Week 10
“It’s ground elder,” he said. “Aegopodium podagraria[i]. It’s a weed and needs to go. It grows by rhizomes, too.”
There were two of us talking as we studied my land, and the new arrivals that were making their presence felt. Things are now rapidly springing to life with all manner of plant emerging. The daffodils are still taking their time, almost regally, although one or two are struggling to appear and I see an occasional flash of yellow. Yet the bulk are still green shoots, as if waiting for guidance from some faceless being. I do feel there needs to be a word to describe the phase between a shoot emerging and the flower appearing, as it is manifestly variable between plants. Some seemingly take forever while others are up and out in moments. Until I am corrected, and I will be, let me call this phase “anticipatory”. Doubtless there is a scientific term I will one day discover.
While daffodils appear to have an anticipatory phase that lasts ages, snowdrops[ii] do not. They appear in no time at all, from nothing, to shoot, to flower in moments. A few of mine have already been eaten. Birds, especially collared doves[iii] and wood pigeons[iv], love to peck the flowers while the bulbs are the favourite meal of squirrels, mice, and deer[v]. It is a dangerous business being a snowdrop and my wood pigeons are waddling even more than usual at present, their tummies filled with snowdrop. No wonder they have made my land a home.
My conversation about ground elder set me thinking, as mentioning it to most gardeners can assure an instant look of horror. Engrained into gardening psyche is the thought that ground elder is bad. As a weed, it must vanish, be killed, destroyed, preferably as rapidly and painfully as possible. There is nothing welcome about ground elder. It out-competes nearly everything and before long, thanks to rhizomatous spread, has taken over. That is how many gardeners think.
Which set me pondering, as I do not properly understand what is meant by the word “weed”, a term favoured by gardeners the world over. I also do not comprehend what is meant by “invasive”, a word frequently spoken with a disapproving tone as justification to rip a plant from the ground in favour of something different.
I have asked this same question to many. “What is a weed?” I query.
I generally receive a confused look in reply, then hesitation, followed by an unconvincing explanation. “I suppose,” said one gardening colleague, “a weed is a plant that is out of place, unwanted, and something that interferes with what I am trying to do.”
“But how about what Nature wants to do?” I ask. “What if a perfectly scented rose appeared in a distant flowerbed, and you never intended the rose to be there?”
The confused look persists, disbelief that I can be so dense as to even ask the question. “That’s not the point,” is the frequent reply, and the conversation is over. At least it is until my next query.
“And the word “invasive”?”
Again the baffled expression, as what is invasive to one person is non-invasive to another. For those who consider invasiveness to be bad, there is a consensus. To the US Forest Service, an invasive species is non-native (alien) to the local ecosystem and can cause economic or environmental harm, or harm to human health[vi]. The United Kingdom’s Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) appears to agree[vii]. There are some who believe that native plants can also become invasive, even after years of growing without trouble. Others prefer to call such plants frisky or boisterous[viii].
Think for a moment what a so-called weed, or invasive species is saying. It is declaring that it is happy to grow there. If it is happy, then the species at risk of displacement might prefer somewhere different. If it was not for weeds, topsoil would be more easily lost, and topsoil is important[ix]. The so-called weed protects soil from erosion, replenishes organic matter, recycles soluble nutrients, restores biodiversity, provides a habitat for insects and animals, and absorbs atmospheric carbon dioxide[x]. I rest my case. Perhaps we should stop using the word “weed” and delight in the presence of a plant that wishes to grow with vigour, wherever it chooses to appear.
All living vegetation, including so-called weeds, absorbs carbon dioxide, so anything that decreases soil organic matter - imagine the use of weedkiller - leads to a net release of carbon dioxide. Bare soil releases carbon dioxide while planted soil takes it up. Consequently, is ground elder truly so bad? After all, it has been here for a very long time, was likely introduced into the UK by the Romans, and has since become naturalised.
Naturalised? There is a difference between native and naturalised[xi]. A native plant is one that arrived naturally, either without the assistance of humans since the end of the last glaciation, or one that was already present before that. That is, it persisted during the last Ice Age[xii]. A naturalised plant is a non-native that can adapt to a foreign environment and continue to spread.
Non-native plants, some call them aliens, can be either archaeophytes[xiii] or neophytes[xiv]. If they were introduced by humans up to about AD1500 they are archaeophytes. After that, they are neophytes. On the basis that ground elder was introduced to UK by the Romans, it is an archaeophyte.
As for rhizomes, and that is how ground elder grows, these are horizontal underground plant stems that can produce shoots and roots themselves. Rhizomes store starches and proteins and allow plants to survive underground, an excellent protection against an unfavourable season[xv]. Lakeland has plenty of those. Rhizomes are sometimes called creeping rootstalks[xvi] and just keep coming. Divide one in half and the two pieces can develop into a new plant. Ground elder shows this perfectly.
Bamboo[xvii] grows like this as well and there is some on my land that has needed to be controlled. A rewilder would not have done so but this renaturer would. There are two types of bamboo, and I have both. There is the “clumping” variety and the “running”. Both have rhizomes but clumping bamboo spreads slowly while running is like an out-of-control rugby team, and spreads in no time at all. Give it a chance and it will take it. Running bamboo can send out several metres of rhizome each year, including into a neighbour’s’garden, and is one of the fastest-growing plants on Earth[xviii]. Some varieties can grow up to two inches in a single hour. For me, bamboo means I must use a root barrier[xix] and that barrier needs to be thick. My running bamboo was stopped in its tracks by a root barrier, although I used a 24-inch one to be sure, from rock at the bottom to two inches above ground at the top. A bamboo rhizome is a bit like a deer, and will find any way to spread, going over or under a root barrier, if given half a chance. Rhizomes are a truly effective way for a plant to disseminate, and are a perfect example of life going on under your feet, without you knowing anything about it from above.
Ground elder? Keep it and see.
***
Acknowledgement
Take it from me - none of this would be possible without the help of RSG Horticulture. Rufus, who runs it, has far more energy than me and is full of ideas and skills.
References [i] Aegopodium podagraria. The flowers, which appear in late spring/early summer, resemble those of the elder tree. Hence the name. Sometimes known as gout weed as it has been used for the treatment of gout, rheumatism, arthritis, bladder, and digestive conditions, and to make poultices, as well as to treat burns and stings. Rich source of vitamins A and C. All parts edible but should not be eaten in any great quantity after flowering. Best eaten young. [ii] Galanthus nivalis with approximately 20 other species. Native to Europe and the Middle East and normally flower before the vernal equinox (20/21 March in northern hemisphere). There are some snowdrop gardens in the UK. Said to contain a mysterious and magical herb called “moly” that features in Homer’s Odyssey. Moly is likely galantamine, which could have acted as an antidote to Circe’s poisons. It may also be helpful in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. The snowdrop also contains lectin, which is being studied for possible use in the management of HIV. Also see 22 January and 5 February 2023. [iii] Streptopelia decaocto. Native to Europe and Asia, but introduced to Japan, North America and islands in the Caribbean. Etymology – name is from Ancient Greek with “streptos” meaning “collar”. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_collared_dove. Accessed 5 March 2023 [iv] Columba palumbus. The UK’s commonest and largest pigeon, it is mainly grey but shows a white neck patch and white wing patches in flight. It has an impressive nuptial display when it cracks its wings and then glides downwards on stiff wings. Nests vulnerable to attack by crows. Typical lifespan is three years. Often mates for life. https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/woodpigeon/. Also see 12 and 19 February 2023 [v] https://www.bostonbulbswholesale.co.uk/blog/news/beware-of-rodents-protect-your-bulbs. Accessed 4 March 2023 [vi] https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/invasives/index.shtml. Accessed 5 March 2023 [vii] https://www.rhs.org.uk/prevention-protection/invasive-non-native-plants. Accessed 5 March 2023 [viii] https://www.ecobeneficial.com/ask_ecobeneficial/can-native-plants-be-invasive/. Accessed 5 March 2023 [ix] Weldhen PR. Benefits of using topsoil. See https://www.prweldhen.co.uk/four-benefits-of-using-topsoil. Accessed 24 April 2023 [x] https://eorganic.org/node/2314. Accessed 5 March 2023 [xi] Native vs. Naturalised – Do you know the difference? https://www.best4hedging.co.uk/blog/native-vs-naturalised-do-you-know-the-difference. Accessed 24 April 2023 [xii] https://bsbi.org/definitions-wild-native-or-alien. Accessed 5 March 2023 [xiii] Archaeophyte. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeophyte. Accessed 24 April 2023 [xiv] Neophyte. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neophyte_(botany). Accessed 24 April 2023 [xv] https://www.britannica.com/science/rhizome. Accessed 5 March 2023 [xvi] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhizome. Accessed 5 March 2023 [xvii] Bambusa vulgaris, common bamboo, but lots of different species. Long considered the most primitive grasses. Popular as hothouse plant in the 1700s and introduced to Hawaii by Captain James Cook in the late 18th century. Likely to be the first foreign species introduced into the USA by Europeans. Shoots edible. Used against measles, sexually transmitted diseases and as an abortifacient. [xviii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo. Accessed 5 March 2023 [xix] https://www.rhizomebarrier.com/how-to-contain-bamboo-a-helpful-illustrated-guide/. Accessed 5 March 2023
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