I started to get rid of horribly invasive Star of Bethlehem last year. And by started, I do believe I started what is going to be a multi-year project. This nasty little plant is such a deceiver. The leaves look like my scilla. They look like my grape hyacinths. It looks innocent. It looks tiny and cute with its diminutive white flowers in May. Even its name seems promising, after all, a star of Bethlehem led the wise men to Baby Jesus.
No. No. No. Its a monster! See what its doing to my iris!
That is just part of one of the areas that is being taken over. Here is more of it, where I have been digging today. Bucket after bucket of dirt coming out, digging out a good 8″ deep.
You may be thinking I’m going a bit overboard. Nope. That little sneak was in-between all of the ground cover sedum you see below. Once I am sure I have the sedum 100% separated from the Star of Bethlehem…oh I was just kidding. There is no such thing as 100% separated. I will do the best I can, then grow the sedum in a large pot and continue removing the “nasty” till its all gone or until I sacrifice the sedum as collateral damage.
So, if you are thinking you can control it, think again. When May comes and they start blooming like the photo on the left, you will be tempted to say “oh, so cute”. Replace that visual with an image of hundreds and hundreds of bulbs like those on the right ravaging your garden.
Just say NO now!
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