or twice a year ... to keep them in check ...

perhaps you ought to rethink an aggressive spreader.. if you dont want it to spread.. near where you planted it..

in the long run .. removal .. might be better than hoping there is some plastic catchall to keep it where you want it ... in my experience.. mother nature will beat plastic.. every time ...

you have jumped in a box of pachy .... it wont do what you want .. and rather than get rid of it.. you want to change its inherent traits and change it into what you want ...

it doesnt work with spouses .. and it aint going to work with plants .. lol ...

all i ask.. playing the devils advocate ... do you really need that plant there??? perhaps the easier solution is to get rid of it .. and move on ... or move it where it has free reign ...

whatever you decide is fine with me.. just look outside the box you have created ...

ken

Ken, I have to say, that sounds rather dramatic, all things considered. This is pachysandra we're talking about, not bishop's weed. :)

Pachysandra is a successful evergreen groundcover, and NOT an invasive plant by any stretch of the imagination. One of the easiest groundcovers to maintain, IMO.

A simple plastic border will suffice. If by rare chance there are any escapees from this border, which would be unlikely as they are fairly shallow rooted, they are easy enough to pull.

I have a bordered pachy bed, as well as others in my 'hood, and it's very well behaved and perfectly contained within the confines of a typical plastic border. Just make sure the top of the plastic edging sits above grade. The leaves will eventually cover it from sight.

Ken, don't say it doesn't work with spouses--I will die trying ;-)

Thanks for both responses. I do want to keep the pachysandra--we've got big curvy beds put in by previous homewoners and I don't like the "here's my mulch display" look...I like the pachysandra--I planted it! I just don't want it to smother my low growing perennials in the front of the bed.

Yes, I want to have my cake and eat it too. So I'm going to try the plastic edging. If that doesn't work, I'll try to turn my husband into a person who cares enough about the border to find another solution.

Hee hee!

In the woodland by my house things spread because knuckleheads decide its a good place to dump their yard trimmings. Well managed pachysandra shouldn't travel far.

My experience is the roots are very deep. Easy to pull out but way too many of them. It took some years (3-7) for the my few transplants to spread through my beds but in the end it smothered everything and I am having to remove. A huge job. Not as scary as Bishops weed, which I also have, but just as much work. Don't plant it unless contained by cement and house. Once it gets going it gains momentum. I'm thinking about making my grassy border soil more alkaline in order to contain it in beds between my house and my grass.