Where to plant comfrey

[Millymollymandy]

My mum brought me over 3 tiny comfrey plants from her patch which I've potted up. They aren't anywhere near big enough for planting out yet but I've got to try to decide where to site them.

From a quick internet search it seems they don't like dry sandy soils (that's mine ) or shallow soils (that's mine ).

So I have the option of planting on one side of my lake which is always damp, but it is quite shady. If it gets the sun there it is only morning sun. It's just a wild patch full of thistles, nettles and all those bog type rhubarby looking umbilifer things. Plus bindweed, brambles and every other invasive thing you can imagine. Plus the muskrats, ducks and coypu eat or nest in anything that looks interesting (except of course the bad weeds!).

So..... shall I plant it there and do what I did with my flag irises and put chicken wire around (that stopped them becoming muskrat nest material or duck food)? The chicken wire is a good diverter for the bindweed too and I just rip out the nettles near the irises. ? ?

Otherwise it isn't going to be very happy and will be yet another thing I'll have to cart watering cans of water around the garden for as there is nowhere 'wild' to plant it anywhere near any source of water. However there is the risk of it getting flooded completely for half a day or so, once every few years, on the boggy side of the pond.....

[Muscroj]

I'd say comfry is a pretty tough old plant, grows like a weed in most places so I wouldn't have thought it would have too much problem establishing. But Why not keep it in 3 big pots until you get 3 really good sized plants, plant one of them in the place you were thinking & then if it doesn't like it there you've still got 2 more pots which you could try somewhere else?

[Odsox]

I think comfrey prefers damp soil, at least all the wild comfrey I've seen have been growing in ditches or marshy places.

I planted mine right on top of the soakaway of my septic tank, and they love it.
They have been there for over 10 years now and are huge, I can cut 2 or 3 wheelbarrow fulls three times a year without distressing the plants too much (that's from 2 plants)

[Millymollymandy]

Funny isn't it, everyone on the forum talks about elderflower cordial and comfrey tea, yet when I ask a question about said plants there are hardly any replies.....

Anyway..... thank you to you two for your advice. Muscroj that's a sensible course of action! Odsox, I have a soakaway too which I only discovered after I'd planted my wiggly hazel practically on it - compared to the other shrubs I planted at the same time that one is streets ahead in size! but it's not really in a wild enough place to plant the comfrey there. So I'll try one of them in the wild boggy bit and see what happens.

[JulieSherris]

Aww, I was promised some comfrey - but it never materialised.... but I'll be keeping my eyes out for some that I can 'liberate'...

My plan is to try & get a good few plants & then let it do battle with the ground elder that rules the roost on our banks - in fact, ANY plant that may start taking over from the ground elder will be welcome! So, my mint will be propagated, and over time I'll be gathering different spreading plants - might take a few years, but I'm sure it will be worth it the end!!

[Peggy Sue]

I have comfrey in my garden- heavy poor clay soil. I didn't know what it was to start with, there wasn't much but it was strangling a plant I like so I decided to pull it up- big mistake!
Thats when comfrey really gets going, the more you try to get rid the more it spreads! Its all over the garden now, but now I know how useful it is I don't mind at all

Your ducks may want to eat it, it's very nutricious - hedge your bets and put some in two different places but I would say yes its pretty tough alright. I've used it in the compost heap, for comfrey tea, in the spud trenches- and this weekend someone showed me how to make comfrey poultices. There's just never enough of the stuff!!!

[Odsox]

Thats when comfrey really gets going, the more you try to get rid the more it spreads!

Ah yes, thank you Peggy Sue ... that's something I forgot to mention.
If anyone reading this decides the want comfrey in their garden, make sure you buy RUSSIAN COMFREY rather than the native variety.
Russian comfrey doesn't spread by seed and the only way to get new plants is to take rooted cuttings.

My 2 plants are Russian and 10 years later I still have only 2 plants, but they are both about 2 feet across.

[Millymollymandy]

I believe what I've got is native, because they were discussing Russian Comfrey on G. World and the flowers looked different from mum's plant, which has red and white flowers and is very pretty. Her just grows on a grassy bank.

Does it also make good tea and fertiliser etc? She chops hers back several times a year and puts the leaves in the compost heap. Making tea and stuff is a bit too much for her at her age. Other than a teabag cup of tea.

[Peggy Sue]

From what I understand they are both equally good for that purpose- those really deep roots drag up the good stuff!

[Millymollymandy]

Oh that's good news, now how quickly do they grow? The leaves are about 2" long on my little plants at the moment.....

[Peggy Sue]

Well it's easy to get numerous cuts per year- put it that way!

[Millymollymandy]

Oh dear now that they've grown a little bit there are two of one kind of plant and one is something completely different - hope it's not a weed!

Does comfrey have serrated leaf edges and rather nasty looking spiky bits on the leaf surface? Cos I've got two of that plant. The other one has more heart shaped smoother leaves - not something that I recognise so must ask Mum what she's got growing next to her comfrey.

[ina]

Comfrey with red and white flowers? Our native stuff has yellow flowers...

[Millymollymandy]

I've just been googling images of comfrey leaves and flowers and there are loads of different varieties with different flower colours. The leaves are all quite different too! I shall have to wait and see what on earth it is I've got from my mum although it does say that comfrey leaves are hairy and a skin irritant.

[ina]

Hairy - definitely; haven't found them irritating yet.

The native stuff around here often grows in part shady places - along burns etc, so damp and shady should be ok.