One of the most frequently asked questions lately is “what is that pretty groundcover that’s … everywhere?” Some people seem to ask the question with the “I want that” eye twinkle. (You don’t really want it.) Others appear to cringe as if they’re afraid to know the answer. (Be afraid. Be very afraid.) Goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria) is a scourge and a plague on all our houses – if we have been unlucky enough to inherit it. Bishop’s weed was introduced in this country by early European settlers as an ornamental groundcover and quickly established itself as a weedy invasive capable of out-competing our natives. (It is described only as “weedy” on RI Natural History Survey Invasives List because it hasn’t escaped cultivated areas here. Yet. It is listed as an invasive on Connecticut’s Invasive Plants List.)

It is pretty, no doubt about that and some nurseries actually sell an even more attractive variegated variety (Aegopodium podagraria ‘Variegatum’) – which, like many variegateds may be slightly slower to establish but may also at any time revert to plain green and perform a hostile takeover of your garden and the neighboring woods. In the AHS A-Z Encyclopedia the plant size is listed as 12-24″ x indefinite. That kind of says it all.

Goutweed is blanketed throughout Blithewold, particularly in the Bosquet and continually inserts itself in the gardens where we declare War. When the Idea Beds in the Display Garden were first designed (before my time – and before our current redesign of that garden) the beds spent an entire growing season beneath heavy black plastic before anything could be planted. The North Garden was entirely un-planted and replanted (also before my time) to remove the weed from infested perennials and volunteers combed roots out of the beds. And still it emerges where it isn’t welcome. The roots, bright white and as easily recognizable as the equally obnoxious bright orange bittersweet, break with the merest tug and resprout. For that reason it is uncompostable and evicted from the property.

Fred (dir. of hort.) and Dan have been waging their own war with the goutweed. Each summer they weedwhack it all before it can set seed – the flowers are pretty little white lace flower umbels – and wherever they’ve been able to beat back the goutweed, they plant creeping myrtle a.k.a. periwinkle (Vinca minor) and other less aggressive groundcovers, like this patch of native creeping phlox (Phlox stolonifera) and foam flower (Tiarella cordifolia) behind the summerhouse.

Groundcovers are generally thuggish by nature – we want them to be to a certain extent – and goutweed is certainly not the worst of what can be found infesting the property – we’ve got English ivy and lily-of-the-valley too. And we all have different demons. I could tolerate the spread of creeping phlox for instance, and others I know abhor it as a menace. Do you have goutweed in your garden? Are you plagued by it or something else? How do you manage your overtakers?

This is truly the stuff horror films and nightmares are made of:  Last week the RI Department of Environmental Management released a report that the presence of Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) larva was suspected in a load of firewood delivered to a home in Cranston, RI.  The wood came from a property in Worcester, MA known to be infested.  Even though Cranston is all the way across the Bay from Blithewold, this hits just a little too close to home!  The beetles themselves don’t range far from their chosen host tree, but the scary thing is, we do and it has hitchhiked on green wood from China to New York to New Jersey to Illinois to Massachusetts (not necessarily in that order) and now maybe even to little Rhody.

Remember when the USDA hired US Forest Service smoke jumpers to spot beetles at the tippy tops of Central Park’s treasured American Elms?  That’s when I first became very aware of just how tragic and deadly an infestation would be.  ALB feed on hardwoods – maple, horse chestnut, willow, and elm to name just a few of their favorites – and will kill their host and move on to the next tastiest choice.  Infested trees have to be cut down, chipped immediately and even burned in order to stop the beetles from spreading.  Adjacent hardwoods are also often removed and/or treated with pesticides and the neighborhood put under vigilant surveillance for signs of further invasion.  The good news is, eradication is possible.  Illinois has declared victory over ALB after a ten year push to rid it from several Chicago neighborhoods.

What we need to do is be wary and proactive.  Buy firewood and nursery stock only from trusted sources and keep your eyes peeled for evidence of infestation.  The beetles themselves are large (1-2″ with antennae), fairly flashy Cruella de Vil look alikes (the Chinese call them Starry Skies – a much too beautiful name) and are visible during the summer and as long as the temperatures remain warm.  The females make tell-tale melon scoops in the bark of trees in which to lay their eggs and the other signs of infestation are centimeter/dime sized drill holes through the bark from which the adults emerge.  If you see anything suspicious in any trees or wood around your house, stop, drop and call the DEM (the RI number is 401-647-3367) or report it to the USDA immediately – do not pass go! It’s very important that you not try to handle an infestation on your own.  And it cannot be ignored without truly frightening consequences.

I absolutely can’t imagine life without the trees that I take for granted every day.  Actually,I shouldn’t say that I take them for granted – this time of year at least, I’m completely riveted by them!

For more information:  USDA – APHIS, RI Department of Environmental Management, Seattle Times article  from May 2005 about smoke jumpers in Central Park.