Yet another gardening mistake in the same shady border with the awful Bishop’s weed? Yep. Except I planted Houttuynia four years ago, so have been regretting it for much longer. Just look at the taproot on this sucker – like a tiny carrot, only a lot longer. None of my mere weeding tools are even long enough for this guy.
The photo on the right shows what happens to it in the shade, where its tricolor leaves (red, yellow and green) revert to all green. Cute little flower, though.
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Have you noticed the smell of those plants when you pull them? Ugh. I was constantly pulling them out of my Arlington back yard. Impossible to eradicate. Leaving the houttuynia – think it’s also called chameleon plant – was one of the big upsides of selling my old house.
You should consider avoiding any nursery selling houttuynia aka chameleon plant aka Korean ivy because it’s both aggressive and probably invasive. After 5 years of trying to eradicate my mistake, I’ve given up digging and smothering and hoeing and all the standard good, organic ways of trying to eliminate it. The only way to eliminate it is to paint its leaves — whenever they pop out of the ground — with straight from the containter glyphosate (41%). I’ve been doing this for three or four summers now and am making progress. Maybe next summer no more leaves will pop up. But I wouldn’t bet on it. I’m ready with my bottle of glyphosate if it does.