What is the groundcover? We need to know the plant in question in order to provide the most expedient means of removal.

btw, most broad spectrum herbicides have a very short half-life and dissipate rapidly once exposed to air and soil. So replanting can be as fast as within a week. And once the herbicide has dried on the plant, it is no longer of major concern to either pets or small children.

Ditto what she said.

I'm not sure what it is exactly, but here is a picture of it choking out a flowering bush at the end of last summer.

Here is another picture of it starting to choke out my petunias mid summer. It was planted before we moved into the house so I have no idea what it is.

In the beginning of the season I started digging just the front of it out last year so I could plant in front of it.

After photo of how much I removed.

As you can see it grows through the plastic

That is Houttuynia cordata, Fish Weed, Chameleon Plant, Lizard's Tail. Time to get over your aversion to herbicides.

Just as a general rule of gardening - plastic on top of your soil is truly poor form and harmful to the soil and the plants you want to grow.

I just looked it up and its confirmed what I already know. Getting rid of it is basically a war that never ends. It does sound like I must turn to pesticides, which I wanted to avoid but it looks like there is no other way. Jeeze reading about it is quite disheartening.

Okay so since it spreads via rhizomes do I need to completely remove the roots as well as use pesticides? What is the most effective method to get rid of all of it? Obviously as you can see in the pictures it's taken over quite a large space. How can I protect the few plants that have survived in this garden while killing off the chameleon plant? Are there any tools that would make this easier? Should I get a tiller? I've heard some people use a weed whacker or continuously snip off the leaves until their ground cover eventually dies. Would that work for the chameleon plant? Last year I used shovels and my hands to rip it out. It's very labor intensive so anything that might make it easier would be appreciated.

Right now my plan is to start as soon as the snow is gone that way I can try and get to it before it's huge and completely taken over. But do I have to get all the roots from last year?

Honestly I've been fighting this plant for years and I always wind up just giving up but this year I've started lots of seedlings and want the garden space!!

Also, I'm going to pull out all the plastic this year. We would have never resorted to plastic but we were hoping to kill the ground cover, which obviously didnt work and just made everything harder. Trust me I regret the plastic so much as it makes ripping it out so much harder, but I didnt know it was hurting my soil too!!

Should I test the soil to see the plastic may have done damage?

You need to use an herbicide like RoundUp - glyphosate - that kills the whole plant right down to and including the roots. Multiple applications might be needed, but I've had good luck using this in other invasive situations. JUST be really CAREFUL not to get it on any other plant... and watch the 'drift' because any plant it gets on is a goner.

Good luck, Kate

Absolutely no roto-tilling! Remove or cover the plants you want to keep. Remove The Plastic! Let the fish weed grow this spring to a full flush of fresh foliage. Spray with glyphosate at a stronger dose according to the labels directions. That means buy the concentrate not a ready to use spray bottle. Read The Label. Observe. Spray again if needed. The object is to kill the roots and avoid digging them out.

Your permanent planting can be done in the fall or maybe next spring.

In the meantime I see a giant lawn that could accommodate your seedlings and gardening ambitions.

No you do not need a soil test. Plastic on top of your soil is the equivalent of tying a plastic bag over your head. The soil however will come back to life.

UGH! I do not want to let it grow at all! I just want it all gone. Someone else said to just spend a whole season spraying round up in that garden to kill it and then start over next year. I am not so sure how well round up will actually work as we've sprayed before years back and it didnt die. But then again I'm sure it wasn't that concentrated...

Is there no hope in trying to remove it by hand? I mean obviously I know it's a lot of work but if I could get rid of it and plant in that garden this year it would be worth it!

I'm so sad to hear this because I really want to plant in there this year! I guess I could start a new garden back by those bushes or something..

Also, why no roto tilling? Just curious as to why that's an absolute no. I feel like that would be an easier way to get rid of it!

The plant spread via roots, if you rototill, you have chopped and spread the roots. If you want to try by hand, you have to pick out all of the roots.

Every little chopped up bit from roto tilling is a viable plant part that will resprout and disconnected from the flow of poison. Much better to spray it or take it out via the long runners it comes equipped with.

Oh my god! Thank you so much for telling me that. So glad I came to this forum before trying to launch my attack against this plant. Tilling would have been disastrous!

Okay so if I do try to do it by hand I have to get all of the roots too then... Can I use a 2 pronged approach and try to rip it out by hand and then just spray whatever else is left? I would just like some hope of being able to plant in that garden!

Spray first, then remove the remnants by hand. And it will likely take multiple applications. A single spray will not get the lot.

Look at this as a multi-season project. You are not going to be able to effect a complete eradication all at once.

I recommend spraying. Roundup is absorbed via foliag, the more foliage the more absorbation.

Round Up has usage instructions.

Lmao I'm dying. A multi season project. So clearly getting rid of this bugger is gonna be a nightmare. Okay well maybe I'll just plant some annuals there this year then.

It doesn't have to be a nightmare. You just have to be smarter than the weed and have a little patience Grasshopper.

Hahah okay well l guess I will have to give up on the goal of totally eradicating it this year, but I am still going to plant there even though it's going to be an ongoing battle. But I think I'll wait on the perennials.

Patience AND persistence :-)

Hire someone with a backhoe and strip out ALL the soil. Dispose it...not in your yard. Remove the plants you want to keep too. The rhizomes will be intertwined in the good roots. You’ll need to go down at least 12-18 inches. Rebuild the berm, bed with new TOP SOIL, add an edging at the lawn that it abuts. Don’t add landscape fabric or rock, it’s awful stuff. If you don’t want to commit to this then go with the round up. Add annuals in big pots for done temporary color.

I never considered pots! That's a good idea! Yeah it sounds like I have to rip the whole area out and start clean. Or work on this for a few years.

We did what Tootsie suggests at our old house, to get a large flower bed free of wire grass. It was wonderfully effective. I don't remember it as being outrageously expensive, either. It might be worth your while to get a few estimates, to save yourself a few growing seasons.

Update on the groundcover. We tried round up and so far it is having little to no effect. We just sprayed yesterday so I'm gonna give it a day or two and hope that it has some sort of effect.

Also in the garden behind the deck there was some of the chameleon that must have migrated from the other garden. I really didn't think it was that bad, or rather at least not as bad as the garden behind the pool, so I decided to dig up the entire garden and pull up the roots. Well apparently the problem is much worse than I thought. I had a garbage bag full of roots after 5 hours and only got about halfway through the garden. But I'm determined to keep at it with that garden, but theres no way I'm doing the same with the garden behind the pool. So fingers crossed that the roundup works!

Roundup does not work when you have cut all the green living parts off of the plant you are trying to kill.

I'm confused everyone here recommended round up or some other herbicide. What do you suggest that I do to kill it?

Roundup is absorbed by the leaves. No leaves, no chemical gets absorbed into the roots which is the most important part of this plant that must die. You can't spray the mowed bare ground where the plant was or is and hope to kill it.

Leave the area alone until new shoots emerge. Once they have leafed out you can do your round up application. As Christopher said the herbicide works on foliage in full growth, not on the soil where it’s growing. You are not going to be able to garden in that ground this year. If you try to you’ll be doing this all over again next year.

I have used straight vinegar on clover with repeated applications and it worked well. For other deep rooted pests I guess chemicals are the only way to go.

Wear a good mask when spraying Round Up. It is not good for you ..a link with Breast Cancer. Be careful! https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31295307/

Since the comment made by kculbers is a direct cut and paste from another website, I am going to assume they have no firsthand experience using vinegar as an herbicide :-) Unfortunately, vinegar does NOT kill weeds permanently and depending on the specific type of weed, may not have any visible effect at all!

Herbicides/pesticides have a defined 'mode of action' or how they do what they are intended to do. Vinegar's mode of action is via desiccation of the foliage due to a phytotoxic reaction between sunlight and the acetic acid it contains. It must be applied with sunlight to have any effect at all. And it is not translocatable so has NO impact on the weed's root system. That can be sufficient for some annual weeds like hairy bittercress/shotweed or chickweed but it will have almost no impact on perennial weeds or those with deep or complex root systems. That burnt, dried foliage or top growth will just be replaced with fresh new growth in a matter of few weeks or less. Vinegar is also a broad spectrum or non-specific herbicide in that it will also have the same desiccating effect on almost any plant it comes into contact with, so must be used carefully if in close proximity to any desirable plants.

That vinegar could have an effect on eliminating horsetails (Equisetum) or ivy (Hedera helix) is a bit of a joke as these plants have a thick, waxy cuticle protection that makes them resistant to much stronger herbicides than vinegar.....even RoundUp/glyphosate has little impact!

It would be nice to think that vinegar could be used to control things like horsetails. Or Japanese knotweed. Or the houttuynia/chameleon plant. But these all share the commonality of having a deep and interconnected root system that will be completely unaffected by the vinegar application. It just won't work!

Okay so.... how do I kill it then?

I was spraying the leaves and growth that had come up, not the ground or roots. I've been digging it out completely in the garden by the deck, but was really hoping to not have to do that for the entire rock garden behind the pool... It is a back breaking task.

I can keep spraying it as it continues to come up behind the pool, but if that's not gonna kill it what will? Should I dig up the entire garden by the pool too and sift the soil?

If you use a serious, dedicated herbicide like glyphosate or triclopyr rather than something out of your kitchen, you will eventually eliminate it. Both are translocatable and will be transported by plant tissues throughout the system to kill off the roots. But it may take multiple applications a week or two apart......it is not a once and done thing but takes a bit of persistence. And be careful how you spray. These are also broad spectrum herbicides and can kill or damage any other plants they may come into contact with.

Well I am here to update that I've started to see a bit of progress with the round up now and sprayed again today. Is round up an herbicide like you're talking about garden gal? We're gonna keep spraying it anytime it's sunny lol I just want it to die! I've been spending a few hours a day digging it out of the other garden because there are too many plants there that I don't want to risk and the problem isn't as widespread. The soil in that garden probably needed to be tilled anyways since it hadn't been in years.

It takes a week for the first blush of yellowing from Roundup to show on healthy well established plants. It takes two weeks for that jaundice color of death to appear. It takes a month to achieve death. With your Houttuynia opponent it can take longer because their waxy leaves repel the chemical a bit better.

For best results you need to buy a concentrate and mix the spray at stronger doses according to label directions. If the directions recommend adding a surfactant to help it stick to the leaves, do that to. Some formulas have that already in the mix. Don't buy the ready to squirt stuff for lazy home owners. Then you need to be patient and let what survived grow back to mid sized plants with enough leaf tissue present for you to spray it again.

You are not going to get instant results. Deal with it.

Does anyone have a brand of stronger herbicide or concentrate that they would recommend? I've been slowly working at this all season, spraying round up everytime its sunny and while the above ground growth is dead, the roots are still alive and they're everywhere.. so of course new shoots are continuously coming up.

I did finally finish digging it completely out of the other garden, but I was semi hopeful I wouldn't have to dig out the whole other garden behind the pool as well. But alas, the roots are alive and thriving. I understand that this is probably a battle that will take several seasons. I'm just wondering if anyone has any recommendations for that will work better than round up. A brand to buy would really be appreciated.

I also just wanted to say thanks again everyone, I really appreciate the help figuring out how to get rid of the chameleon once and for all. I've completely eradicated it out of the garden behind the deck and I could not be more proud of that space I'm so happy o have it out of there.

Look for Crossbow herbicide. It is for broadleaf weeds and hard to kill woody vines and shrubs. It won't kill grass.

Thank you! I will look for it in the store tomorrow

I had the same thing. I had a lot of ground cover we removed it by hand and then we rototilled the ground. We even raked it afterwards. You will see it coming up from time to time but if you stick to it you can get rid of it. Once that was done we planted grass seed and it’s never come back. Good luck.

Crossbow herbicide is good, yeah, I agree

Update on the groundcover and how things went this year. I spent a lot of time digging it out by hand and working with round up in the garden where I wanted to save things. Roundup only killed the top foliage - roots were intact and everywhere. I did find a herbicide that was more successful at killing it than round up but once again many roots survived yet I did not see more foliage pop up. I spent probably 2 months digging it all up.

Didn't get to plant anything in the rock garden until August, so I just planted annuals for fall color. I will say I was pretty successful this year compared to last but I had to launch a full scale attack. In the garden by the deck I had many plants I wanted to save so I used round up rather than the serious herbicide that killed everything in sight. Even with the stronger herbicide I had to dig up a lot by hand. I am sure I will still see some of it for years to come as I did see some crop up in the garden behind the deck.

Unfortunately the ground cover roots were intertwined with several plants. I lost a hosta in the garden behind the deck and basically all of the plants in the rock garden - those were casualties of the strong herbicide even though I was careful. Luckily my other hosta was was overgrown so I divided it. Few ground cover shoots will show up in the hosta every now and then so those get surgically removed whenever I see them to preserve as much of the hosta as possible. Lol

The rock garden is at least 95% clear of all ground cover and I am super excited to be able to plant in there again. I created a garden plan and am starting seeds soon.

The garden behind the deck has occasional sprouts show up which I will continue to attack. Luckily the problem there was not as bad as the rock garden but still pretty extensive.

So now I am very careful about making sure a plant is not invasive. (Not that I'm the one that planted the ground cover - but i never want to go through this again.) And I am super appreciative for the opportunity to have the space in my garden back.

Hard work pays off!