Plants to combat ground elder

Anne Swithinbank's masterclass on: Smothering weeds

- Anne Swithinbank's

Our exotic border was invaded by ground elder hitching a lift with lily of the valley. By allowing a canopy of growth to evolve, the weed is shaded out and I won't be leaving a bare patch of soil at the front empty for long

Q I can't seem to rid a border of ground elder by digging it out, as it returns from around the base of shrubs and from under a fence. What large-leaved plants will shade it out?

Teresa Birchill, Longford, Gloucester

A The white flower umbels of ground elder are typical of plants in Apiaceae, the cow parsley family, and non-gardeners could be forgiven for wondering why their gardening friends hate this plant so much. The answer lies below ground-because ground elder (Aegopodium podagraria) fills the soil beneath its leaves with a spaghetti-like mass of underground rhizomes. Not for nothing is it also called 'devil's guts'.