How to kill selective Bleeding Hearts plants..

[The Henchman]

Bleeding hearts is over running portions of my garden. When I try to dig up the roots i always end of splicing the roots. And wow do the roots of that plant spread out....

Considering I have lots of ground cover that I'm trying to preserve if I dig up Bleeding hearts' rootball but end up leaving a portion of it in the ground, whats the likihood of it growing back? The trowels just slice thru the roots.

Other than digging up the root of the plant, is there another way to get rid of selective bleeding hearts without damaging the other plants/ground cover? Something with a syringe?

Looking for all manner of advice

zone 5b Ontario Canada

[songbird]

trim it back close to the ground, put weed barrier fabric over it and mulch it well. at the seams fold and staple the fabric to the ground so the roots and shoots can't come back through (you might still get a few strays anyways, but by folding at least it makes it a bit of a challenge...).

if you want the ground cover to grow back in then you can put the fabric down over the cut back bleeding hearts and put some new topsoil over that and then chop plugs of your ground cover and plant them around to fill in. i'd still mulch it some to keep the weeds easier to pull.

at the extent you want the bleeding heart to grow put an impermiable edge/collar down into the soil around it.

songbird

[The Henchman]

Thanks for the heads up. I'll keep trying the digging up roots method but I may use your method next spring when damage to the other ground cover won't be as extensive.

Thanks again!