About 40 years ago I planted two Erythronium revolutum. Despite my
sending seeds to several seed exchanges
each year, they managed to seed themselves so that I had hundreds, and
their pink flowers were one of
the joys of spring every year. Till last year. I couldn't see any. Had
the deer eaten all the flowers? But there
weren't any leaves, either.

Then I noticed Anemone nemorosa leaves along the whole border. This is a
wild form with incredibly long
twiggy rhizomes, not the short-rhizomed named forms. It had been way
down at one end of the bed, and
while I wasn't paying attention it had zoomed over the Erythronium
territory where its intertwined rhizomes
had completely blocked Erythronium access to the sky.. I began digging
it out, and bucket loads went
into the garbage. I cleared about a quarter of the area.

Today there are ten wan-looking flowers and lots of single leaves in the
cleared area. I started clearing
again. It is going to take a couple of years for them to get their
strength back.