Comfrey Plants

"It is very hard to get rid of an established comfrey plant," says Marie Iannotti, and one of my readers confirms this observation. I had asked readers to report their worst landscaping mistakes, and someone nominated comfrey plants! More specifically, this reader made two mistakes:

1. Underestimating how high comfrey plants can grow (5 feet)
2. Not realizing how difficult comfrey plants are to get rid of

Of course, neither the size nor the tenacity of comfrey plants necessarily makes them undesirable. In fact, under the right circumstances, both could be selling points for growing comfrey plants. About's Gardening Guide makes a good suggestion for using comfrey plants in a landscape design, noting that "the dark green leaves are set off nicely by chartreuse" foliage specimens, such as Cripps or Gold Mops falsecypress.