Have you seen a little yellow flower that you think is very cute blooming on your property??? It forms a ground covering mat of glossy green heart shaped leaves punctuated by buttercup like flowers. You might have looked at it and thought it was the first sign of spring!
If your answer is yes, get ready to do battle!! This is a really nasty invasive that hales from Europe and and is taking over North America. It is Ranunculus ficaria, Lesser Celandine, or more commonly just a cute little buttercup. It was introduced as an ornamental plant in the trade and took off at lightning speed. A spring ephemeral, the plant appears very early in the spring, overtaking other spring ephemerals and displacing them. An ephemeral simply means it appears for a short period of time, taking advantage of the available light before the trees leaf out, and then disappears.
Lesser Celandine is in the Buttercup family and is rampantly spreading everywhere and can grow in all kinds of conditions. I see it at many job sites and the first order of business is to spray it repeatedly with a herbicide before it takes over the entire property. It is possible but very difficult to dig up, but most of the time, digging just spreads it around because of the finger like tubers underground. If you want to spray an organic herbicide, there are several available at the hardware store.
Completing it’s life cycle in the winter and spring, it disappears when hot weather rolls around, but it is just getting ready to come out in every greater numbers the following spring with multiplying tubers. It is relentless and very aggressive! This Ranunculus is smothering out all the more desirable native plants which are so necessary for the local pollinators. With no natural predators to keep it in check, it spreads…. and spreads…. and spreads. And the diversity of the ecosystem suffers.
Spray with a herbicide early when the weather is at least 50 degrees. As spring advances, spraying is more unsuccessful and you are more likely to over spray other species.
Claire, You should see it at Sherwood Gardens. We were just there and it is rampant. Guess they gave up on fighting it. Pretty bad this year.
Yes, some people just throw up their hands and give up
excellent writeup. Sorry to realize a friend has this all over her creek bank, which she is trying to restore with natives. Is there an organic herbicide you can name?
Organic herbicides come in several brand names and I have used them all. So, just google it and see which your local store carries. Be aware though, that they aren’t as effective as roundup and you would have to spray repeatedly
If you intend to rid yourself of this devil, plan on being absolutely persistent, if not obsessive. With herbicide, you might kill 80% the first year, but some tubers will recover, and some seeds will persist in the soil. I’ve been trying to restore about two wooded hillside acres that were solid LC about 8 years ago. I still spend way too much time spot spraying and carefully hand digging, but the recovery of native ephemerals is very rewarding and relatively quick (3 or 5 years), especially if you can collect seeds or divide ground covers and perennials. And I have been obsessive about it…
LC moves relentlessly downhill, so start your removal at the top of slopes, and work your way down as time and money permits each year. Also, only replant with annuals first year, because it will make it more difficult to do followup removal second year. Once you see minimal return of LC in a subsequent spring, go for it. Good luck staying sane…
Wow, that was a great assessment of how to get rid of it! Thanks for sharing
But your poisoning campaign will kill all the more desirable plants including the ephemerals as well as a multitude of soil organisms.
Well, should I just leave the invasive to spread rampantly and do nothing!
I planted native celendine poppy and it is spreading, which I wanted in the understory area I planted it. This is not invasive, correct? They are very distinct plants that share one portion of their name? I thought I researched this before planting but now that it’s spreading, I want to verify before it’s too late.
Correct, it is not invasive and is a native species. I think this one spreads very nicely and doesn’t get out or control
Also, I want to order bloodroot. Prairie Moon Nursery has it back in stock. How easily do they naturalize?
Very easy to grow
It is all over my yard!
You can spray it, but it will disappear eventually