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Cyclamen misery

Catherine-25Catherine-25 Posts: 12
in Problem solving
Over the last three years cyclamen have invaded my garden. They are growing in the lawn, they are completely suffocating my heucharas and I don’t know how to get rid of them. They have become totally invasive. I can’t really even begin to try weedkiller because they grow in around & over so many plants.   
Any suggestions?
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Posts

  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    Forgive me, @Catherine-25, but do you mean celandine, not cyclamen?  I can't see cyclamen being invasive in anyone's garden...

    Welcome to the forum, by the way!   :)
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Cyclamen hederifolium spreads in this garden ... they’re all over the place ... but the leaves will soon be gone for another nine months or so and they provide gorgeous marbled greenery in the winter ... what’s not to love? 😍

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    If the OP does indeed mean cyclamen... I have deep envy!  Perhaps she could lob some spares across the Irish sea...
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    It sounds amazing if true.
  • Catherine-25Catherine-25 Posts: 12
    Believe me you’d be more than welcome!     I would never have believed that I would be complaining about a surfeit of these pretty little things!
  • Catherine-25Catherine-25 Posts: 12
    They’re definitely cyclamen.  Last year I spent hours digging up the corms and sifting through the soil to pick out the ‘bulbils’ but it hasn’t affected their numbers.   I’d let them be if they weren’t suffocating other plants - tiarellas in particular. Does anyone think that I could ease the situation by removing the leaves & thus (hopefully) weakening them?   I already remove the little spirals.  
  • Catherine-25Catherine-25 Posts: 12
    Sorry, not tiarella - heucharella!
  • clarke.bruntclarke.brunt Posts: 215
    edited February 2021
    I planted Cyclamen coum around the base of my big old apple tree in the lawn (had loads of them after growing from seed from my own plants). They're all in flower now, but also coming up everywhere else - ants transport the seeds, not because they like the seed, but each comes with an attached package of 'ant-food', so the seeds are not only taken away but 'planted' down ant-holes. The seedlings elsewhere in the lawn aren't going to thrive, as their foliage will be mown off shortly (I leave the area near the apple tree, which doesn't really have grass anyway).

    My original Cyclamen coum were all deep pink with plain green leaves, but I bought some white and patterned ones to add some variety elsewhere in the garden, and am now getting a good mixture of seedlings.

    No idea how you'd get rid if not wanted, other than digging up the corms, but difficult if among the roots of other plants.

    I just have a single Cyclamen hederifolium, kept in a pot, and (hopefully) prevented from seeding as I don't want it spreading (it might have to go!). I just prefer Cyclamen coum for its later (maybe Christmas onwards) flowers and less rampant leaves.
  • Catherine-25Catherine-25 Posts: 12
    Like you, Clarke.Brunt, I started with cyclamen coum- beneath an oak - and for 35 years they’ve been a delight.   The hederifolia just turned up from nowhere and are real bullies.    
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    wow
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