Celandine Species, Greater Celandine, Killwort, Nipplewort, Swallowwort, Tetterwort

This starts as one pretty little plant - but ants are attracted to it's seeds & carry them along. ONE of these beasts popped up 2 years a...Read Morego - I pulled it & threw it in our composter...BIG mistake! Each year it multiplies like crazy - I've just finished pulling a 10x50 area full of Greater Celandine. I've also just clued in that it is probably what causes my skin on my hands & arms to fester & itch - so will wear cloves & long pants & sleeves next year.
I came on here looking for suggestions as to how to kill it (prefer not to use chemicals). I pull & dig the roots each year, but it doesn't work. They are growing in shaded area where our grass won't grow. Is there something I can add to the soil to deter its growth?
The orange sap stains everything & is hard to wash off of hands & won't come out of clothes.

I saw this plant blooming at a friend's house and thought it was a pretty wildflower, so I planted some seeds. Big Mistake! It is an a...Read Morelien invasive and is taking over my Wisconsin woodland. I now have thousands of them.

The stuff grows hip-deep in moist, shady soil and smothers all the other wildflowers by excuding light from them. Every seed grows, and they continue to sprout for years. Now I'm spending dozens of beautiful May days pulling the plants instead of enjoying my garden. I cannot get rid of it. It just keeps on spreading. They come up under all my bushes and are very difficult to reach. The bright orange juice bleeds copiously from this brittle plant and it stains everything it touches. The stains dry to a dirty dark gray and do not wash out. It will ruin whatever clothing you wear while weeding and stain your hands unless you wear gloves.

Do not compost it after it starts to bloom. The plant will continue to grow and bloom and ripen seeds ever after it is pulled. You have to chop the flowers, buds and seed pods off and dispose of them in a land fill, or burn them. A torch weeder will scorch and kill the tiny seedlings where they are growing, but you must do this after a rain and be careful not to set the woods on fire. Roundup is also effective, but kills any remaining wildflowers still alive.

My township does not allow landfilling garden debris, so I must either burn it, or stuff it into black trash bags, seal the bags, set them in the hot sun and bake them to death for a few weeks. Any ripe seeds will still grow when discarded. Another way is to put them into a barrel of water totally submerged, and let them rot. If there were no ripe seeds, you can use the sludge for fertilizer. This brittle plant tends to break off at the roots which simply send up more shoots and bloom again, so you have to dig it out.

It is a spring-blooming perrenial that does not usually bloom the first yer, but there are exceptions, and a few will bloom at any season..

its larger relaitve, the woodland poppy is much more beautiful and not weedy in my garden.

I'm not concerned by this plant, it's a bit invasive but they're so easy to pull up if it invades your space. A much better looking "weed...Read More" than most. I have a portion of my property that I let grow wild (more or less) and this plant stands out over most others growing there because it stays a rich green well after everything else has died back or grown very ugly. Plus it has such a long blooming period. May not be something you want in your rock garden, but there are much worse things growing wild out there.

Weedy nonnative species that spreads by seeds - never grow weedy plants that spreads that way - you will never know where they will pop u...Read Morep next. I got and planted one by mistake - it was labeled Woodland Poppy but I found out when the seedpods develop - different from Woodland Poppy by its mustard - like seed pods while Woodland Poppy have rounded hairy seed pods. I got rid of the single plant without having it seed anywhere.

It's become so invasive and such a problem that my reason for adding this note is just a warning to others as to how it might go astray for you, too.

I noticed this plant growing in the border area at the back of my yard....it was in a shady area where mature trees and young trees were ...Read Moregrowing....I noticed it blooming in early May....it is now the end of July and it is still blooming and putting on new growth. I hope it will reseed itself as it is a perfect plant for that location. I will probably help mother nature and put seeds where I would like them to establish themselves. Does this plant flower the first year?

This first appeared as a volunteer on the edge of my lawn. When trying to uproot it, we noticed the lurid orange juice, and realized it m...Read Moreust be some sort of dye plant. Took me awhile to identify it, but then found it growing in cottage gardens of old Dutch colonial farmsteads around here. One prefered spot was between rhubarb plants against barn walls.
Mine produces copious amounts of seed, but does not have a particularly high germination rate. The leaves are a pretty bluish shade. My plants don't last too long, a couple of years at most, but it does reseed sufficiently so I always have a couple. Looks great with blue spiderworts.

This plant grows wild in my zone (4a). I collected seeds from the wild and grew it easily in my garden. By the third year, it was bushy...Read More and flowered continuously from May till frost. It is a wonderful foil for showier flowers, such as bleeding heart, wild geranium, and lilies. I had no pest problems, it reseeded a bit, but not invasively. This year, I rescued a volunteer from a common area before the weed whackers got to it and am planting it again at my new house. The flowers on mine are double, adding to the charm. This is apparently a spontaneous mutation.

I agree whole heartedly with Baa.

It will grow in practically any soil, full sun or shade but prefers dappled shade and sl...Read Moreightly moist soil.
Self seeds like no bodies business.
Sow seeds direct in Spring.

My landlord wants to mow 'em down; but he can't. They're in my protective custody.
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Celandine, Greater
Botanical: Chelidonium majus (LINN.)
Family: N.O. Papaveraceae

The orange-coloured, acrid juice is commonly used fresh to cure warts, ringworm and corns, but should not be allowed to come into contact with any other part of the skin. (Yes it did turn my hands orange/yellow and removed some of the outer layer of skin it touched; when trying to remove some seeds. *It 'Bled' orange colored sap!) It took 2 weeks for the orange to disappear. Next time I'll use rubber kitchen gloves.

Other than that it was harmless to me. It help the wart BTY.

Clump forming, short lived perennial, which sometimes acts as a biennial, from Europe and Western Asia.

Has blue-green, lo...Read Morebed leaves with scalloped edges. Bears yellow, 4 petalled flowers.

Flowers May-July

Will grow in practically any soil, full sun or shade but prefers dappled shade and slightly moist soil.

Self seeds like no bodies business.

Sow seeds direct in Spring.

The flowers of Greater Celandine look like tiny yellow Poppies, but its fruits appear more like those of the cresses and cabbages. The sl...Read Moreender capsule splits open from the base releasing tiny black seeds, each with a fleshy, oily outgrowth that is eagerly sought by ants that carry off and disperse the seeds. The plant was formerly widely used for the treatment of sore or cloudy eyes, although the bright orange sap is acrid and poisonous. External application of the sap was used to treat warts, corns and ringworm, although it will equally damage any skin that it touches. In Russia, the plant has been used as an anti-cancer drug. The native distibution of Greater Celandine has been obscured by innumerable escapes from cultivation; it is now found in gardens mostly as a weed.