Eek…a nasty word that…aegopodium.  A native of Europe and Asia, often called Bishop’s weed/ground elder/goutweed…this plant is regarded as an ecological threat.  It is AGGRESSIVE and INVASIVE, and reduces species diversity in the ground layer.  In other words, you don’t want it in your garden.  It has long white branching rhizomes underground that go everywhere.  EVERYWHERE.  When I was in the garden early in the summer it looked like this…

You might almost think it was pretty, with the little white flowers…until you began to notice it was EVERYWHERE…

with the volunteer gardeners bravely waging war against it…

The other day I was in the garden and was amazed to see that MUCH aegopodium had been removed, with newspaper put down and mulch on top to keep it down…

fingers crossed!  But on the brighter side…the boxwood is back!!

and the new bench looks great!