Creep

Meet Campanula rapunculoides – commonly known as creeping bellflower, rampion bellflower and rampion harebell.  

This is a perennial non-native alien from Europe and Siberia that is popularized by garden centers. Which is understandable as it is quite showy and easy on the eyes. There was a sizeable patch of it growing in the shady understory beneath our best apple tree.  

According to the interweb this plant is edible too. The tuberous roots are purportedly similar to parsnip and the leaves (when young) are eaten in salads. That’s it for the good news.  

This plant is bad news for valuable native plants if it escapes your garden or the confines of your yard. It will invade prairie plantings, woodlands, stream banks, oak savanna and everything else to spread, out-compete and crowd-out beneficial wildlife plants. 

So I nuked it with a double-strong batch of glyphosate solution. 

Death to the creep.