Hi, I live in Montreal, Quebec, I have a relatively small garden. I just bought this plant because it looked so nice. However, when I looked it up I got a little scared and am wondering if I should return it.
Did you ever plant yours, what do you think of the fact that its roots are so invasive? Danger for the foundation of the house?
I would love to hear your opinion.
Thank you

Are you perhaps asking about a Tamarisk or is this a different tree/species/genus?

Both myself and my Dad have this shrub. Never been a problem. No seedlings, no roots popping up (ala sumac), I do not see it being much of a problem in colder zones.

Cheers,
MG

I live in St-Lazare, 40 mins west of Mtl.
I actually bought 1 today after seeing a gorgeous one in St-Zotique not far from where I live.
I have heard they can be tough to grow, some people in Ottawa have lost some, but I wonder if it has to do with the soil more than the weather, they like sandy light soil... I live in clay area! I guess I will have to dig a BIG hole and add some light soil with sand maybe. I actually bought one at Home Depot today
for $15, it`s nice and in flower, about 3-4' tall.

... 3 years later. :O)

I did plant it and it promptly died. Never made it through a mild Maritime winter we had. I haven't seen any more for sale nor have I seen it in gardens in this area so I'm thinking it's a no-go.

The Hydrangea Paniculata Grandiflora I put in it's place has done amazingly well!!

Chet,

Maybe you should inform the NS Dept. of Agriculture about your concern as Tamarix is not on their invasive list. Unless there is a list out there that I don't know off and can't access through the internet...

What I find amazing is that Milkweed (Asclepias Syriaca) is on their list yet it is a native of the province. I guess if you farm it's an invasive noxious weed, but if you raise Monarchs, as I do, it is purely a stupid classification.

I see your point but have a problem with some of these classifications. Native plants should not be there. If they are detrimental to farming and such, then there should be warnings but if I grow such natives in my gardens then the plant police should let me be.

I have not pursued the Tamarix after it did not survive the winter a few years ago so you can breath again. :O)

I noticed too that buddleas are on the list but as far as I can see in Ontario, its not invasive..

Anyway, I've seen a tamarisk growing near my workplace and it's been there for nearly a decade never ever having jumped out or invaded any other location..

Ianna

I just planted one in my yard, they guy down the road sold it to me and he finds it slow growing, I am actually excited about having one as they are so pretty when pink. I just looked it up and don't see it on the bc bad list. I don't see brrom or dandylions either and I hate both of those....AND morning glorry is the BANE of my existence!!! I planted it beside a yellow rhodo and a white bridal wreath spirea...

I agree with Chet wholeheartedly. Alberta's government just listed all Tamarix species and varieties as Prohibited Noxious, meaning Albertans cannot sell or grow them anymore. All must be destroyed, and for all the reasons that Chet stated. It has been literally a billion dollar problem south of the border and active eradication programs exist on wild populations just an hour south of the southeast corner of Alberta.
In my opinion,times are changing, and perhaps the climate is shifting as well, making possible invasion of species like wild Tamarix which of course is also known as Salt Cedar.
Alberta is asking gardeners here to choose differently for the sake for the whole environment. It would be a great benefit to us for the nurseries and the Home Depots and other retailers of Canada to attend to eliminating this kind of plant from their inventories as scrupulously as they are looking at garden chemicals.

I bought Tamarix Pink Cascade I would say four years ago
Year end, garden sales 75% off
Picture looked nice as you say

I had made up this new front flower bed, all across the front of my home here in Barrie Ontario

Soil not particularly good nor did I intend to improve it much. SO looking for things mostly from existing gardens, neigbors, plant sales from churches etc, cheap stuff, to try in these conditions. Yet to fill the bed up so as in front of my house and along the side walk it did look good

Then I read some material, as have you all, about the plant and was concerned at what I had done
Last summer it bloomed and yes is pretty Looked for more of the same plants to put into the bed but no luck

Has not spread at all and has not really grown that much
Tough conditions in the bed
What has done well is Russian Sage, and of course Iris and daylilies Sea Holly, lupins and hosta and sedums.
But do much like the tamarix plant
Is eye catching and people walking by the house, if I am out in the garden bed, ask, what it is.

They certanly are beautiful and I have always wanted one!
I am in Barrie too!

Sheryl

I know and we have talked together
You have even been going to bring me seeds for something. I forget the name of it

Blooms late summer, tall and when the seeds are ripe they shoot out
I imagine you had the seeds ready for me and I never came to pick them up
Somehow I am beginning each year more and more, now does that make sence, but I am more and more feeling like an old lady

What is it the y say the flesh is strong or something like that but the body week.
Getting all my chores done and as well the same in Florida, seems sometimes a lot to do
Just came in from a battle with the lawn mower. Did get it started and the grass cut but, for an easy start mower, I do not find it to be so.
Off the subject, though, aren't I

There is no sign at all of this plant being aggressive in my garden. Wish it might be so, as it is very attractive

Hi, I am wondering how you are doing with your Tamarix plants? It has been a favorite plant of mine, I brought it to my current house from my last garden. It has done well here for twenty years! This plant has not gone any further than the one plant I originally put in...so not invasive here in Ottawa at all. It is has been slow growing but is now about 10 feet high and as big around. The pink cotton candy color is such a show stopper! We have pretty much just let it be, sometimes we have trimmed it back some, only to get better color the following year. It is in sandy ground on a bit of a slope. It is next to a lilac, some day lilies and irises. We do need to water all of these plantings. The tree (as it really is a small tree-shrub now) is about five inches around at its thickest branches but has about five branches coming out of the base. Butterflies and bees especially love this in flower.

Now...my problem is that last year it did not do well at all and hardly flowered. I am beside myself about it. I have read that some people cut theirs back hard every year. But when? and how far back? can I cut a plant so mature (branches as thick as the main ones are and all).
There was some new green sprouting from the bottom so I have hope for it. But here it is May and I am wondering if I should try cutting back with the loppers? Or should I have done this in the fall?

I found this thread as I was looking for info regarding the tamarisk because I'm reading a book called "The Silver Chalice" and they were mentioned there. I have a tendency towards "fictitious gardening" (my name for it); plants discussed/mentioned in novels I love are the ones I enjoy finding to plant when we move to the country. (I'm in south eastern Pennsylvania, USA.) After reading the comments by info_npss_sk_CA and aipc_programdirector_gmail_com, I'm rather confused. Both claim that this is an invasive species, which, from what I understand doesn't necessarily mean that one would witness that plant taking over and driving others out over the course of one or two growing seasons because the tamarix (scientific name for the tamarisk /saltcedar) doesn't just have the ability to replace your other plants or take over your yard; it also monopolizes available water in the soil while salinizing that same soil. These effects aren't necessarily something you are going to see from your house or while standing next to it. Nor does the fact that you have seen it locally or purchased it locally negate that. As the information regarding these plants is easily accessible to everyone here in this thread, (even a brief search online using any of the three most common names for these plants yielded quite a few sites outlining why this species is on the invasive lists of Canada and the United States of America) I am confused as to why everyone besides the two folks I mentioned appear to have ignored this information. I understand enjoying the challenge of cultivation (especially with a "new-to-you" plant) as well as the enjoyment one can derive from the fruits of one's labor, but this plant comes with long-term effects that may not only replace native species (it appears to have been introduced as an ornamental plant around the 1880's) but can also increase the frequency and intensity of fires and floods. I understand that someone may think that planting only one will not have much effect on the ecosystem, but it does because you can bet that you are not the only one who has purchased and planted one, and every plant purchased increases the demand for another to be ordered and local garden stores (as opposed to big-box centers) grow locally. I'm simply confused as to how this doesn't seem to be taken seriously despite being explicitly explained, in addition to a link being provided so that nobody even has to bother taking the initiative and searching themselves.

I've bookmarked this page so that later today I can return and add links. I'm on my phone and am not sure how to copy and paste them. (We've had the phones a couple of months but generally don't use the Internet beyond emails or occasionally limited and very basic social media, so I'm not sure how to do certain things.)

Thank you for reading. I would appreciate it if anyone can help me understand.

For 15 years, i have been observing a gradually elongating row of wild Tamarisk growing on an untended ridge which separates FWY 78 from the San Luis Rey river in Oceanside Ca. It emerged @ Mother's Day in my yard. Someone told me it was a native & a weed, so i pulled it out. Easy to eliminate. Wish i had not done so. Invasive ? Native ? Weed ? What's wrong with something thát looks pretty & thrives on little water and loads of neglet ? Given climate change, perhaps we should change our opinion @ what makes a plant desirable or not. If it looks pretty at your place, why not let it be ?

Because there is a lot more involved than a non-native plant looking pretty. Native plants support a specific ecosystem - insects and birds and mammals and microbial life forms which have evolved with that specific group of plants - they are mutually dependent upon one another. When an alien species takes hold and becomes the dominant species, the other members of the ecosystem are left without a recognizable source of food and or shelter and will die out leaving a much reduced level of diversity. Planting an alien, invasive species has huge repercussions.

TO info_npss_sk_ca You must be a liberal because you want to ban stuff that others like. I have 4 of the tamarisk pink cascade. Had them for 12 years. They are NOT invasive. I want to propagate some but so far have had no luck. I live in Oakville Ontario. These are absolutely gorgeous trees. They bloom in mid June and again in August. I have never watered my tamarisk and other shrubs and peonies grow around them without difficulty.

Peggy—you’re right about its ability to thrive and look good, which is why it’s so appealing! The issue she’s getting at is that it escapes and destroys local ecosystems, which has lots of hard-to-predict side effects. It also takes a long time and is hard to notice—so usually scientists notice the connection first. All kinds of things happen—maybe all the songbirds will die out because the invasive species pushes out their food source, maybe the rivers will get clogged up and flood people’s homes or roads, maybe pest populations get out of control. I don’t know really what would happen in Canada ...

I’d really love a cold-hardy, drought-tolerant sun-lover for a spot where nothing thrives! Tamarisk is beautiful. I personally don’t know enough to understand why so many people beg us not to plant it, so until I do I’ll just steer clear.

I Think You People have to come to your senses AND RETHINK what you are telling People and Do some studying and research instead. Have you ever planted a shrub, tree or plant from another region and found that it adapted and grew. WOW Amazing Right. Not Really. Plants adapt to an environment and if they winter and withstand the conditions, they continue to thrive. I have travelled alot of the World, Specifically, Morocco, Spain and Portugal. Low and Behold these beautiful Trees were amazing, as we travelled across these countries, The colours and ferny foliage is breathtaking. And did not appear to interfere with other plants. And did NOT overtake the country sides. I had one in my backyard, (Which I get complimented on All The Time) and was ORDERED, And I MEAN ORDERED to REMOVE, Pathetic. Wintered a few years, Stood amongst my other plants and Foliage and was beautiful. And all the Plants around managed to grow and not Die, because of it. Strange how they grow in BC Ontario and I am sure other Provinces and we CAN'T have them. If I bought it at a LOCAL garden Centre, I SHOULD be able to grow it in may YARD. Makes me Insanely MAD.........................................................................................