Weeds - Bindweed

Bindweed is a climber with heart-shaped leaves and a large white trumpet flower. There is another variety which has smaller pink trumpet flowers. Both these are weeds. They die die back above ground during the winter, then regrow from their roots. There is a related garden flower called a convolvulus, which is easy to control as it's an annual, and dies in winter, roots and all.

Bindweed grows extremely quickly. It uses other plants to grow up, and can smother them. If I take my eye off my raspberries, I can find them covered with bindweed in a few weeks! It spreads underground through its roots, which also grow quickly. Removing the stem and leaves is not enough, as the energy is stored in these roots. The roots are long, round and white. I've heard it said that any piece of bindweed root, however small, will grow more bindweed.

It is very hard to remove all bindweed, as the roots grow under paths, or come in from neighbouring gardens, or come from too deep to remove, or you just overlook a piece of root. The roots can break off as well, leaving the rest of the root for you to find. So bindweed tends to be one of the endemic weeds in my garden, controlled but not removed. Grr!

On the other hand, it is a pretty flower, and sometimes, late summer, it's tempting to leave it covering a fence or shed... It means more root to deal with later, of course. I really shouldn't do that.

If you remove the root and break it off the stem, then the plant above ground will die. However, it's probably entangled in other greenery, and looks rather ugly when dead, so you may want to remove it. However, be careful. The bindweed is wound round the other plant, and just tugging at the bindweed can strip leaves off the other plant, which is not advised. You have to unwind the bindweed carefully, from the other plant, which is tedious. I snip the bindweed (NOT the other plant!) in various places with secateurs, so there are shorter pieces to unwind. (Secateurs aren't really necessary, as bindweed isn't that strong, but pulling it until it breaks can damage the other plant). If you have masses of bindweed growing where it's hard to remove the roots (my raspberries!), it's worth hunting close to the ground, and snipping all bindweed stems you find, as that stops the problem from getting any worse. But be careful that it is bindweed that you're cutting off!

Bindweed

Growing up a fence

Growing up a bamboo stake

Flower eaten by bug when a bud!

Click on photos for large version.