Field bindweed

How to recognise it

Habit

Perennial with twining or creeping stems 20 cm to 2 m long, which wind around other plants, fences and wire.

Leaf

Alternate, stalked, arrow- to spear-shaped, 2–5 cm, untoothed.

Flower

Funnel-shaped, 1.5–2.5 cm across, white or pink, often with pink or white stripes, one to three together in the leaf axils; faint almond scent. From June to September.

Fruit

Round capsule with a few dark, hard seeds that stay viable in the soil for years, sometimes more than twenty.

Roots

White, brittle roots and rhizomes that go several metres deep; every fragment can grow into a new plant.

Confusion with

Hedge bindweed has much larger white flowers, 3–6 cm across, with two large bracts enclosing the calyx; in field bindweed the bracts are small and sit some way below the flower.

Flowering: June–September · Pruning: June–September

Why grow it?

• Flowers all summer, from June to September, with open flowers full of pollen for honeybees, wild bees and hoverflies.
• In Europe there are even wild bees that collect their pollen almost exclusively from bindweeds.
• Food plant for the caterpillars of the convolvulus hawk-moth, a large migrant, and of the white plume moth.
• A graceful flower on verges, banks and between paving stones that needs no care at all.
• The flowers open in the morning and close in rain and towards evening: a fine example of a plant that responds to the weather.

Field bindweed: where does it grow best?

• In the wild in fields, on verges, dykes, railway banks, waste ground and in the dunes.
• Sun; in shade it hardly flowers.
• Almost any soil, preferably loose, dry to moist and slightly limy; it copes with drought thanks to its deep roots.
• In the garden: only where it can do no harm, such as on a verge, against a fence by the street or on a bank, far from the vegetable plot and borders.

Goes well with

• Common poppy: Together they colour a field edge or a sunny verge.
• Cornflower: A blue cornfield flower for the same sunny, open ground.
• Wild carrot: White umbels on the verge, also full of insects.
• Yarrow: Tough and drought-tolerant, flowering at the same time.
• Bird’s-foot trefoil: A low yellow flower that colours the verge together with bindweed.

Field bindweed: when and how to plant it?

1. Usually you need do nothing: field bindweed turns up by itself. Never plant it deliberately in a vegetable plot or border.
2. If you still want it in a wild corner, on a bank or against a fence, sow a few seeds in autumn or April after lightly roughening them.
3. Choose a sunny spot that you can mow all round, so it does not creep further.
4. Or let it climb a wire or trellis in a large pot or tub, and stand the pot on a paving slab so the roots stay contained.
5. No watering is needed after germination.
6. Do not take plants from the wild: it grows almost everywhere by itself.

Care

Watering

Not needed: its deep roots draw water from the subsoil.

Feeding

Not needed.

Spreading

Gently untangle stems that go too far and cut them off at ground level. Repeat every few weeks: this weakens the root.

Control in borders

Do not dig: every root fragment regrows. Remove shoots as soon as they appear; after a few years the root is exhausted. Dense planting helps.

Seed

Cut off faded stems before the seed ripens if you do not want new plants.

Tip: Want it out of your border? Pull out every new shoot as soon as you see it, all season long. Without leaves the root is exhausted; digging only makes things worse.

Pruning and mowing

Pruning months: June–September.

When: From June to September, whenever it smothers other plants too much.

How:

• Unwind stems that are smothering other plants and cut them off at ground level.
• On a verge, mowing in June and September, removing the cuttings, is enough.
• In a wild corner, let some of it flower for the bees.

Caution: Do not put roots or seed-bearing stems on the compost heap: they survive and spread with the compost.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Root fragments

Its main method: every piece of root or rhizome grows into a new plant. That is why it spreads so easily with soil or digging.

Seed

Hard seeds that stay viable in the soil for years; they germinate in spring.

Field bindweed: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy to −25 °C.

• The stems above ground die back in autumn; the deep roots survive the winter.
• In April–May new shoots appear, often scattered over a large area.
• Fully hardy.

Diseases and pests

• Spreading: In vegetable plots and borders it smothers crops. Keep removing shoots, keep the soil covered and do not dig.
• Spread with soil: Root fragments travel with imported soil or potted plants. Check new plants and soil carefully.
• Plants pulled over: Twining stems drag young plants down. Unwind them in time.
• Powdery mildew: White powder on the leaves in dry summers. Harmless to the plant.

Through the year

• April: New shoots appear.
• May: Pull out shoots in the borders.
• June: Flowering begins. Cut back stems where they smother other plants.
• July: Full flower: bees and hoverflies.
• August: Flowering. Cut back stems. With luck you may see a convolvulus hawk-moth caterpillar.
• September: Last flowers. Mow the verge.
• October: The stems die back.

Did you know?

• Its roots can reach several metres deep, which lets field bindweed survive even long droughts.
• Each flower lasts only one day: it opens in the morning and closes towards evening or in rain.
• The convolvulus hawk-moth, a large moth that migrates to Belgium from southern Europe and Africa, lays its eggs on bindweeds.