(Question)
- Hello, this weed is wrote prevalent in GTA lawns and gardens. I’d love to know what it is! Thanks in advance.
(Answer)
Hello, and thank you for contacting the Toronto Master Gardeners
Yes indeed the plant you ask about is Creeping bellflower Campanula rapunculoides and it is voracious in the extreme. It is also a master of disguise as it starts life out with small heart shaped leaves, as the plant grows the leaves narrow, lengthen and become dark green with small hairs on the underside. It mimics many other plants in the garden it is often missed until it flowers and set seeds, by then it becomes almost impossible to eradicate as it has grown extensive underground rhizomes and each plant can produce 15,000 seeds per season.
Here is the OMFRA website on creeping bellflower
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/ontweeds/creeping_bellflower.htm