yep, been there - sympathies - but hey, you acted fast - well done (or your house would have been next, and small animals and children).

When we first went into business, we sold our plants at market. One day, a customer approached my husband and asked him the best way to deal with mint. My husband told him we had planted chinese lantern, and that had killed the mint. The customer thanked him, began to walk away, paused, turned and asked how he would deal with the chinese lantern.
"Oh, that's easy," my husband said. "Move."
We did eradicate both, but it took some effort.
Now if someone could tell me how to handle garlic mustard...

nina.. thats hilarious ... thx for the chuckle ...

personally made every one of those mistakes ...

ken

What, no more goutweed stories. I screamed at my favorite nursery, that they didn't put up a warning sign.

Also been there and done that. I have a friend who begged me for a start. I repeatedly said no, eventually she wore me down and I gave her one plant and told her that under no circumstance should she plant it in one of her good beds and NOT to put it in good soil or water it. I told her to plant it in a bucket with the bottom cut out and sunk in the ground and to never, ever allow seeds to drop.She was sure she could control it and didn't listen to me. Well you know how that turned out. We are however still friends.

I have a friend who grows this (and bishops weed) without any problem! Her lanterns are in a raised bed (about three feet high) that surrounds half of her house, a solid raised bed built of stone and cement, and they have grown there contained for years and years. It has actually tempted me to try some in pots on the patio, because I use these in fall arrangements and they are spectacularly beautiful.

But I resisted. I kept telling myself that there would be no spreading from roots, as they would be in pots, and no spreading from seeds because I would cut them for bouquets and arrangements, but I didn't convince myself. I knew that I'd have one day - and that would be all it would take, lol - one day where I wouldn't get to cut any, or even more likely, one stinking stem that I wouldn't cut, and it would find a way to spread.

So I have to be content with enjoying them in my friends yard. That will do for me. I have enough trouble with other stuff without purposely introducing lanterns.

Dee

I have to admit that I do grow a few. I have had them for nearly 20 years and they have not spread. But they are in absolutely c**p soil and NOTHING else I've tried will survive there. But I still keep a very close eye on them.

If they haven't spread in 20 years. they are obviously not a problem. And the lanterns are glorious.

thanks for the warning, I am growing seeds now... May just put it in a pot instead

We moved into a house with gardens full of creeping bellflower, Chinese lantern, and creeping charlie. Before moving I was against weed killer. Now I thank heavens for it. A little targeted round-up was just the trick.

The size of the spread, related to things like the growing conditions and how long the plant has grown in situ, obviously affects the ease with which it can be removed.

I've found well-established chinese lantern and common mint not so difficult to remove manually from our clay soil. Well established spotted bellflower is more difficult to deal with.

As to spreads of (uncontained) goutweed, I've just refused the job. I'd feel the same about spreads of crown vetch, which has been sold here as a garden perennial (rather than just for erosion defence on a slope).

Personally, I would not use Round-up, especially gardening professionally. Beyond the farmers, there's also the consumers to think about with things like Round-up resistant corn and soy.

I strongly sympathize with others who feel garden centres should either identify perennials which are often invasive or just not sell them.

I'm reading these comments as I think about a good way to tell my wife that I bought her, and she planted, the devil! Along with cala lilies and fox glove

I planted one Chinese lantern plant over 40 years ago. I almost immediately realized my mistake. After all these years I still find a stray one in the oddest places in my yard!!!

Both daughter and D-i-L have ganged up on me to get one...so I am currently staring dubiously at a little plant in a 3inch pot, worrying...

Where we get our Chinese lantern: at fall fairs.

so would it be best to plant it in a pot and keep it in your kitchen?

Thanks to this forum I was able to eradicate early stage of goatweed spreading last summer and warned one of my neighbors ( who fortunately only have a terraced border with me ). I am not sure that she paid attention, though. Lily of the valley was also a project for quite a few days last spring once I realized how fast it spreads. I have a seed of Chinese lantern and after reading this it will stay the way it is.

By all means, plant it in a pot and a very big one at that. That should keep its growth contained. But leave it outside; it needs the cold and the sun to perform. Look under the pot ocasionally to make sure the plant is making a run for it from the pot's drain holes.

they are absolutely beautiful plants, edible fruits with beneficial properties!

I made the horrible, horrible mistake of planting two pretty pink evening primroses that turned into Primrose Frankenstein. I also planted two types of mint which are thankfully still small so I can move them before they do any damage. I am also battling a chameleon plant that a previous owner put in, which has been the bane of my existence for two years.

In light of these events, my mother in law gave me some Chinese lantern pods to grow. Now I know that I should crush them, burn them, and throw the ashes in a river.

I have had a handful of these and that is it. Each year one to five return and yes they seem to be traveling a bit but they are FAR from invasive in my garden. My guess is I barely have the sun they seek. Come fall I am very happy to have them!! I pick their "flower" globes and hang them from my moose/clematis trellis to give it a pop of color. The way they are moving they are reseeding not coming back as a true perennial.

Yes I know the feeling......I planted one Chinese Lantern tree 35 yrs ago & now have a whole plantation! They spread like weeds and I constantly have to cut them down.