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nutsaboutflowers

How to Get Rid of Yarrow

nutsaboutflowers
13 years ago

I've been trying to rid an area of my yard of an annoying weed. I've pulled it out many times, and recently broke down and put roundup on it, which I only do in extreme cases. I then covered it with those rubber tree ring things, and today when I looked, they're not dead!

At the grocery store today I saw someone actually paying good money to buy my weed. It appears I probably have yarrow.

If I cover the darn things with black plastic for a few weeks, will they die? Or, do I have to dig to China first?

Has anyone successfully gotten rid of yarrow? I'm finding small bits of it in the lawn =:(

Comments (21)

  • northspruce
    13 years ago

    I have it here and there. It was purposely planted by the previous owners and it's mainly a lawn weed for me now because I stay on top of it in the flower beds. I can vouch that Roundup will get rid of it because I made a new bed last year with roundup and that area had yarrow in it. It can take 2 weeks for RU to completely kill some plants. You just think it didn't work then suddenly the plants are dead.

  • nutsaboutflowers
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Northspruce I can only wait and hope.

    It's pretty ugly if you ask me. I sure don't know why someone would plant it. It definitely looks like a weed. I would have never known if that "crazy person" wasn't buying one today. And all those teensy weensy roots sure don't pull up =:(

    Speaking of someone planting it. I was looking up yarrow on the search section, and if you can believe.....crazy_gardener Sharon had a picture of it in her yard. I was pretty surprised.

  • northspruce
    13 years ago

    Apparently some of the cultivars of yarrow are less invasive. For me personally, I don't even want to look at the cousin of something I hate that much. For this reason I won't plant yarrows or any campanulas either.

  • marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
    13 years ago

    Hey, i have yarrow in my gardens, and it can get pretty weedy, but i just pull it out. It got a good thinning today, as a matter of fact.

  • bdgardener
    13 years ago

    Love my yarrow, I have dark pink and a light pink. I have it in an area that does not get watered much. Guess I'm lucky. C

  • marricgardens
    13 years ago

    I've had Moonshine Yarrow for about 8 years and only divided it twice. The foliage is grey and the flowers are a soft moonshine yellow. I hardly ever water and it seems to be very slow growing. Marg

  • north53 Z2b MB
    13 years ago

    I wouldn't call it a weed and in certain locations it is great.
    There are many different types, and some are clump forming and very well behaved. However, I believe it's the achillea millefolium that are inclined to spread. I have a deep red one that I contain by planting in a container. Probably a barrier would work better. The one in the container happened by accident. My sister had requested a clump, and I potted it up for her. When she forgot to pick it up, I sunk it in the garden. It's been there for years.
    I also cut off the fading clusters of flowers to prevent seeding.
    Now, A.ptarmica 'The Pearl' is a spreader. I've just planted some that is supposed to be superior and not be as aggressive. We'll see. But even in my heavy clay bed, I didn't find the old one difficult to dig out. It gets pretty white button flowers.
    Moonshine is highly recommended in my perennial book. It is a non-spreader.
    So Diane, don't panic. Your yellow may be a filipendulina or Moonshine, both of which are clump forming. I have a very old clump of a yellow that I love. It's never spread or self seeded. I don't know the variety though. In an effort to have more of it, I planted seeds of Parker's variety. Now that one self seeds like mad. I may be regretting unleashing that in my garden. But the flowers are very nice.

  • diane_v_44
    13 years ago

    Thank you for the replies and further information

    I am going to plant what I bought, and give it a try
    The yellow plant I have might well be Moonshine

    The foliage is a feathery grey and attractive.
    I shall keep an eye on the new plants and if it indicates spreading to much get it out right away

    I want this particular one year old large bed to be more or less maintenance free. Is there really such a thing?

  • marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
    13 years ago

    "I want this particular one year old large bed to be more or less maintenance free. Is there really such a thing?"
    Not around my yard! LOL

  • sierra_z2b
    13 years ago

    LOL I don't have any gardens that are maintenace free either. What is the trick for that???

    I have had Yarrow 'paprika' for years. I wouldn't call it a weed. But it does spread. I just chunk it back in the spring and its fine. This year however it ended up with a large ant hill in the middle of it, and it barely came back.

    I had a mixed one that a friend gave me....it spread more. I had to chunk it out in the spring and again mid summer. Evenually I needed the room for something else and pulled it out. One colour had been more aggressive than the other 2 and that was all that was left.

    There is the white weed one in the lawn...but no where near where I had planted the colours....and I know others have complained about it in their lawns....so it is just another weed here in the city.

    Sierra

  • trisha_51
    13 years ago

    The white one is a 'weed' all over Alaska. Sometimes down here on the Kenai, I see some that are light pink with the white ones.

  • Pudge 2b
    13 years ago

    That white yarrow, the Pearl, is a great filler for cut flower bouquets - lasts a long time in the vase. I cut them back before seed sets so haven't had many issues with that.

    I have Cloth of Gold yarrow (Achillea filipendulina) and love it - a beautiful bright yellow, tall and strong stems. It also lasts a long time as a cut flower and will dry and hold its form and colour really well, too.

    I also like Achillea millefolium, but I keep only one clump of it and make sure to deadhead. Actually, lol, that also goes into bouquets or dried stuff so I rarely have seedlings.

  • nutsaboutflowers
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    I sure wish my ugly yarrow was the Pearl.

    I googled it and it's pretty.

    I just keep finding ugly annoying clumps where they certainly don't belong =:(

  • Vicki
    13 years ago

    I had the weedy white yarrow when I moved into this house. I got rid of it by yanking and literally sifting the soil between my fingers and removing all the roots I could find. The roots stay in the top couple inches of soil. Laborious but it worked. Don't chuck all yarrow though. This variety is the only one that gets out of control.

  • mamahoohoo
    13 years ago

    I think Yarrow is a lovely plant as long as it's kept under control. It's also helpful in repelling some insects, attracts bees, and is useful to make potpourri and a tonic tea (if you can stand the bitterness). It is also happy with whatever water mother nature decides it can have, so works well for xeriscaping.
    I don't control it gently - I just grab a plant where the blossom is about to fade and pull it root and all, as well as smaller ones that are trying to spread to where I don't want them. Sometimes I get a big root with a few babies at the end, sometimes not. The few smaller plants that are left over get the same treatment next year. It's worked for 6 years so far.

  • bob_d_dixon
    7 years ago

    Native Yarrow is the more interesting to control very hardy and like ground Ivy will need two or three applications of a 3 herbicide blend, like Killex. Be patient, you will think the first application did nothing, but notice it stopped the flowering on most the first spray. Repeat applications every three weeks. If started early enough in the year, you will have a Yarrow and weed free zone in 1 season. It was so in my case. Hope this helps.

  • conniepr
    7 years ago

    I have Summerwine Yarrow and it doesn't spread. The original clump took years to get bigger. I have now divided it and placed a few pieces in other areas of the garden.

    I didn't know anything about yarrow when I bought it. If I knew then what I know now about yarrow, I wouldn't have bought mine. The right side of my driveway is my neighbour's property. She has the white yarrow which has spread and almost completely covered here lawn in that side, to just a few feet of my driveway!

    My mom's yarrow is also a spreading kind and the corner flowerbed where she put hers is almost completely taken over by it. The poor lilies there are almost completely choked out there.


    Yet, mine is beautiful and well behaved!

  • bob_d_dixon
    7 years ago

    Conniepr you have very pleasing Yarrow that does not spread? Mine was native, Milfoil weed in other terms. Very intrusive stuff. Glad to see a more domesticated variety that looks superior, and stays where it is put.

  • shazam_z3
    7 years ago

    Many of the cultivars are very well behaved. I had one that just grew in a clump and never seeded. Only thing was it flopped over after it rained.

  • conniepr
    7 years ago

    Ya, mine flops around like that. I try to give them a little support where I can, like the smaller version of a peony hoop (a green circle with three green pegs to stick in the ground to hold the circle up). Once it grows up through the circle, you don't see the support, just the beautiful plant.

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