Talkback: Creeping buttercup - Talkback

tarttartan

24/11/2011 at 15:27

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!

FlamingJune

24/11/2011 at 15:28

What is with gardeners and wild flowers. Embrace your buttercups and learn to love them. Perfection is the demon that will drive you mad.
Incidentally, they look really good inbetween paving stones.

dpayne

24/11/2011 at 15:28

I have just moved into a house that has no lawn but a mass of creeping buttercup, ragwort and stinging nettles. I have been advised to dig it all up before laying grass seed or planting. The problem is that some of the roots are going down upto 2 foot and as the area is 30 by 15 foot this is back braking work. Any suggestions on an easier/cheap method?

Michael_McK

24/11/2011 at 15:28

A few years I moved into a house whose back 'lawn' (maybe grass is more honest description of it) was also a mess I weed-killered the whole lot hired a rotovator, carefully dug it over sowed grass seed and regret to say it's now full of moss and not major but still annoyingly large amounts of daisies, dandelions etc. Try your best, but remember immaculately maintained beautiful gardens also speak of someone with lots of time on their hands or lots of money - how much do you have?

muckypaws

24/11/2011 at 15:29

It may have pretty yellow flowers but when it smothering rhubarb it needs getting out!

jegpad

24/11/2011 at 15:29

I'm cultivating, or rather, encouraging a wild flower garden and have followed advice here to cut the grass twice a year. The buttercups are glorious amids the forget-me-nots. That buttercups are considered anathema is mystifying to me.

Chromebaby

09/04/2012 at 08:23

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.

Lowenna

03/05/2012 at 18:47

It spreads rapidly in my borders and smothers other plants. I keep digging it out and keep watch for it at all times

PenylanSue

03/05/2012 at 19:05

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

obelixx

04/05/2012 at 06:55

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.

Gary Hobson

04/05/2012 at 09:17

obelixx wrote (see)

... Given half a chance, my borders are full of better flowers ...

'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.

obelixx

04/05/2012 at 14:49

Better meaning more attractive, more interesting and less thuggish. My garden is also "the right place" for nettles, thistles, couch grass, chick weed and sticky bud, none of which I choose to grow or encourage.

blairs

06/05/2012 at 10:33

Increasing the Nitrogen levels in the soil discourages them and as the Nitrogen level increases the less you will see of creeping Buttercups and clover. You also need to pull them up to stop them spreading further. Spraying them with Roundup does not work as the stems stay alive and spread even though the leaves fall off!

BrendaScott53

07/05/2012 at 11:02

They are a bit thuggish once you have them in a border. Ours tried taking over the chives border at the edge of the veg patch so I had to get the chives dug up and split and then dig out the CB's before replanting the chives, or potting them up to give away. If I'd not removed them, we'd have had no room to plant our veg. So yes, pretty wild flower, but unless we choose to have a wild flower garden, they'd be better to stay where they brelong - in the wild. I've been removing them consistently for the past 23 years and still haven't managed to eradicate them altogether. You have just got to admire a tough customer like this! Roundup does seem to weaken them a bit but as blairs says the stems stay alive and root themselves unless we have a long spell of very sunny weather, which does seem to kill them.

ian gillen

07/05/2012 at 22:42

ive got them in my border but keep them controlled to that area, i love it, just not too much of it

kaycurtis

31/08/2012 at 02:43

creeping buttercup, galloping bindweed, giant dandilions,rampaging ground elder, spiteful stinging neetles, choking cooch grass and that's not the end of it!!!!!! massive Brambles, leave the garden just a short while,you know things like the weather not being able to get out on the heavy clay and you are done for, so friends keep at it or your lovely gardens will end up like a jungle. Some one who knows, from experiance.

julie grove

02/09/2012 at 15:36

Hi we have creeping butter cups growing in our low growing shrubs wat can weed killer can we use on buttercups that wont harm the shrubs any suggestions thanks.

obelixx

02/09/2012 at 16:14

I don't like that particular shade of yellow and find them not at all pretty. They flower en mass in our paddock across the road and persistently reappear in my borders no matter what i do.

When we first created the garden from cow pasture we put down black plastic for 2 years to kill off the weeds - buttercup, nettles, thistles, docks and other delights but still they keep coming back. I'm happy to leave some nettles for butterflies to lay eggs but creeping buttercups are neither use nor ornament as far as I can tell and are a real pest which spoil the look of my chosen plants which are more attractive and provide nectar and pollen so are better for insects.

flowering rose

02/09/2012 at 16:47

your right,I dig them up all year round and they keep coming back.sometimes I kid myself that really they are something else then get disappointed.I suppose I should like them as they are very pretty in the wild but not in my garden.keep pulling up!!

flowering rose

02/09/2012 at 16:47