So apparently Mugwort is a weed

[VA_LongBean]

I purchased seeds or mugwort in early 2014 and planted the 2 or three, sweet smelling plants, in my veggie garden. This year I had a huge bush to contend with. In doing further reading I've learned that many people have had horrible times eradicating this plant. Now what?

 

[Carol Dee]

Start digging. Get all of the root. Any new shoots. Pull or dig as soon as they come up. You will get it.

 

[seedcorn]

IF it is truly an evasive weed, Glysophate it and any that come up from seeds.

Don't mess with it.

 

[so lucky]

It apparently has some medicinal uses. And you can wear a wreath made of the stems and leaves, to resist being possessed by demons.

 

[digitS']

Artemisia grows along our rivers when the water levels drop.

I like to pick a sprig and carry it in my shirt pocket.

Demons? Never met them down there. Never drank absinthe, however.

Steve

 

[Lavender2]

What @Carol Dee said, and heavily mulch the area for at least a year, watching for determined shoots that survived the smother. At least it does not have an annoying tap root to deal with, but it continually sends out shoots to spread. Get it before it goes to seed.

Years ago I brought the Oriental Limelight variety home from a plant trade, read claims that is less aggressive. I quickly learned that if someone brings twenty pots of a pretty plant, just run the other way! I probably looked like a possessed demon while digging it out the next five years. Had it not been crawling through a perennial bed, I may have considered @seedcorn 's suggestion. Pretty and nice smelling, when grown in a pot, or maybe along a river.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I got a chuckle from that image of crawling and digging in a perennial bed Lavender, been there and done that. I won't say those are pleasant memories. That's thorny blackberries that got established in a landscaping bed, probably by birds dropping a seed and me being slow to dig it out. I'm still working on that but I'm getting closer. Perseverance is the key, plus never let it go to seed or get established.

I've avoided planting some things because I heard they were invasive, usually from people on this forum. Thanks for the warnings. The only invasives I have that I want, blackberries and mint, are planted where I can control them by mowing. I had a hybrid poplar to deal with, kept sending up shoots all over after I cut it down. Brush-B-Gone finally took care of that but it took several sprayings as sprouts just kept popping up. Perseverance! Johnson grass is in my main garden too. Talk about a mass of tubers if you don't get it when it first sprouts. I'll be dealing with that for a while. A neighbor has let burdock get established in his pasture next to me. It's a place that is hard to mow, but it keeps invading me. Constant mowing and judicious use of Glysophate are required. Sometimes my Glysophate might drift onto his side. He doesn't complain.

Then you have the constant invasive here, Bermuda grass. It's great in a lawn, hayfield, or pasture but a real problem in flowers and veggies. In non-food areas like my isolated iris beds I'll use a grass killer but anywhere close to things I eat I have to think of barriers and do a lot of digging.

In my opinion invasive plants are noting to take lightly. Be careful and don't let them through the door to start with. Especially don't invite them in.

 

[VA_LongBean]

Well, it is smack in the middle of my vegetable garden (I have plans for the space in 2016) so mulch is not an option. I'll try digging it out and solarizing the likely root zone.

Don't get me started about Glechoma hederacea, aka ground ivy. At least I can manage that invasive.