Duncan - Getting rid of broom is a lot of work, right? Well, it can be, but I discovered a method that takes significantly less work, particularly for people who can't do the cutting, and the bonus is, it works like a charm.
Most gardening people hate slugs. They eat their flowers, they eat their gardens, and the most commonly seen culprits are the black or brown slugs. But some years ago after a good rain, after the flowers were finished on a broom plant in the yard, I discovered a multitude of brown, black, and even native banana slugs munching the fallen flowers.So I figured, why not sic one invasive species on another?So what I would do is collect slugs (using either gloves or a large leaf to pick them up so my hands did not get sticky) and place them in the branches on the flowers of broom at dusk during sunny weather, or during the day when it was raining. The slugs took the hint and learned to climb back into the branches on their own, munching away at the leaves and flowers. They don't normally climb that high unless they know or are taught that there is food there.There used to be broom in the yard but there isn't anymore! And I didn't have to cut or dig up a single one!April J. GibsonDuncan