I did use the search feature and read a discouraging discussion about killing tree roots. So I think I already know the answer...and what we did wrong. Over a year ago a tree service removed our old plum tree, I stupidly asked them to plant a crepe myrtle tree in the same location soon after they removed the plum tree. So the plum tree roots, suckers, whatever, are popping up in the grass and flower bed. I dig down, cut out, as much of the root as I can, but I'm getting tired of playing wack-a-mole. Am I doomed to play wack-a-mole for several more years, if not forever?

Feel free to jump straight to the pictures below, but here's the backstory for any who want to read it... Several years ago I planted some perennial daisy seeds in one of our flower pots. We had routinely used only annuals in our many outdoor flower pots and I thought it was worth a try to get one of them going as a perennial to save cost/labor over the years. It sprouted but didn't grow much the first year. The second year we transplanted it to a much larger pot that has room for 5 or 6 different plants/flowers. From what I recall now, by that time it was pretty clear there were two apparently different things growing in the center of the pot but we weren't sure what was the daisy plant and what wasn't, so we kept them together. (No flowers had been seen yet.) Last summer there were still no flowers, but there was a very hearty center stalk with leaves that grow quite tall, and some smaller shorter leafy stalks next to it. This year the shorter leafy stalks have finally manifested some pink flowers! The taller center stalk is still looking very healthy, and I noticed yesterday it's roots have grown through the drainage holes in the bottom because it's growing two offshoots in the ground around the large pot. I have a strong suspicion that this tall center stalk is a complete impostor and has survived this long only from my complete ignorance of what it is. However, the fact that it grew in the center of the original flowerpot right where I had planted the daisy seeds, and I've not seen any other instances of it anywhere else on our property, has me wondering if perhaps by some strange arrangement it's part of the daisy plant, but yet separate at the same time. In the pictures, it's the daisies that have the blue 1 ID and the tall center stalk has the blue 2 ID. If you confirm for me that the center stalk has nothing to do with the daisies, my next question will be, how on earth to get rid of the giant without disturbing the daisies??! Cut it off at the soil level and when new shoots appear carefully apply herbicide to them without also getting it on the daisies?