OMG, kill destroy kill it's Campanula rapunculoides, aka Creeping Blue Bellflower. In my opinion it is the worst weed there is. Honestly. It spreads prolifically by seeds and underground roots. It's impossible to pull out because it forms tuberous storage roots that must be dug by hand. Any remaining root fragments will grow a new plant. My yard is full of it and it makes me want to soak the place in round-up and start again.

I can show you pictures. It's a nightmare.

Sorry for the bad news.

OMG - I just knew it was a weed!! Fortunately this patch is all by itself, but this spring he did plant some hostas nearby. The other place it's in is mixed with some ostrich ferns!

He was sorry to hear the bad news, but he said he'll try to deal with it as soon as possible with round-up, while trying to protect his hostas.

Thanks for the prompt reply, even if it was bad news!
Peggy

I have some too. I transplanted it from my dad's garden when he moved to his new house. It is aggressive. So round up kills it??? Hmmm. I think it has a date.

Shelley

Actually I don't know for sure if Round-up gets rid of it, I'm pregnant and not using chemicals this year so I have been pulling it wherever it blooms to at least keep the seed production down. I expect that an ongoing program of Round-up and hand digging would get rid of it eventually.

BTW, technically it's an old-fashioned garden flower and some people on this forum grow it without it taking over. I can't imagine how since it's even a lawn weed in my yard, but our gardens are all different.

The seedling stage has little heart-shaped leaves that are impossible to pull out with the roots. I'm sure Round-up would take care of these. The following years, the plant will grow to a couple of feet and produce flowers. At this point they are reproducing by seed and underground runners. They also develop a thick fleshy tuberous root at this time, which I don't know how effective herbicide is at eradicating.

If anyone has escaped an infestation (without the use of a real estate agent), I would be happy to hear how.

Are these the plants that have a really tough stringy core to the leaves & leaf stalks? I dealt with it at our old place, it grew in the alley, snuck over from a neighbours fenceline, it never made it into my flowerbeds. Tough thing to weed out. Do like the flowers tho....

Yeah they're stringy inside. If you pull the leaves the strings will come out of the stem and lie there in a vile heap, still attached to the roots.

I'm trying to contain it at my place. Unfortunately it arrives with other plants from friends - tangled with lily of the valley, iris, etc. The one place I'm letting it grow is under a tree, where I've also planted goldenrod, goutweed, and lily of the valley - I'm just watching to see which one wins in the end. It's all contained with lawn edging and I'm being careful to deadhead.
Connie

Those are growing happily on the hillside in front of my cottage in the Whiteshell. They've been there since we got the place and don't seem to be invasive. Anyone know where they're native to?

Native:
ASIA-TEMPERATE
Western Asia: Iran [n.]; Turkey [n. Anatolia]
Caucasus: Azerbaijan; Georgia; Russian Federation - Ciscaucasia
Siberia: Russian Federation - Eastern Siberia, Western Siberia
Soviet Middle Asia: Kazakhstan [n.]
EUROPE
Northern Europe: Denmark; Finland; Norway; Sweden
Middle Europe: Austria; Belgium; Czechoslovakia; Germany; Hungary; Netherlands; Poland; Switzerland
East Europe: Belarus; Estonia; Latvia; Lithuania; Russian Federation - European part; Ukraine [incl. Krym]
Southeastern Europe: Albania; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Croatia; Greece; Italy [n.]; Macedonia; Romania; Slovenia; Yugoslavia - Montenegro, Serbia
Southwestern Europe: France; Spain

EVIL!!!!!!!!!!!

Run away, run away....sob, sob...

Those have taken over my life for the past three years. I have tried EVERYTHING!

Round up, lasagna gardening, weed blankets, etc etc...

If you can get rid of it now, do it!

Ok if anyone doesn't believe us that it's invasive, check out my hedge.

I walk down the hedge regularly pulling it out, but there's always more from the roots that break. Here is is as a lawn weed in the back lane where I mow it. This stops it going to seed but not from spreading.

It is just so vile. I don't know if I will ever be free of it but my strategy for the moment is just pull it out wherever I see flowers.