Hedge bindweed (Calystegia sepium) is a hardy perennial native to the eastern United States that has spread throughout the nation.

It is also known as large bindweed, great bindweed, devil’s vine, lady’s nightcap and wild morning glory.

Hedge bindweed is a vine that can grow up to 10 feet. A small piece of rhizome or a weed seed from nursery stock, mulch or compost can introduce this weed into new areas.

Sprouts from overwintered rhizomes emerge in early spring and grow horizontally along the ground, twining counterclockwise until finding another plant or structure on which to wind tightly around and through vertically.

Overwintered seeds emerge later in the spring and early summer.

It has a relatively shallow root system attached to fleshy rhizomes that can grow deeply and extensively. Most of the root system can be found in the top two feet of soil.

The leaves are green, smooth, alternate, and triangular, with a pointed apex (tip).

The base of the leaf has distinct, angular, squarely cut lobes on either side of the petiole, and the lobes point away from the petiole.

Leaves are two to four inches long and half or less as wide.

This bindweed is in the morning glory family (Convolvulaceae). Its flowers are attractive and resemble annual morning glory flowers.

Hedge bindweed flowers are white and sometimes slightly pink. Morning glory is an annual that readily reseeds, but its flowers come in shades of purple and lavender.

A mature egg-shaped seed capsule will contain two to four brown seeds.

The capsules fall to the ground when ripe but can be dispersed through the movement of water, wildlife, and birds.

Also, morning glory leaves are heart-shaped, rounded at the base, and pointed at the apex.

Hedge bindweed flowers emerge from the leaf axils in the summer heat, July through August.

There are two large green bracts that conceal the five overlapping sepals at the base of the bloom.

The petals of the flower are fused into a funnel shape, about one-and-a-half to three inches long and two inches wide.

The flowers bloom in the early morning and close at night.

Bindweed is extremely difficult to eradicate because of its extensive underground system of roots and rhizomes.

If you continuously pull any new sprouts, the rhizomes will eventually lose strength. But this requires consistent weekly effort and usually for more than one season.

Because it twines tightly around nearby plants, removing the bindweed vines can be difficult without damaging the “host” plant.

It is possible to cut the weed where it meets the ground, but the stems of the dead bindweed plant will still be visible after they dry and brown.

A pre-emergent can be used for the seeds. Systemic herbicides that translocate the killing chemicals from the foliage to the roots can be an option. These are best used in the fall.

Always follow label directions for any herbicide and remember: more is not better.

It is often difficult to isolate bindweed from other plants when it is growing in a perennial bed or mixed border.

The problem with using herbicides in perennial beds is that they are non-selective, meaning they will kill not only the bindweed but every plant the herbicide touches.

Hedge bindweed is an awful weed for home gardeners. Eradicate it when you first see it before it can spread and become a perennial problem.

“Growing Green” is contributed by Diane Dorn, Lehigh County Extension Office Staff, and Master Gardeners. Information: Lehigh County Extension Office, 610-391-9840; Northampton County Extension Office, 610-813-6613