Lily of The Valley vs. Creeping Charlie

14 years ago

Hello. I have a large (very large) patch in my back yard where Creeping Charlie has taken over the grass. I also have a diabolical plan which is to stick several Lily of The Valley plants in small patches of 5 or 6 plants and have it compete with CC. It's a nice shady area and I'm not afraid of LOV becomeing a problem because it will take it many years to fill such a large area.

So who do you think will win? Will Charlie choke the lily or will the lily take over? Any suggestions to tip the balance in favor of the lily?

Thanks!

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Comments (10)

echinaceamaniac
14 years ago
Creeping Charlie always wins in the end. Hate that stuff!
mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
14 years ago
Here, LOV can't even compete against bare soil. Whether or not you can even establish it is going to depend on your soil, probably. Though the climate certainly isn't going to help.

I've used lime somewhat successfully to help grass compete against creeping Charlie. That's not going to work with LOV, since they both want acidic soil.
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Isn't it funny, I can barely get LOV to grow for me. I plant it and plant it and it just creeps. I have one spot that after 4 years is about 2' diameter. Same with violets, I have a few here and there, I mostly ignore them and let them grow, they are pretty little plants. Oxalis doesn't over winter for me, I gave up on it. I have a little of the wild stuff, nothing dreadful though. What I HAVE had to learn to tolerate is a weed called "Harebell" (Campanula rapunculoides) when I first moved here I thought it was pretty, now I realize it's like creeping charlie, I have it in all my beds, I am constantly pulling it, and it never ends. It's almost worse than quack grass! At least if your soil is loose when you pull quack you can get the whole runner. With Harebell the roots are so fine they just break, then reproduce! I have creeping charlie too, and have not decided if it is a bad thing or not. If it doesn't actually kill or smother my other plants, it is a pretty ground cover. I still pull it, but am undecided. Jenny P
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Very interesting post, everyone ~ Thank You. We've come to the same conclusion in Ontario, Canada. The back yard is luscious and green in any drought condition. We also like the smell. The entire back yard is surrounded by patio or garden. The creeper will grow in runners over top the stone and mulch. Two or three times a year, we simply pull it out, from the perimiter of the lawn, to maintain the edge and prevent spreading. Grass still grows around the creeper, throughout the yard, so the lawn is beautiful. We've slowly come to the conclusion that dandelions aren't growning in the back yard... No other weeds, but creeper and grass. The front yard, on the other hand, is a different story. We live beside a park, and the city maintenance crews and snow plows make a mess of the first 8 feet in... Plus, the city maintained park does not use herbicides, so the dandelions, and other weeds we can't even identify, are rampant. Not to mention people walking their dogs that think it's acceptable to let their pets use the lawn as a toilet. This morning, we thought of the brilliant idea to transplant creeper along the edge of the front yard, and let it go.... "Can't be any worse than what we're already looking at..." So, after searching the web, and finding hundreds of sites detailing how to control it (instead of enjoy it), we finally found you! (Now we know we're not crazy.) So, the plan is to pull out some runners, and simply place them on fresh, black earth, raked into the ruts at the edge of the lawn... We'll try a couple of shallow shovel fulls of creeper, too... We'll keep you posted.
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lindac
14 years ago
I have that situation in the "way back"....and the Charlie completely covered the LOV...completely! So I sprayed it all with Round Up and that killed the Charlie and left the LOV....but the seeds prevailed and it was back the next year....and again I sprayed...I think the area is now too shady for charlie but the LOV loves it.
Linda C
lakefarm
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you all for your input. I guess I'll apply Round Up over the area and then stick the LOVs in. I'll let you know what happens by this time next year!
Kat SE Wisconsin z5
14 years ago
We had creeping charlie really bad in a large portion of our lawn. This year a friend told us about Scotts liquid weed and feed. You hook up the bottle to your hose and spray the lawn. Not messy, easy to do and much quicker than putting granules down. My hubby always used the granule kind of this brand, and I didn't like it. So he tried it out in early June when it was still on the cool side by us. I can't believe how well it worked. There is so little left. If you want to give it one more try to get rid of charlie, give this stuff a try in early Fall. It'll stop charlie from germinating next Spring.
Good luck on whatever you do!

Kat
buyorsell888
14 years ago
No idea what plant you folks are calling Creeping Charlie since I can think of half a dozen called that but out here Lily of the Valley smothers everything in it's path. I love the fragrance but hate the plant with a passion. It is a major thug in my garden and I've been digging and digging and spraying Round Up for years now just trying to keep it in control, let alone getting rid of it.
Vicki
14 years ago
Creeping Charlie loves shade. In the lawn, I've heard fall is the time to get rid of it. Dethatching the lawn at that time loosens it so it can be raked out. There are a couple chemicals that are supposed to work, but I can't remember what they are. A product called Drive is supposed to work. Most of the usual things don't get to the roots and it comes back. I resorted to spending several hours a day for a couple weeks literally pulling it out by hand, being careful to get as much of the runner and roots as possible. I've had a tiny bit come back each year, but mostly it is all gone after a lot of elbow grease. You might see if you can find Drive if you don't have the time I had.
Kat SE Wisconsin z5
14 years ago
Buyorsell, I'm including a link for Creeping Charlie. I wouldn't mind Creeping Charlie, it stays greener longer when it gets cold, greens up faster than grass in Spring, handles drought well, pretty flowers and I do like the smell of the leaves. Now the big BUT...it can get in my gardens and take over completely! So I want it out or almost completely out of the lawn.
Sunnytop, I've pulled it out when it gets too close to my gardens, but then my hands hurt. :(

Kat

Here is a link that might be useful: Creeping Charlie
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
planting one problem plant.. to TRY to fix ... another problem plant..

is diabolical ...

use roundup... and get rid of both problems...

ken
buyorsell888
14 years ago
Ah, I know that plant as Ground Ivy not Creeping Charlie.

Lily of The Valley vs. Creeping Charlie

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echinaceamaniac

mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)

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Lily of The Valley vs. Creeping Charlie

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