Family: CAMPANULACEAE
The friend who gave me this plant for my garden couldn’t understand why I wanted it. “Once you have it, you’ll never be rid of it”, she warned me.She was quite right, but actually I’ve never really wanted to be without it.
It’s a pretty little thing, which gracefully fills in the gaps between other plants and is ornamented with a sprinkle of little white flowers for more than half the year. Its dark green leaves are backed with purple. It wanders where it pleases, hugging the ground in half-sun (or if mown), and growing a little taller in well-watered shade. Full sun is too much for it.
I doesn’t really qualify as a “groundcover” in the sense that it grows only as a rather open plant. This is not something to plant as a weed-excluder, but has the converse virtue that it co-exists happily with anything, even small plants, that you might want to plant in the middle of a whiteroot patch.
In this photo taken in Franke Scrub, it is growing very lushly in damp, shaded soil - yet it has survived happily in my garden with no supplementary watering, through the droughts of the last few years.
It is a frost hardy plant.
ON WRITING COMMENTS. I have had the occasional abusive response to this blog from lawn purists who apparently cannot believe that anyone might find a pretty native plant to be aesthetically more pleasing than an expanse of green lawn.
I am reminded of the Chinese landscape gardener who was baffled by the Western fashion for lawns, remarking that he saw them as being "of interest only to cows. "
To those who feel the urge to write abusive remarks on my own preference for native plants, can I remind you, please, that this is a personal blogsite about growing plants native to the Toowoomba region, in their own place in the world. Here, whiteroot only becomes weedy in gardens where it is given supplementary watering.
Feedback on exterminating it in favour of introduced plant species is out of place.
I've been trying to pull this out of my garden. Now I'll leave it as I know it won't smother my other plants.
ReplyDeleteOzibird
Hey luv,s I have this in my garden and it is a nightmare. The roots become swollen, it seems to intersect with other plantings roots and them do diminish. Perhaps where u live is a factor, I'm on far north coast NSW.
DeleteGood for you!
ReplyDeleteI think there are people for whom gardening is all about asserting control. For them, a plant which they didn't put there is, by definition, a bad plant. We lose a lot of very special little natives that way.
Trish
So what are you suggesting Patricia? That people who don't like weeds taking over their garden are somehow control freaks? Mark my words, White Root is a weed in every sense of the term. I have it in my lawn and have tried in vain to eradicate it. It has taken over large areas completely, wiping out the cooch which just can't compete with it. Yes it has a pretty little white flower and in some gardens it would be fine, but certainly not for gardens with lawns..
ReplyDeleteIt's all a matter of how much you like lawn, isn't it Jim? To some of us, lawn grasses can be weeds. I'm surprised to hear that whiteroot can out-compete couch, though. It doesn't work for me (and I wish it would!)
ReplyDeleteTrish
Hello Trish and Others,
ReplyDeleteWhite root invades shady areas of my lawn and does seem to have reduced the couch cover.
It does not bother me much. The area remains green through the year while the rest of the grass browns off with frost. It does not get attacked by lawn grubs and does not seem to need to be mown as regularly. It could make a suitable grass substitute.
You could reduce its vigour with some selective herbicid if it got on your goat. I am too busy with lantana and asparagus and other more troublesome weeds to worry about it.
each to their own.
Righto then
Mick
Good to hear from you, Mick.
ReplyDeleteI am interested to hear that whiteroot can suppress anything at all.
With regard to lawns, there is a lot of difference in individual tastes. Some people encourage those European lawn daisies, for instance, while others poison them.
Lawn-daisy-lovers might like to have white-root in their gardens as well, to fill in those bare spots that shaded lawns can develop.
As you say, those who really like their lawns pure could easily get rid of it with the same sorts of poisons they use for clover, dandelions, and for those pesky lawn daisies.
Trish
I have just discovered this pretty little flower on my Gum Tree block at Pinelands. Since I have removed the African Love Grass it has taken off creating a delightful carpet under the shade of the tall Gums. I am so excited to find it here. Is it a native?
ReplyDeleteNice to hear from you, Joan.
ReplyDeleteDid I fail to mention that it was native!!?
My blog is ONLY about plants native to the basalt soils (the red and the black) in the Toowoomba region and eastern Darling Downs. So you can count on your plants being genuine, dinki-di natives!
And yes, isn't this plant a little delight?
Trish
I hate this plant! It's ok in the lawn or as a groundcover, but it has taken over my vege garden and I don't forgive it. Am trying to eradicate it by removing the first foot of soil in my built-up bed and replacing it with fresh new soil. I bet I miss a few tendril-like roots though and in 12 months it will be romping around my asparagus and strawberries once again. I really want to spray it out, but am told nothing will stop it. Any ideas?
ReplyDeleteIt's only a plant! Spraying with the right stuff will kill anything.
ReplyDeleteBUT no weed removal process is forever. It seems a bit unrealistic to expect any kind of weed to not re-invade after 12 months.
I suppose you do know the difference between a selective herbicide (sold for killing weeds in lawns without harming the grass) and a general herbicide, (which will kill everything it touches)?
You would use a general herbicide (e.g. glyphosate) on whiteroot in a vege garden, and just make sure you restrict it to the whiteroot leaves and don't kill other plants as well.
Don't expect magic. Do expect to have to repeat the process fairly often at first until the roots are weakened to the point of dying. Then you will always have do it again, every now and then, whenever needed. Just as with any other weed.
If you check the internet you will notice that the "nothing will stop it" attitude is only held by people who want to remove it from lawn without killing the grass. Mother Nature hates lawn, so is not very co-operative about killing off good plants just for the sake of growing something that looks like a carpet. Apparently only a few of the selective herbicides will actually work on whiteroot.
This is not your problem, so you can happily ignore those who tell you nothing will ever work for you.
Trish
I'm also in Northern NSW and it's great to read your blog here and the conversation. Thanks. My white root is expanding rapidly and happily from under my lime tree where it has SO appreciated last year's bark chip mulch. It's on it's way to the raised garden veggies so I'm hoping to control it's spread. I'm also here looking at the web for more info because I want to know of any concerns re the citrus. I know citrus have shallow feeder roots and am concerned about the white root interaction becoming a negative one? Any more anecdotal experience or thoughts on this would be of interest to me. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteI'm also in NSW and have similar problems with white root in the veggie garden. Don't let it in is my advice. And stay on top of it. The roots swell and the plant soaks up all the water and nutrients that my veggies need. It also sends roots through the root ball of other plants, and I think this weakens them. Where the white root is, the soil is drier and more compacted than in other areas, and the plants don't do as well. And I am sure this is due to it being there, not the other way around. I would LOVE ideas for getting rid of it without herbicides, as mulching does nothing.
ReplyDeleteVegies are hungry, thirsty plants. Any other plant grown in with them, whether a weed or not, is likely to provide unwanted competition - especially if it is a water-loving species, as plants of the whiteroot's family are. Even planting your vegies close together will cause them to "send roots through the root ball" of other vegies, weakening them by taking too much nutrient and water out of the soil for any of the vegies to grow well.
ReplyDeleteWhiteroot grows happily in harmony with other shallow-rooted native plants, doing them no harm at all. Shrubs and trees of all kinds are happy with it, as it uses a different level of the soil.
Growing food is a different matter from growing natives (which is the subject of this blog). If you want to grow food, and don't want to use pesticides (for which I congratulate you) the only solution is to get down to the nitty gritty of regular hand-weeding.
Trish
I'm so grateful for your post, as I have now been able to ID this little plant.
ReplyDeleteI inherited it growing in a garden bed and through a dry stone retaining wall in a mountain garden (1100m ASL) and it is so charming with its tiny little star-like flowers.
It puts up with heavy snow, prolonged frosts, heat, drought, sun, shade and flowers for most of the year.
The fact that it is native is even better....I may even introduce it into the 'lawn' to let it get rid of pesky summer mowing once and for all!!
Hi Matt.
ReplyDeleteAs you can see from the comments above, not everyone likes this plant, so it's a bit of a relief to hear from someone who shares my appreciation for it.
I am interested to hear about the snow.
Cheers, Trish
Thanks for your info Trish. We have this lovely little plant flowering all through the forest adjacent to us at the moment and I had always been led to believe that it is a weed. So thank you for your info. After all, a weed is only a plant in the wrong place . I am happy to know it is a native.
ReplyDelete