Decorative ground cover or weed? A second look by Vicki Barney

Bistop's weed 2016 Last summer I researched a cultivated plant, a pretty groundcover that, in my garden, turned shabby and thirsty looking by August.   ( See 2016 photo ) Snow-on-the-mountain or bishop’s weed ( Aegopodium podagraria ) is a nonnative ornamental plant brought by the European settlers to North America that thrives in shady areas, spreads by itself, and inhibits weeds.   Although CSU Extension lists it as a suitable groundcover ( http://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/yard-garden/ground-cover-plants-7-400/ ), other garden sites have labeled it one of the “worst” garden weeds in perennial flower gardens.   In a previous article, I determined it was a weed, calling it bishop’s weed.   ( http://www.steamboattoday.com/news/colorado-master-gardeners-decorative-ground-cover-or-weed/ ) My war on bishop’s weed started when I casually dug it up.   Bad idea:   bishop’s weed spreads by underground rhizomes that generate new growth from pieces of root left in the soil.   The