Ooooh so jealous! ;0) I cut down my caragana last fall and it's lurking out there, regrouping its forces and planning a counterstrike. I might actually have at it with a shovel... just can't bring myself to hire machinery.

I'm sure it will look great for you Verena! How exciting! (choking down jealousy) :0)

LOL, I can relate on a smaller scale. I have a globe caragana that after seven years is only 2 feet high and one foot wide.

I decided that a cedar and the caragana were too close together. The globe cedar won out, only because it looks better in that spot. So, I tried to transplant the globe caragana. Despite it being a small shrub, it definitely was hard to remove. In the end I was left with a butchered root system, and no soil on the remaining roots. So, I just cut back some of the top growth, stuck the shrub in it's new planting hole (only a few feet away), watered and am hoping for the best.

I thought I might be better off just buying a new globe caragana, but then I thought I should give it a chance and see what happens.

Glen

Regrouping for a counterstrike... ;-) I love it...That's how I'd felt about mine too!! Fortunately DH hated the old, overgrown, mildewy, prickly caragana even more than me...otherwise I'd likely be digging it out with a shovel too...DH took the chainsaw to it last fall...

The Update...

All the caragana is now gone in the front (left the stuff in the back for now...it makes an OK 6' barrier.) We had gotten an old poplar taken down last year (it was rotting about 15' up) and had a massive stump left...so we figured we have the backhoe dig it up/knock it over while they were making a mess in the area...well...they dug down about five feet all the way around it (still in LOVELY black topsoil...thought I'd make you jealous some more... ;-) cut the major side roots and still couldn't get it to break off...LOL!! What a mess!! I have a huge trench the width of the property (we're on three lots) from the caragana - complete with caragana stumps and roots (we decided to do the cleanup to save $$) and a five foot deep 'moat' around the base of a mangled ten foot tall (plus the 5 feet below ground level) popplar stump!! I think I'll call it 'shabby chic' and leave it that way...makes quite a statement...LOL!!

Seriously though...It's a major bit of work out of the way...and the operator was so good he didn't even disturb (or bury) my delphs that were only a 1/2 foot from the caragana stumps! I'm so glad to see that project off the list!!

...Now we just have to decide what type of fence to put in...I thought we were doing a latice fence...but DH says he'd really like a nice little picket fence. (He's even volunteered to spend his days off cutting all the little dears.) I guess I'll have to keep him. ;-)

Verena

Glen...if globe caraganas are anything near as insanely determined as the regular kind, not only will you have a healthy plant in the new location...the roots in the old one will come back just to spite you...(a new way to propagate) and they's begin building their forces...plotting against you...he thinks he'll cuts us down does he...we'll shows him...we'll shows him who's boss...we wills...

Northspruce, if you don't mind using chemical, wait until that caragana has nice fluffy green sprouts about 6-12" tall. Then hit it hard with Round-up. If you get lucky, it might kill it. If not, it'll slow it down and let you get a little bit ahead on the battle.
Connie

will roundup kill a caragan

I hope someone is looking at this thread. I have been trying to find some Globe Caraganas this year to put in 10" pots because they are reported to be winter hardy to zone 2A. We have lost the shrubs we planted for the last two years and it is either the GC's or we have to go to artificial flowere in winter. We need our pots to sit on a low wall and hide our garbage can from the street. I will try a new post in one of the forums too.

Congrats!!! so glad to see others with a dislike for caragana it is funny just this week I was wondering why people would plant it or if it could be modified to have different color flowers. I can see it used for wind breaks on large farms but really why when you can have lilacs for that.

Caragana is extremely drought tolerant, that's why they used it.

They're only good if you have lots of room,..good wind break!
Got a row of the short pygmy Caragana, I planted it as a impenetrable fence against wildlife into the nursery to one side,..does a pretty good job! I didn't think honey bees would be in it but some are foraging,..lot's of bumble bees! I don't think Lilac can meet these aspects.

The Globe is a small shrub suitable for containers if you keep it pruned. My pots are on a wall that is only about 2-3 feet tall and leaves my garbage can visible from the street. That size shrub is perfect if it will survive. But what nursaries sell it?

Glad it works to keep the wildlife out never thought of that.