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Talkback: Creeping buttercup
tarttartan
Posts: 12
in Talkback
I have creeping buttercup in my borders and attack it from early spring by digging up any plants and runners I can see. This is generally easier to do in spring before the shrubs etc start spreading. Hopefully I will beat the buttercup one of these years but so far the little monsters keep fighting back!
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Incidentally, they look really good inbetween paving stones.
Half of my lawn, or grass really, is buttercups! And I love having them. Each to their own obviously but the info here should acknowledge the counter argument.
Remember that our bees are struggling at the moment.
All this info about weeds seems to be for those who want an antiseptic, souless, striped bowling green.
It spreads rapidly in my borders and smothers other plants. I keep digging it out and keep watch for it at all times
I find creeping buttercup a menace too. It spreads through borders and smothers less robust plants. It also has very dense roots that hold on hard and it is difficult to pull up. I actually don't mind it in the lawn as mowing keeps it in check a bit but if it is given good rich soil it can grow quite tall and as I say take over other plants.
Sue
We have grass with weeds too and i'm not at all precious as long as it's green and good for kids and dogs to play on.
However I draw the line at creeping buttercup in my beds and fight a constant battle to clear it. It's a thug that swamps more attractive plants and I don't like the hard yellow colour either. Given half a chance, my borders are full of better flowers and foliage that attract a wide variety of insects, especially bees.
'Better' is an interesting concept.
In the wild you don't find buttercups absolutely everywhere; just in suitable locations.
Nature always grows the right plant in the right place (or you could say that every plant has evolved to occupy one particular ecological niche).
So, if a garden is full of buttercups, that means that nature has decided that buttercups are the 'best' plant to grow there.
We might think that some plants are prettier, or appeal to our peculiar tastes or other ideas; but those are just our opinions.
I'm still not putting up with buttercups round my roses.