Why not use the oh so nicely behaved variety 'Herman's Pride'?

I thought H Pride behaves just as badly. I've been reading & bookmarking articles on seriously controlling this thug or likely, eliminate completely & replace w/ White Nancy, (who's space he ran over) or Silver Beacon.

I'll read up more on Herman's Pride & in the meantime I'm really curious who thought to name this thug *Archangel*? One Master gardener likened this Prince of the Runners to King Kadzu!

My Herman's Pride has been a well behaved clumper for many, many years. Last spring was the first time I found any seedlings though I have taken pieces from the side to share with others or to put in another place in the garden. White Nancy and Silver Beacon have been runners though I haven't had any trouble keeping them under control.

Ditto on the good manners of 'Herman's Pride', a clumper. For a slow moving and gorgeous Lamium, try 'Beedham's White' with it's yellow foliage and white flowers.

This Archangel (Lucifer a more fitting moniker!) has really scared me ~ I planted him many years ago before I knew anything about Lamiums. I returned home from a long trip 1 year & he took over the entire 40X6ft shady bed, wrapping & weaving runners all around the Hostas & even the Lily of the Valley (another invader!) ~ choked White Nancy all together & nearly, Shell Pink as well. My DIL helped me pull him back to his own place & tried to sequester him there ~ you guessed right!

I run a tight ship in this shady lane because of this thug. I'm not getting any younger & it's time I took serious steps ~I don't like Chems & can't spray there. A nursery guy suggested using dipped foam-brush!

H Pride seems to have more interesting foliage from all I've seen, as I searched. Thank you for allaying my fears about HP L & for the other suggestions!

Hmm, well, Lucifer WAS an archangel before getting the boot out of heaven. I guess they didn't say which archangel when they named the plant!

:)
Dee

Wow you're right on the nose Dee! Since this is my Personal Angels' Shady Lane ~ must boot him out as well! Must start collecting tools of engagement & plan clever attacks before my *Purgatory Time* is here ~ come Nov my beautiful prince of a Ginkgo tree morphed into a prolific Duchess after 20 years! The signs are here, those little ETs are raining down ~ a sure omen!!!

My love for beautiful & interesting foliage is synonymous to *Glut for Punishment* in gardener's Thesaurus!!!

I've had Herman's Pride for 20 years and it has never run or re-seeded.

I went to the reliable nursery I have been going to for better than 30 years ~ to my dismay I found a whole flat of *Yellow Archangel* the thug Lucifer! I was told that as long as our State has not listed it as noxious weed they will still be available. I was also reassured that interested gardeners are informed of it's very aggressive habit & will need to be controlled much like Periwinkle.

In any case I came home w/ Beacon Silver & Herman's Pride ~ with a whispered prayer as I planted H'sP L! I intend to rid my Shady Lane of *Lucifer* this Fall & hopefully replace w/ H's P L. I spent some time nit picking yesterday the sneaky thug had little shoots hidden underneath Shell Pink's cover!!!

BTW would the blossoms of Shell Pink & Beacon Silver look too similar in coloration?

Hi ~ Poor Herman's Pride L ~ I decided to dig him back up & pot him up ~ wait till after I eliminate YAL the thug, from the space he occupies, in the Fall & set H'sP there in Spring. My ? ~ will H'sP survive in a large pot over winter? Will he need overwintering protection?

TIA

I have overwintered many perennials of various sizes in pots over the winter by putting the pot and all in the ground and mulching. Also have put some in an unheated garage for the winter. Perhaps you can eliminate the YAL by early fall and replant HP then. I often am planting potted perennials even into the late fall as that is when I get many bargain plants from nurseries.

Thanks for posting your experiences ~ I usually sink huge pots in prep'd hole but not the little guys. Perhaps will layer in several graduated size pots & group w/ the others.

I intend to use *Round Up* ~ I read, to eliminate surely YAL ~ I'll have to wait 6 weeks before planting in the site, don't I?

I don't use Round Up so can't advise on time. Even very small 4" pots put directly into the ground do fine.

Thanks again mnwsgal! I called a fellow to cut down a dying Vivarnum & showed him my 6'x2' patch of YAL ~ offered to spade out & use tiller ~ he thinks should take care of my problem. I'm not sure of the root-depth of YAL & wondering if w/o round up should eliminate YAL ~ then I can just patrol closely for sneaky ones!

I'm still pulling & digging out YAL showing up now & again in the middle of Shell Pink-L (tricky to do) & under the Cornus Alba & Oakleaf Hydrangea in the back ~ ugh!

I finally got so tired of patrolling & chasing runaway *Lucifer* tails ~ went ahead & used my trimmer & whacked the lot of them ~ tilled & raked almost all of the roots. Knowing this YAL's tricky behavior I used the thick layers of newspaper-method of suffocation ~ topped w/ thick layer of peat, along w/ some large pots of White Christmas-Hosta, to hold down the layers of news papers 'til Spring. I just wish I could put Herman's Pride in to get him started sooner.

'Thought to share finally ridding of a thug ~ will keep watch for the one that might have gotten away!!! LOL

Pink Pewter L(planter 2010) & Beacon Silver L is taking their sweet time spreading TG that Shell Pink L is doing a good job of freely covering the rest of 12 ft front of the shady lane now w/o fear of *Lucifer* chocking the rest of them!

Updating ~ I have succeeded cleaning up most all YAL w/ the help of the newspaper-method of choking them ~ Yay!!! I planted in the site a small pot of Herman's Prided (very similar looking w/ yellow blooms ~ all done & did not repeat unlike the several others in the site.

My ?? ~ HP does not seem to want to crawl & spread like the others ~ 1) do I remove all the layers of news paper underneath the mulch around his fairly good size now (18"mound)? 2) do I dig a few rooted stems & spread around? 3)what would make him spread out like the other Lamiums?

Appreciate your thoughts!!! TIA

Herman's Pride is a clumper. It will stay a mound increasing in size. It does not spread out like your other lamiums.

Thanks for you input ~ wonder if giving a bit of slow release MG will help enlarge HP's clump?

Again TIA!

The biggest problem with Herman's pride is that too many times, nurseries think they are selling Herman's pride when they are selling the species YAL. If it starts running on you, you gott he wrong stuff and you should remove it, no matter what the label said..

I allerted the *respectable nursery* I've been dealing for many years ~ the response wass * as long as they are available from their supplier - should still be ok*. I did suggest that they should make info from the DNR available to gardeners, if they are indeed a respectable nursery & wish to protect our prairies!

FWIW

BTW Mnwsgal this is for you & anyone growing *Herman's Pride* since replacing YAL & succeeding in near 100% elimination, HP has not improved in size of clump ~ it's been over a year now! What do I do ~ he has a good size site to enjoy!!!

Your thoughts & experiences please? TIA