Houttuynia cordata although a very pretty ground cover, is one plant I've managed to stay away from, once it sinks it's teeth in you're in for a battle, it likes wet feet the wetter the better. Digging for a start but you might have to come in with the heavy guns :(.

Annette

Unless It is confined>>>get rid of it! Barry Yinger is to blame for this one. It is the WORST thug in the world.

Thug on steroids. I think it stinks too, I really did hate the smell. I spent three seasons digging it out and finally saw the last of it. The roots break real easy which makes it hard to get rid of. Dig out all of it combing through each shovel full of soil and then anytime you see one coming up, dig it out in a big shovel full of dirt so you can sort through the soil and get all the roots, eventually it will be gone. Those rolls of heavy duty plastic black border material you can buy will not contain it. I know that much. Smells terrible mowing it when it invades the lawn which it will do quite aggressively growing further every year.

Barry Yinger huh? I always blamed the country of Japan because I thought they sent it over here. I recant. They ought to call it 'Yinger's Revenge'.

Chameleon plant is what I've heard it called. I got some along with a great little hosta. I tried to pot it up and it croaked, and it never came back in the hosta either. I was going to move it down by the lake around the apple tree since it's either lake or mowed lawn around it but I'm ok with it dying off too since I've seen a lot of posts about it being worse than lily of the valley.

I hate the smell of it too. Revolting, pungent.

I was the one who revealed somewhere in these forums that I got out of bed and went outside in my pj's to dig them out. I had just put them in earlier that day, then settled down nicely into bed to see what GW'ers had to say about it. After reading pages and pages of diatribes, swearing, hilarious stories, including some people moving house, I decided to not take any chances and get the monsters before they started their invasion. Completely over the top. I'm sure it could have waited till the morning, lol.

It definitely sounds like trouble. And I have a lot of trouble. Thanks for your input. Now I need to get to work....

well I think he brought it BACK from Japan. for Asiatica.

I've seen it used in very small water gardens (think large flower pots) where it can be controlled and it looks very healthy/attractive in that situation. We call it *Hot Tuna*!

I eradicated it in my flower border years ago--didn't seem to be that difficult--just dug till it didn't come back, but it wasn't given the chance to spread more than three or four feet.