Goutweed Blues

By Kristin Pizzica

My obsession with goutweed is a direct result of the countless hours I have spent hunched over in gardens removing it one stem at a time. One fall, I ran a test and dug up a section of the weed, making sure to take the roots with it. Then I sprayed the area with a powerful systemic herbicide, but by spring the area was covered with the weed again. With a deep sigh, I again removed the weed, one stem at a time.

Several of my gardening clients have asked me to identify and remove this horribly invasive weed. A frustrated homeowner is usually hoping for a permanent solution to their problem, but sadly, my response is always the same. All I can do is keep pulling it out and hope it doesn’t spread.

A sense of humor may help you cope with the frustration, though. On one tour of a homeowner’s gardens, upon my initial visit to their property, the homeowner proudly announced, “and here is my goutweed garden”. I thought this attitude was a stroke of genius. She had given up the fight and allowed this weed to prominently show itself among her manicured beds. Another joke… When a homeowner asks you what to do about goutweed, simply respond, “Move.”

Of course, not everyone is willing to go to such drastic measures to avoid the problem, so we just keep pulling. Tugging at these resilient weeds does seem to keep them from spreading. There are some things you can do to ensure that goutweed doesn’t take over your property. The first is to be careful when receiving a gift from a neighbor’s garden. While it is a fun tradition to share plants with each other, if the plant you received was removed from an area with goutweed, you now have goutweed.

Another frequent mistake is in the compost. If you removed goutweed and added it to your compost pile, your compost is now contaminated. Spreading that compost over gout-free areas of the garden may cause them to be gout-free no more. Finally, if you have mulch or compost delivered, make sure it is dropped in a gout-free area, so the pile does not become contaminated.

In the meantime, I’ll be thinking of my fellow goutweed sufferers as I pull, and pull, and pull.

Photo by Kristin Pizzica.