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Help I can't get rid of my lambs ear and I really don't like it.
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Posted by smlechten 6a/b (NE OH) (My Page) on Sun, Jun 19, 05 at 21:36
| It appears that the lambs ear that I inherited is truly indestructible. I've hoed the bed, dug out the lambs ear with a shovel, and rotatilled carefully around my Blue Star Juniper that I do like, yet I cannot stop the lambs ear from coming back. It's like that camp song about the cat ... I'd like to try to save my Juniper (which aren't doing great from neglect and being choked to death by that lambs ear). Any suggestions? I hate to get rid of a plant that is obviously easy to grow, mature, and oh-so happy ... but I'm not enjoying it. It gets kind of mushy and moldy looking to me in late spring and fall. The bed is in full sun, we have a dry period mid June through late August. Does anyone think I'd be better off letting the lambs ear have that bed, and try to transplant (or replace) my poor choked juniper? Is there something I can do to keep my lambs ear under control and nicer looking so I don't have to waste it? The new re-growth seems to look nicer than the old plants, but I'm not sure for how long. I have some Geranium Patricia with hot pink flowers that I could put into the bed with the lambs ear, so the hot pink flowers and silver lambs ear may be more appealing together - but I was really hoping to transplant my Japanese Spirea into that bed to hide the electrical box. The Geranium and lambs ear are both low to the ground and don't hide it very well. Would the Geranium survive with lambs ear, or be choked out, if I went that route? Thanks for your help. I'm just learning what I have and what to do with it, I'm brand new at this gardening stuff. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Help I can't get rid of my lambs ear and I really don't like
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| I may be a bit biased, as I dislike the plant to begin with. Waste it. I would trash it for the reasons that you mentioned; mushy in the late winter and fall, and invasive spreader. If you can't get rid of it by digging it out, then hit it with some round-up, following all application instructions. |
RE: Help I can't get rid of my lambs ear and I really don't like
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| I personally love it, but recognize it's not for everybody. Mine grow best in dry sunny conditions or in shade. In between, they are moldy and floppy. I let the flower spikes grow in full sun and drought, but prune them back everywhere else. Ditto on the roundup. Pull it out and when it starts back, dribble a little so it doesn't spread to other plants. As you go around town, look for spots that it does well in. In the right place, it's a great plant. Everywhere else...well you know the story. |
RE: Help I can't get rid of my lambs ear and I really don't like
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i would get rid of it too as its too much a pain to maintain. i have however opted to go with the big ears cultivar ( aka helen von stein ) it is more of a clumper rather than a sprawler and the new foliage tends to hide any yuckky looking foliage (called 'melting out')
it also rarely blooms so you dont have an army of bees buzzing in your face either. the foliage is larger than that of traditional lambs ear too and it makes a very nice edging plant. Sue
"The one thing all gardeners share in common is a belief in tomorrow" |
RE: Help I can't get rid of my lambs ear and I really don't like
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| I find lambs ear very easy to control. After it blooms, I cut it all back to the ground and it grows fresh new leaves. If it begins to sprawl, I just pull it out. |
RE: Help I can't get rid of my lambs ear and I really don't like
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| Not completely unrelated.... ...When the funeral passed the market square
Such a smell of fish was in the air
Though his burial was slated,
Meow, meow, meow
He became reanimated,
Meow, meow, meow
He came back to life, Don Gato! |
Here is a link that might be useful: *This* camp song about the cat?
RE: Help I can't get rid of my lambs ear and I really don't like
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| Dig, pull, Don't till !! Any little bit of root leftover is a new start...I inherited a MESS of lambs ears which I tried to get rid of in the spring of 1997. Yesterday, I pulled up a sprout of it...but it does go away for the most part eventually! |
RE: Help I can't get rid of my lambs ear and I really don't like
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You must have the ideal spot for it. It speads quidkly. Do not allow it to flower. It re-seeds it's self more that just comming up from root.
So Don't let it flower, pull it, spray it. if all else fails burn it. |
RE: Help I can't get rid of my lambs ear and I really don't like
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| I find that it helps if it is in the veggie garden. it grows well and looks great under and aroung tomatoes and peppers. the bees love it and they pollinate everything in my garden while they are there! I just pull up any out of bounds growth and top it occasionally to control growth. So use it or share it with others. |
RE: Help I can't get rid of my lambs ear and I really don't like
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| The bees love it that is why I grow it. Last year my two plants didn't make it through the winter, but I have four coming up from the seeds that the plant dumped. There were more seedlings, but I thinned them out. There are always bees on the flowers. It spread about four square feet, in full morning sun and partial shade in the late afternoon. Durgan. |
RE: Help I can't get rid of my lambs ear and I really don't like
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| Thank you for the help. I will try some of these ideas but mine are under a dogwood tree and spreading into the lawn around it, it is making the lawn look lite green all around it. Any help here please. |
RE: Help I can't get rid of my lambs ear and I really don't like
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| If you want to keep the lambs ear, but not have it go into the lawn you may need to consider a barrier to contain it. You could try a deep plastic or metal one that pushes below ground to block roots from spreading and keep the grass on one side and the lambs ear on the other - with luck it may not be very obvious to the eye. Or you could try a decorative stone, brick, plastic, metal border to separate the areas. Good luck. |
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