UNDESIRABLE NEIGHBOURS

Nightmare scenario in the garden

Recently I was given some geraniums by a friend. I dug them up from their garden and planted them in mine. 

A few weeks later I noticed some leaves emerging which were different to those of the imported plant. Luckily, having had experience of this particular plant before, I recognised it immediately. Ground elder - one of the most invasive weeds you can encounter  and one which, once established, is almost impossible to eradicate. Urgent and rapid action was required.

Nightmare discovery - a stowaway hiding in the geranium

The only way to get rid of ground elder is to move house.....

This is an expression I was taught as a young gardener. And I don't want to have to move house. So - I dug the plant up along with a good chunk of surrounding soil and left the hole in the ground undisturbed so that I could check whether there was any remaining ground elder root hiding in the soil and waiting to sprout.

Next, on a sheet of paper, so that nothing could fall from the plant onto the ground I carefully teased the plant and the root bundle apart. I was able to separate out several plantlets which, in the longer run, will should give me several vigorous young plants. 

I was also able to separate out the ground elder and was, frankly, staggered at the length and vigour of the root run. 

The root run of the ground elder I found in the garden

The ground elder was burnt. Never, ever put it on your compost heap as it will thrive there. Apparently it is edible and was used for medicinal purposes in the past, but I think it would make me sick!! It is far better to forage for it in the wild than cultivate it in your garden.

The geranium plantlets were all individually potted up and will remain in quarantine for several months - or until I am totally confident that there is no ground elder root hiding in the root bundle waiting to re-emerge.

Safely in "hotel quarantine" for a lot longer than two weeks

So here is today's lesson - be very careful whenever you import plants from any source - even from a reputable nursery. Check the soil surrounding the plant in the pot and even tip the plant out of the pot to have a look at the roots. Never import plants from another country without following the correct procedures. You can buy plants and bulbs from a foreign nursery as long as it is reputable as the plant will have a phytosanitary certificate. If the plant does not have this certificate when you bring it into the EU it will be confiscated. Although this is frustrating, doubly so since Brexit as we are now severely restricted when it comes to bring plants here from the UK, it is good practice and must be followed. Even before Brexit we were strongly discouraged from taking plants to and from the UK.

Ground Elder is small fry compared to such horrors as Dutch elm disease which was brought into the UK from Canada in the 1960 and subsequently decimated British elm trees and changed the landscape forever.

A dead elm tree -  an iconic image of a devastated landscape

More recently mainland Europe  has been ravaged by a bacterium called Xylella fastidiosa which attacks the plant's xylem ( the vessels within the plant which transport water and minerals from the soil to every part of the plant) destroying it. Once introduced, the bacterium is spread by sap ingesting insects, travels from plant to plant and has devastated iconic plants such as olive trees, rosemary, lavender and even grape vines. Never take plants back to the UK from France because you risk introducing this nightmare disease to the British Isles.