How can I get rid of Grape hyacinth that has taken over my garden, I dug loads of the bulbs out last year but now there are more than before

We have the same problem. Dig, dig dig and dead head to stop them seeding. Also use weedkiller. Slow job though!

how about some membrane to cut out the sun if its possible

Dig them up and give them away to friends and family - everyone loves free plants.

they sound interesting ill have some if you dont mind sending them.

No NP, you do not want them. they are the bulbous equivalent of ground elder or bindweed!

I love Grape Hyacinth, Owdboggy. If I lived in the UK I'd take some off your hands Stanley.....Just keep digging and deadheading like Owdboggy says. You'll get them eventually.

ow well im gonna take a look at some now.i hate being told know.you mite be right but you dont know wear i mite want to put them.a weed is a plant in the wrong place after all.no disrespect boggy take care bye for now.

I like Grape Hyacinth - it's the spanish bluebells in my garden that are a curse!

realy they sound interesting to lol

If you do a search on GoY, Leigh, it comes up with lots of photos. Its also called Muscari.

thanx gilli

ow its lovley will it grow in shade do ya know boggy id love some

elleme these plants look nice to they also seam very similer to Grape Hyacinth.i like them bothe.i wouldnt mind if they popped up all over my front garden.it seams there breeding with our native blue bell and mongralising them.i do like them.you cant say its an ugly or unpretty plant.if its very invasive as it seams then most gardens it wouldnt suite i guess fair play

Np - next door has them right through their beds and borders - OK, they look like a sea of blue while they are in flower, but they are choking the other plants, so they are really invasive now. She is always heaving up handfuls! But it doesn't seem to make any difference.

Yes, the bluebells are lovely in when flower but they do hybridise easily with the native, even more pretty bluebell. I think some people want them to be banned in case we lose the original native form. I'm kind of on the fence about that one, but Spritzhenry is right about them really choking out the other plants. I didn't plant either, save a more attractive type of grape hyacinth in my front garden (Muscari latifolium) so you never know, they may turn up of their own accord.

(Stanley, sorry for hijacking your thread with bluebells!) The usual grape hyacinth at least have thin leaves, though I doubt that makes much of a difference if you've got so many of them that you don't want them. They do seem to start coming up a bit earlier than some other bulbs so if you're digging them out now, also check next autumn.

No,no. Grape hyacinths do not and cannot hybrise with the native Bluebells. they are not the same species. It is the Spanish bluebell which has crossed with the English bluebell.
As far as I can see Muscari, the Grape Hyacinth, will gorw almost anywhere.
To give you an example, we dug up a ball of them (they form huge football size masses here) and got fed up counting at a ,1000 individual bulbs.
Don't get me wrong I like them too and it is a big family with white, blue and even yellow colours in it. If you want some then go for M. latifolia, it is similar but it does not spread as violently.

boggy is right ive looked it up .im going to listern to your advice you probably know a lot more than i do about plants.i just got a square of dirt at the end of garden behind my pond.its like a drain away for the dog run and my composter is down there.it gets barley any light.i just thaught i could jass it up a bit with some plants .they have got to deal with a lot there so these seamed ideal for just there.the rest of my garden is raised garden ,raised 2000 gallon pond or hard standing.im not thinking of the neighbers garden though am i.come to think of it i used to have ground elder when i moved in .i mite do a sculpture there instead lol.thank you so much for your advise .its a pitty such beautifull things are so ugly inside like a pretty trifid lol or a super model lol

Huh? Who said anything about muscari hybridising with bluebell? I didn't.

some one did lol

Not me!

or me i like the look of it myself but i guess i wouldnt want just that.has it made it into the neighbers.i would be inclined to forget my garden this year if i was you.cover it with thick black polythene and weight it down.i had to do that to some bamboo that prooved to be a nightmare to get rid of.

Hello there. I have just read your messages, and just in time I would say!! I've got some muscari in a pot at the front of the house, maybe about 6 bulbs. I was just going to plant them in my garden, but wont bother now!! I think I will divide them up between my pots and not put them in the ground.EVER!!

Can I change the subject? Has anyone had similar problems with Lilly of the Valley? My youngest son has just bought me a couple from a plant fair. I love them but don't want my garden over-run with them.