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plantman71

Pest plants

plantman71
9 years ago

My house is built on a lot where 4 other houses used to be. There are some plants I haven't been able to get out of my garden. 1. spreading monkey grass 2. vinca major both green and ver. 3. running blackberrys 4. vilots 5.winter creeper 6. english ivy. 7. common orange daylily. I have dug, burned, poisoned, multched, used weedeater, I can control in my little lawn, but not in my natural areas or garden. I can control in small areas, but they show up somewhere else. I guess this is gardening.
Do you have any more that I should stay away from?

Comments (13)

  • rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Smilax, aka greenbrier, cat claw, bamboo vine, etc.

  • tedevore
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Chameleon plant (houttuynia cordata). Wish I never saw it.

    I also will never be rid of chinese wisteria that I did plant, but it comes from far away in my neighbor's yard.

  • jcalhoun
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Virginia creeper and japanese honeysuckle.

  • plantman71
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    So for I have all that has been listed. Just lucky, I guess. I like the Chameleon plant in a big pot, not in ground. I also have a Japanese honeysuckle planted in a pot that is siting on an old swing on top of glass top table. The vine goes over the top of the swing, I like it, don't like it growing all over. I have wisteria, crossvine, and trumpet vine that I have to work to keep in control, I think it is worth it. I have pipe vine that I can't keep in order.

  • browneyedsusan_gw
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have a Chameleon plant that Tony gave me at the first swap at Oak Mountain. Still pulling it up! Also blessed with liriope, violets,Japanese honeysuckle, Smilax, running blackberries, orange ditch lilies, wild onions, a white flowered weedy bulb that has overtaken my lawn, Oenothera speciosa-I like the flowers but it seeds all over.

    Susan

  • eibren
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yellow Archangel.

    Lemon balm, unless you really love it. It will gradually disappear, after years and years. Makes a lovely tea.

    Motherwort, ditto.

    Most of the things you list are really delightful plants to almost anyone except serious gardeners, though. Many would love to have their yards blessed with flowers with pleasant fragrances that return every year.

    In time of famine, daylillies (and Yellow Archangel) are actually edible! I have read that chameleon plant is, too....

    ;o)

  • raestr (z8 Central Ala)
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Spiderwort. I think it started in my neighbor's yard and it spreads by seed. I can not get rid of it as my neighbors have 3 large "beds" of it. Basically, they are 3 neglected rose beds that they just let whatever will grow there, grow.

    I made the mistake of planting chives when we first moved in. 14 years later and I'm still trying to get rid of those.

    I have learned to never intentionally plant anything that spreads by seeds, except annuals which die in the winter anyway.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    9 years ago

    I'm sure a lot of what I have to say is remedial to your level of experience, but have included some of it for the less advanced.

    Have you tried smothering? In addition to newspaper, which is not up to the task of smothing some of the things you mentioned, I use sheet metal when/where I can. If it's still not heavy enough, put a few cinder blocks on it. That's one of my fav ways to reclaim ground from tough perennial pests. I feel your pain about your list, I've battled all of those except winter creeper. Of the remaining list, metal would smother all with the possible exception of the ivy. It would be likely to be difficult to smother the entire entity with 1 piece, and definitely strong enough to exploit the seams/cracks between pieces. Cutting it off as low as possible when it starts to flower would help.

    The more flush with the ground any smother is, the more effective. The most common mistake is disturbing it before everything is well and truly dead. Using a straight shovel to chop around the smother area is also helpful, so you know nothing under the smother is still connected to anything able to thrive outside of it (and sustain roots under the smother, keeping them alive much longer than necessary.)

    For all of your list, keep an eye on areas not yet under control. Even if you're only able to battle an area with mower or weed trimmer occasionally, when you see flowers should be one of these occasions, to prevent those flowers from making/dropping the new crop of seeds.

    Also, learn/know your tree sprouts. You'll probably soon recognize 2-4 kinds of tree sprouts that occur often in your yard. The sooner they are pulled, the more easily they come out. Once they are too established to pull, baby trees are very hard to get rid of.

    Some trees are more difficult to garden under than others. I shall start no more gardens under maples or oaks. Life's too short to pull that many sprouts.

    My Mom let spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum) and asparagus fern (A. sprengeri) loose in her yard and you can definitely add those to this list.

    I don't like to chase plants, or 'keep them in bounds' at all, nor do I enjoy pampering/dividing, generally maintaining plants besides adding organic matter to where they are growing, so have evolved to a point where there's basically just shrubs and bulbs, some nectar plants for butterflies and hummers.

    The term 'ground cover is always a keyword for "will try to take over the world." Don't let these loose in the ground unless you really DO want to COVER the ground.

    Suckering is another warning term. That means an entity starts new versions of itself from the roots, either adjacent to the main trunk/mass, or sometimes shockingly far away. Passiflora vines can make suckers so far away, chills will run down your spine (what's it doing UNDER THERE?!) You've probably noticed the berry vines can do that too. At least they provide a short flush of very yummy...

  • gardenper
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    After I started gardening at my own home and working out these weeds, is when I finally appreciated the work and effort my dad put into his yard to get rid of passion vine and liriope.

    We still see a passion vine now and then, but that doesn't survive or gets pulled up. No more that year..it hopefully is getting really weak. Liriope was under control for many years in the primary areas wher we first had it. Now it is showing up in other areas. After reading about these two, I was amazed that my dad managed to control them.

    Of course, my house had liriope planted by the previous owners and then I added in passion vine because I had a spot that just had to have something. So it looks like I have added the same problems, now that it's several years later and the newness of having the passion vine is passing.

  • zelenkabach
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Running blackberries!
    Some random bird deposited a lucky blackberry seed in my shady side yard last summer, which grew to a small plant which I thought was a cleome. It didn't bloom so I left it alone....
    Fast forward to this year and this plant is a huge thorny bramble which I cut down in a painful battle. Now little plants are popping up everywhere within a 10' x 5' radius. I finally figured out it was blackberry and decided to dig it up yesterday while it was drizzling.

    I cannot believe the elaborate highway of roots this plant has! When I yanked, the roots went on for a good 5 feet or more and crisscrossed each other. If I was sitting on a stool and yanked a root, inevitably that root crossed under my stool and I would have to get up, twirl around, nearly fall down, and this was in the rain! I don't wish this plant on anyone!

  • elfs_garden
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have approximately 3acres of land that I bought cheap. Then I found the 3 garbage dumps, miles of blackberry, some kind of people eating vine with vicious thorns and a creek that I need to build a bridge over before I can find the back half of my land. I need to thin out lots of tree seedlings. I am going to try to burn out as much as I safely can. The rest I will leave to Mother Nature. It is very pretty even if I need armor to walk most of it,,,lol

  • jcalhoun
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Some state & county forestry departments will offer assistance to land owners who want to a control burn.

  • raestr (z8 Central Ala)
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I forgot to mention Morning Glories. I can't get rid of those either.