Personally, I'd go with the perennial before I'd concede to the demands of any groundcover :-) But I guess it depends on your preference and exactly what plant you are attempting to protect. Some perennials need that root run to establish and develop good growth and flowering and I'd be hesitant to restrict that root run just to accommodate a groundcover.....especially one as aggressive as sweet woodruff.

FWIW, not all groundcovers exhibit similar degrees of aggressiveness with regards to spreading. I particularly dislike sweet woodruff because its extremely rapidly growing root system grows through the root systems of perennials and shrubs rather than upto or around, making it virtually impossible to completely remove from infested plants without trashing them. If I was going to try any kind of barrier, I might consider some sort of rigid edging - like they use to contain paving materials/hardscapes - but at a generous distance from the rootball.

Many other types of groundcovers play very nicely with most perennials and shrubs. Do your research before selecting for other areas.

Thanks for the reply!

I inherited the sweet woodruff from my mother a couple years back, who loves the stuff. Until I learned about its reputation, I was fond of it as well.

The area I have it in is a raised bed that's about 20 ft long and 4 ft wide. It has two young lilacs and two young viburnums, with a variety of perennials around them (hardy geranium, monarda, echinacea, upright coreopsis, etc). I'm a "try one of each" kind of guy when it comes to plants.

The woodruff is on season three now, so its spread to a pair of patches that are about 3 ft in diameter.

I was hoping that maybe enclosing the plants in pots of plastic plant holders would restrict the spread. I had read something about that for containing aggressive spreaders - was hoping the reverse would work and keep them out. Though maybe it would just hop the border in to the pot area.

I will probably stay away from other groundcovers, though I would like to try some Dragon Blood Sedum.

Any chance that the already planted perennials will survive the woodruff invasion?

Is sweet woodruff invasive in cooler zones as well? I have noticed it in several photos posted on the hosta forum and really like that combination. I don't recall any comments there re. its invasive nature.
Jan

Jan.ON - Forgot to note it earlier, but I'm in zone 5a and it spread pretty quick for me. Very nice looking - the foliage is very manicured looking and its beautiful when in bloom, blanketing the area with dots of white.

I've found mixed things about the sweet woodruff, that's why I decided to post - some say its very invasive, others have said they had no problem. I know that my mother had it interspersed with daylilies and columbine and they were fine, so it may depend on the perennial, maybe??

sharpen your shovel ...

dig a 1.5 foot circle.. remove all the SW ... plant perennial in center ...

every spring ... with sharp shovel .. just redig that circle ....

edging is edging.. whether you do it at the lawn edge .. or on a groundcover .. around a preferred plant ...

it also aerates the soil for the good plant ...

pots around plants.. can interfere with water management ... it can be done.. but it can also end up being a pain in the pa-two-tee ...

dealing with a quick growing groundcover requires that you be proactive .. its not really a 'i hope it works' thing...

and as we all do.. you are hoping for a panacea .. that would require no further labor ... good luck with that.. lol .. get the shovel out ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

FWIW, redigging the circle around the perennial every spring would not be frequent enough to control the spread of sweet woodruff in my area. That presupposes the plant is located in its ideal conditions of moist shade. Located in sunnier, drier areas, the spread is much slower.

And as I mentioned, not all groundcovers behave in the same fashion and I find a good many coexist with perennials and other larger plants very well. I consider SW to be one of the more rambunctious types, whereas something like the sedum or other stonecrops very well behaved. Plus SW develops a fungal blight (Rhizoctonia web blight) here in midsummer that seriously affects its appearance.

FWIW, redigging the circle around the perennial every spring would not be frequent enough to control the spread of sweet woodruff in my area.

==>> yeah.. but in MY AREA.. roundup would take care of said invasive weed .. lol ... and if it could not encapsulate.. and stay where it was preferred.. so be it.. if it all died ...

never forget the definition of a weed ... its a plant that is where you dont want it..

and it sounds like this stuff is a borderline weed ...

reminds me of buying creeping jenny at the botanical garden.. what the heck were they selling that invasive weed for????

i surely took care of it my way .... no matter how cute it was.. lol ..

my best advice.. give it its own segregated space.. and enjoy the heck out of it there.. and grow your other stuff in their places.. something about.. why fight mother nature.. methinks one day.. you may come to regret.. spreading it.. or allowing it to spread over your whole yard ...

ken

The area where it is located is probably not ideal - definitely on the sunnier side (dabbled shade in morning, full sun in afternoon)and being in a raised bed, the soil dries out fast.

The last couple seasons it didn't seem to spread much over the course of the season. Most of the spreading seemed to happen at the beginning of the season, though the runners were probably travelling underground.

Maybe I'll try digging some up and putting in pots, that way I can enjoy without worrying about damage. Ken - you're probably right, it may be best to remove it before it completely gets a foothold in the area.

Gardengal - I'll definitely look into sedum, I like the look and the bright colors when in bloom. In your experience, does it keep a fair distance from perennials (or is it simply limited on how far it spreads?)

Maybe I'll try digging some up and putting in pots, that way I can enjoy without worrying about damage.

===>>> reminds me of my old saying ...

you give good plants .. to good friends ..

and invasive weeds to peeps you dont want to come back ..

lol ...

enjoy it for all its worth.. to you ... but have no regret/qualms .. if you have to take a blowtorch to it someday.. lol .. a well maintained SMALL piece.. is just as memorable.. as covering the whole garden in a problem ...

ken

As gardengal 48 said, I'd look after the perennials first and avoid 'ground covers' except in areas where I didn't mind leaving them to fight it out. 'Groundcover' isn't really a botanical concept, just a garden marketing idea. If it's sold as ground cover it's basically low growing and more or less aggressively spreading. A plant can be both a perennial and a ground cover. There are plenty of lovely gently spreading perennials to use before reaching for the thugs. My preferred style is plants just touching with no earth or mulch visible, so herbicide is unthinkable. I'd be inclined to get all the woodruff out, manually, and only let release it in an out of the way area where it can romp away at will.

I have several of those so called 'thugs' that are aggressive that I need to remove completely. One is bugle weed. I also have some creeping jenny and some snow-on-the-mountain. I have had creeping buttercup in the past too. Boy! Are those things aggressive!!

So is chocolate mint, but I love it! It has been moved to it's own contained garden area.

terrene - my sweet woodruff was transplanted from another yard where it was growing pretty robustly in optimal conditions, so I think it had a strong root system from the get-go. Maybe the reason its not taking is soil composition? I had re-done that bed with a mix of regular soil and humus. My light is part-shade and the ground was on the dry side (almost too dry at times).

Flora - Yeah, I think it will need to go. I was thinking of potting some up in one of those long planters and putting on the side of my house (on concrete)where it can't hurt anything. I was enamored by the idea of ground covers to save money on mulch, but now I'm kind of done with that idea!

Sheryl - love chocolate mint! I have a friend whose vegetable garden was overrun by mint, so I knew to pot that one up right away. I have it in a hanging basket, I just was smelling the leaves this morning - it's growing pretty fast for early April.

I have sweet woodruff in my large raised bed under trees. It took a few years for it to take off, but it sure is spreading now. I have not seen any issues with it choking out the other plants. Its been over 5 years now. The ferns grow up right through it with no problem as do the hostas. I do pull it back each spring from the hellebores and primrose. I am in zone 4 WI and the bed is pretty dry due to the maple roots, so maybe that makes the difference. Last year I dug out large clumps to use it in other beds. I love it. The roots do not seem to go very deep, so I don't understand how it can compete so aggressively with deeper rooted perennials.

I think Sweet Woodruff must be one of those plants that performs quite differently in different zones/conditions. We have a carpet of it under the white pines in the backyard. It was here when we bought the property in 1999. It is a perfect plant for the location. The dry conditions under there don't bother it a bit. It makes a nice, pretty, green carpet all summer with sparkling white early summer flowers. When it spreads out onto the paths every few years or so, I simply run a flat-bladed tool under the roots (which seem to be very shallow) to loosen them and then just roll it back from the paths like rolling up a carpet! I sometimes see seedlings of it elsewhere and remove them in the same way by loosening the roots, rolling it up or pulling it loose and discarding it. Creeping sedum, on the other hand, I would not touch with a 10' pole! All sorts of perennials, bulbs and shrubs come up through the SW with no problems at all. I was looking for pictures of my SW but don't have any good ones. This is the best I could find - the SW is the green stuff you can see at the base of the pines. In the right spot (very dry and shady) in a cold zone, I don't think there's a lot to worry about.

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I'm sure a lot of it has to do with location - that's pretty much SOP for any potentially invasive or aggressively spreading plant. The more suited it is to the planting situation, the happier it will be and the more it will spread. I've attached a link for those of you who can't imagine this plant being overly aggressive :-) Lots of times, until you see it in person, it IS hard to imagine that seemingly well-behaved plant in your garden can be a horrible pest in another!

I still like groundcovers and find them remarkably useful in all sorts of gardening situations. But like any other plant, it's a matter of selecting the right one for your specific location and situation. IME, most sedums make a very good groundcover, growing upto the base of other plants but never taking over. I grow a lot of trees and shrubs in containers and I often use sedums to fill in at the base.

I also support flora's thoughts about groundcovers versus perennials - a good many perennials have low, spreading habits that make them excellent groundcovering plants in a mixed perennial/shrub border. 'Groundcover' is just a habit of growth, not a specific plant classification.

Here is a link that might be useful: sweet woodruff taking over

Whoops, I meant to say above "perennials would NOT have a chance"...against Vinca minor, that is.

Gardengal, that picture of sweet woodruff is impressive - reminds me of the infestations of Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) in the woodlands around here.

ditto what terrene said - Garlic Mustard is what I thought as soon as I saw the picture in your link gg - now THAT is a nasty plant because it is allelopathic, seeds like mad, and has a very long life as seeds in the soil !

I stupidly planted sweet woodruff, muscari and lily of the valley in the same bed.....fifteen years ago and I'm still trying to rip them out.