On 25 Jan 08, at 12:34, Lee Poulsen wrote: > ...the almost impossible to eradicate weed N. gracile or inodorum... Since I've been fighting this for a very long time now, perhaps a report from the battle front will be of interest. This horror arrived as seed labelled "Leucojum trichophyllum." I know who contributed and won't name any names, but it was someone who you would have expected to know better. I've often wondered how many other gardens were similarly infested. It was pretty clear after a year or two that whatever I had wasn't Leucojum trichophyllum; the leaves were definitely not hairlike. When this monster first flowered I thought, oh, that's not so bad. Little did I know. After flowering, it set copious seed which fell into circumjacent pots in the coldframe. Enlightenment arrived in the form of a diatribe by a local friend who was lamenting that he'd been digging his up and putting it in the compost, not realizing all this did was spread it around. Uh oh. Once I realized what I had, I began to watch for the flowers. They're quite distinctive and, frankly, not *that* attractive. When a bulb flowered, I'd carefully lift it and then pour a kettle of boiling water into the hole in order to cook any stray bulblets. Nothscordum inodorum not only sets copious seed, but also an infinity of bulblets underground (much like a frit rice grains) -- and these bulblets are the size, shape, and color of apple seeds, so they are very difficult to find and remove. I'm not exactly sure when this monster arrived here, but it was around 1990, perhaps a little earlier. At present I believe my garden is free of it, but I continue to keep a close watch both for the flowers and for the rather distinctive keeled leaves. Allium roseum is now the pest du jour. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate on beautiful Vancouver Island