Bindweed

Growing bindweed – ordinary substrate, sunny position or partial shade, moderate watering

In brief: Field bindweed is a tenacious perennial weed with deep roots that you can get rid of only by patient, repeated removal. Dwarf morning glory (Convolvulus tricolor), on the other hand, is an undemanding ornamental annual that does not spread aggressively in the garden.

Weed	field bindweed, roots up to 3 m deep
Ornamental annual	dwarf morning glory, sowing March to May
Weed control	repeated pulling of roots, mulching

Under the name bindweed, two different plants are actually met in gardens. One is field bindweed, an annoying weed twining around everything that comes in its way, and the other is dwarf morning glory, a popular and undemanding ornamental annual with colourful funnel-shaped flowers. Both belong to the bindweed family, but in the garden they have completely different roles: while you want to get rid of one, the other you plant deliberately.

How to recognise field bindweed

Field bindweed, botanically Convolvulus arvensis, is a perennial climbing plant with narrowly ovate to lance-shaped leaves and smaller white or pinkish funnel-shaped flowers about two centimetres across. The stems grow up to a metre long and twine around neighbouring plants, fences or supports, thereby weakening and pulling down even fairly tall cultivated plants, especially after rain, when the twined stems easily flatten them with their weight. In the Czech Republic field bindweed grows almost everywhere except the highest mountain areas, most often in fields, gardens, fallow land and along paths.

Why bindweed is so hard to eradicate

The main difficulty is the root system: the main root of field bindweed penetrates to a depth of up to three metres, and even a fragment of root cut off at a depth of eighty centimetres can shoot again and establish a new plant. That is why ordinary weeding or hoeing, which removes only the above-ground part and a bit of the surface root, does not stop bindweed in the long term and may even promote its spread, because a new plant grows from every remaining fragment. Bindweed also spreads by seeds; one plant can produce up to five hundred of them and their viability in the soil commonly lasts even over twenty years, so the seeds can accumulate in the ground for many seasons before they germinate at all.

Method	How it works	What to watch out for
Repeated pulling	weakens the plant, must be repeated all season	you never pull out the whole root at once
Deep digging of the bed	removes as much of the root system as possible	even a tiny fragment left behind shoots again
Mulching and shading	weakens the plant in the long term through lack of light	works only when covered for a longer time
Regular mowing/cutting	prevents seed formation and gradually weakens the root	must be repeated throughout the growing season

Eradication step by step

If possible, dig the affected area as deeply as you can and try to pick out as much root as possible at once; put even small fragments into household waste rather than onto the compost.
Check regularly the places where roots stayed in the ground and remove new shoots immediately, while they are not yet rooted.
Cover the affected area, if you are not using it for growing at the moment, with black impermeable sheeting or a thick layer of mulch for several months; lack of light will gradually exhaust the plant.
With bindweed entwined among cultivated plants, it is enough to repeatedly cut off the above-ground shoots just above the ground, before they have time to flower and form seeds.
Bear in mind that getting rid of established bindweed completely usually takes more than one season; patience and regularity matter more here than the force of a single intervention.

Bindweed and the lawn

Field bindweed can settle even in a lawn, where its low creeping shoots easily slip between the blades of grass and so escape ordinary mowing. A dense, well-closed and regularly fed lawn gives it more competition and to some extent limits its spread; on thinned or damaged spots, on the contrary, bindweed easily settles and spreads further from there. If bindweed appears directly in the lawn, a combination of denser overseeding of thin places and regular mowing, which prevents the shoots from flowering and forming new seeds, helps; complete removal from a large area of lawn is, however, as demanding as from a bed.

Dwarf morning glory: an ornamental annual with no risk of overgrowing

Dwarf morning glory, Convolvulus tricolor, comes from the Mediterranean region and, unlike its weedy relative, does not spread in the garden. It is a low to medium-tall annual with conspicuous funnel-shaped flowers, which often have blue petals with a white and yellow centre, hence its species name "tricolor" (three-coloured). In gardening it is valued for its long and abundant flowering and its undemanding care; it likes a sunny position and well-drained, not too fertile soil, similar to its natural environment in dry, open and sandy places in its homeland.

It is sown directly in the final position from March to May, the seeds are undemanding to germinate, and the first flowers can be expected within a few weeks of germination. Because it is an annual, it dies in autumn after the first frosts and needs no overwintering. If you want to add this undemanding and colourful annual to your garden, you will find the seed under the name Climbing bindweed Tricolor mix.

How not to confuse bindweed with other climbing plants

In the garden bindweed is easily confused with other climbing species, for example with hedge bindweed or young shoots of vetch, as all these plants twine in a similar way around supports and neighbouring plants. You can recognise field bindweed most reliably by the typical leaf shape resembling an arrowhead and by the funnel-shaped, white to pinkish flowers, which open mainly in sunny weather and close in rain or at night. If you are not sure whether it is really bindweed, it pays to wait for the plant to flower; the characteristic shape of the flower is usually the most reliable guide.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get rid of bindweed in the garden for good?

It is a combination of repeated removal of above-ground shoots, deep digging and, possibly, long-term shading of the affected area; bear in mind that it takes more than one season.

Why does bindweed grow again after pulling?

Because even a small fragment of root left in the ground can shoot again; the root system also reaches deep, commonly even to three metres.

Is bindweed poisonous?

It is among plants that are not normally eaten; children and pets should not be allowed to eat parts of it, but it is above all a difficult weed, not primarily a poisonous plant.

Is the ornamental dwarf morning glory as invasive as the weed?

No, it is an annual that does not spread around the garden by root shoots and dies completely in autumn.

Does mulching help against bindweed?

Yes, long-term covering of the area with black sheeting or a thick layer of mulch gradually weakens the plant through lack of light, but the effect shows only after a longer time.

When is dwarf morning glory sown?

Directly in the final position from March to May; it is an undemanding annual that does not need to be raised in advance.

Sources

Field bindweed – Wikipedia

Convolvulus tricolor – Wikipedia (English)

Updated: 11 October 2026