Question about my lime light artimisia

Last year it filled half a bed in my herb garden. I liked that. This year, already, it fills the whole bed, probably 12 feet by 5 feet. I don't like that. We're going to grub it out. Read that to mean my daughter the lawn care business owner is going to grub it out for me. LOL! However I do want to keep a little and I don't want it to spread. Here's my hopeful plan. I have a bottomless treated wood "box" that dh built and never used. If I make a bottom of landscape cloth fastened securely (no gaps) to the box frame and set the plants I save in it, will the roots work their way through the cloth?

I can also resort (I think) to an old horse trough (if the wood box won't work) but it's full of daylilies right now.

I need help fast before the monster starts popping up through my basement floor! LOL!

AHEM. All who read my post last year about the pretty plants that I knew were invasive, but loved anyway, can tell me loudly (all at once, please ....ready, set, GO!... "I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!")

I loved the varigated ribbon grass but it is known for being extremely invasive. I had a huge plastic pot that was very deep.....probably 20 inches or more. I cut the bottom of it out and dug a deep hole and just dropped it in. I filled it all back up with dirt and planted the ribbon grass in there and it contained it perfectly. I didn't use landscape cloth on the bottom. I just made sure it was good and deep. Once a year I would dig up the pot, throw out most of the ribbon grass and replant a little bit for the next season.

Hope this helps some.

Your thread is going to help alot of gardeners -- to forewarn them about this pretty artemesia. Me too, I've planted a couple last summer. Ahem! They are now taking occupancy 1/3 of my shady garden bed. I'll need to make a move pronto!

It looks like the roots are surface pretty much so that will help getting it out, not like the Greenbrier which has roots that go clear down to........

Did yours die down to the ground then resurfaced back as the weather warms up? Here in the South, they stayed evergreen. So they look kind of pretty. I was wondering if I can toss them to the woodland area in the back and let them choke other undersirable weeds out. These seem to grow vigorous, but look attractive.

The thing is, they seem to shoot out long roots too and start in other areas so I really would worry about letting them run through the woods, because sooner or later they'll come home to roost again.
Mine do die down completely and then green up again just above the old clump base.

Tehehehehe, at least you don't have to look at them during the winter months. Here in the South where I'm. They stay evergreen. But pulling them up was a piece of cake. Though I know there are left over root segments that will sprout up in no time. Thanks again for making this post.
Happy gardening.

Well, first let me say the roots go deep enough that they have to be shoveled out.
DD (Carrie) and I grubbed them all out yesterday (Wednesday.) After saving a few in a very large plastic pot (5 gallon), we left a good pile of shoveled up clumps that needed to be de soiled and tossed in a bag, but I was so tired we quit anyway. I was so tired I fell asleep before dh came to bed. When he came to bed, he woke me up with a backrub after which I tried to kiss him in the dark. It felt really strange so I asked him what I kissed, and he said, "My eyeball." LOLOLOL!

Then I got an early start today.

I started in the garden at about 9 AM my time. I never stopped until about 3 PM. When I got out to the garden, the first thing I saw was a completely clean garden bed. All the green and yellow dragons (the invasive artemisia) were desoiled and dead and all I had to do was cart them away! A garden fairy (fairy Carrie! LOL!) had finished the job yesterday after I went to bed! Since I was feeling so good, and all prepped for hunting dragons, I went after the worst dragon on our property, the one with nasty sharp claws; the greenbrier. There is a huge patch of it just behind the herb garden, that we haven't touched in all 11 years we've lived here because it was so thick and thorny. Since there are no leaves right now to hide the thorns, I dug into the patch, cutting everything off at the ground. I didn't have anywhere to put the severed vines so they are still laying there looking as thick and thorny as ever, but they are dead! I couldn't stop after I got started so I cleared about 20 square feet. I was wearing plenty of protection including garden gloves but they got through the gloves with their dragon claws and my hands look like I've been in a wildcat fight. Later I can rake them out (when I find a clear spot in the woods to pile them). They could be burned now, but we are not allowed to burn brush until we've had enough rain to prevent wildfires. (Greenbrier has roots along the top 10 inches of soil that can be pulled out with a lot of effort, but they have "bulbs" or nodules that can be as deep as 10 feet (at least they do that here in the sand...), so pulling the roots is wasted energy. So I just cut them down and then keep them cut hoping that sooner or later they'll starve to death from lack of nutrients.) After that was done, I dug out all the mint from the herb garden, and put it in the old horse watering trough, so it won't keep spreading everywhere. Yes, it is also a dragon, but a soft sweet smelling tame dragon, and I like to eat it! LOL! I also dug up quite a bit of curly mint from the other side of the house and transplanted it to another container that will keep it in one place and handy for cutting.

And now....Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh................................................
Sigh. I set my finger down on the h and "dot" keys and didn't even have the energy to pick it up..............................

There are a lot of plants growing green now in the herb beds. I'm especially excited because the angelica and the spice bush came back this year. Also the lovage is about a foot tall and has begun growing offsets too. It tastes like celery on steroids. The Bible Leaf (costmary) is coming back too. Lemon Balm and Feverfew are everywhere, even in the middle of the yard! All the thyme made it through the winter this year and my Apothecary Rose is budding.
It's all good!

This message was edited Apr 24, 2008 6:50 PM