How to Grow Bishop's Weed (Aegopodium Podagraria)

By eHow Home & Garden Editor

Rate: (5 Ratings)

Bishop's weed is an herbaceous ground cover (it dies back in winter) that looks good in part shade or containers. Grow bishop's weed in USDA zones 7 and 8.

Flag Article

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Bypass Pruners
Fertilizers
Garden Hoses
Mulch
Plants

Step1

Look for plants at nurseries in spring and summer.

Step2

Choose healthy-looking plants with signs of new growth in leaves and flower buds. Buy bishop's weed in 4-inch to 1-gallon containers.

Step3

Choose a site with part shade and well-drained soil.

Step4

Set plants no deeper than they were growing in the containers. Plant them 1 foot apart.

Step5

Mulch around but not on top of the plants with 3 inches of organic compost.

Step6

Water well until soil is completely moist.

Step7

Trim back the flower heads after bloom with scissors or bypass pruners.

Tips & Warnings

Choose the variegated form (with some white on the green leaves) - it's prettier and grows less aggressively.
Bishop's weed can try to take over a garden, so it's best to plant in an area bordered by sidewalk or steps or to put it in a pot.

Who Can Help:

Comments

Anonymous said

Flag This Comment

on 8/8/2006 Do not ever plant bishop's weed. Future generations of owners of your land will curse you. I have been doing battle with it for over 20 years, and I am losing. You can dig it out and dig it out, but if you leave one tiny little piece of the root in the ground, the plant will come roaring back.

Anonymous said

Flag This Comment

on 6/30/2006 I am just not a gardener. The front bed was always nasty and weedy, and I was forever fighting it ... until I transplanted Aegopodium.

This is my idea of a perfect bed. A lovely plant that gardens itself and chokes out ugly weeds. Bring it on!

Anonymous said

Flag This Comment

on 6/30/2006 I have had this in my two front yard gardens for about 9 years now. It works very well with the peony bush I planted in the middle of the Bishop's weed. When they both come up together, it looks like a giant bouquet with the tiny flowers and beautiful leaves. One thing to be very aware of is it does tend to grow out. The area you plant it in should be a contained area. Before the flowers drop their heads and blow around, be sure to cut them off or you will have some plants growing where you don't want them. I have them in two areas of my yard, one is in full sun to partial shade (in the afternoon, and early morning) the other is under a pine tree for ground cover (it is in the shade all the time and still grows wonderfully).

The key is to be sure to contain the area you want the Bishop's weed to be in in, so it will stay there.

Anonymous said

Flag This Comment

on 3/21/2006 Do not ever have this in your garden. One day it will be everywhere and the only way to get rid of it is by getting new soil!

Anonymous said

Flag This Comment

on 11/22/2005 Bishops weed spreads under the surface of the ground. We have no problem controlling it because we use that black landscape border material that comes in rolls (approx 5" deep x 20 ' long). We just dig along the edge of where we want to stop the bishops weed and push the border material down level with the ground. You can't see the border, but it stops bishops weed roots from spreading. Try it, you'll like it!

View All