Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
northspruce

Seedy, Weedy & Needy...

northspruce
12 years ago

I've come up with classifications for plants. They're all either seedy, weedy or needy. I'm feeling uncharitable because my yard looks perfect today (yes, even to my critical eye it looks fab) and my camera broke last week.

Seedy: Spread their unwanted children all over my yard. Sea Holly, Scabiosa, Centaurea, tiger lilies, cosmos, nigella, anemone, yarrow, alpina clematis.

Weedy: Short bloom cycle and look like crap the rest of the time. Penstemon, non-HT roses, dame's rocket, obedient plant, soapwort, poppies, bleeding heart.

Needy: Barely cling to life despite my constant love and attention. HT roses, TB irises, non-asiatic lilies, non-alpina clematis, euonymous alata (sp?), forsythia, cedars, echinacea.

I could also think of several that would be Fugly and Bugly (generally hideous; and gnawed by bugs, respectively).

These lists are not complete, please feel free to add to them. ;0)

Comments (22)

  • nutsaboutflowers
    12 years ago

    The only thing I can think of right now is

    Seedy and very Fugly - Yarrow !

    I love your new classifications, BTW

    Hey everyone. Did you notice the last heading at the top of the page under What's New on GardenWeb - Got a Hottie for a Husband?

    Mine used to be. Not sure if he'd still be classified as a hottie at his age though, LOL !

  • booberry85
    12 years ago

    I'll play!

    Seedy: Love Lies Bleeding Amaranth
    Weedy: Japanese Knot Weed (I've been trying to get rid of this stuff for years. Believe it or not they are choking out the Tiger Lilies)
    Needy: Horehound (the past 2 years it grew like a demon. This year it's barely growing)

  • north53 Z2b MB
    12 years ago

    I have a few of the seedy types....the aptly named forget-me-not tops the list. It also fits the weedy category. Another weed in my garden is lamium. I've taken to severely cutting it back in the spring and may remove it entirely.
    Heliopsis also is a self seeder and a tanacetum parthenium. But I wouldn't be without either. I just move the tanacetums wherever I need something. Heliopsis is such a long bloomer, I can forgive it for its one shortcoming. Yeah, the clematis seedlings are annoying. I pot the bigger ones up and sell them, lol. Blue fescue is prolific also.

    For me, bleeding heart is a lovely plant that I would never call 'weedy'. Your description surprised me, Northspruce. Maybe yours doesn't like its location?

    Another category...the spreaders.
    I've spent a back breaking afternoon digging out ostrich ferns. Don't turn your back on those. One actually pushed up the asphalt in the driveway.

  • shazam_z3
    12 years ago

    Plant lamium in full sun. That keeps it at bay.

    Vinca is another one of those super-spreaders.

    Try variegated cultivars, they tend to grow slower because they have less chlorophyll (hence, they're variegated).

  • bdgardener
    12 years ago

    Seedy, jacob's ladder, and the common daisy.

    both great in their own area, but the year I was pregnant with my second child they got out of control and I have been battling them ever since.

    didn't know that about the lamium, thanks.

  • savona
    12 years ago

    I have a few "creepy" plants in the garden..lamium- dead nettle, it wont stay out of other plants spaces. Monarda, I finally got that one so under control that I almost wiped it out but it is back to creeping.
    Seedy..mallow..aarrgghhhh..the bain of my corner flowerbed. Alliums..another corner bed hog..it has reseeded everywhere and last but not least is the oriental poppies..why is it that the outrageous orange ones are the ones that reseed and you cant dig them out or kill them?
    Jean

  • north53 Z2b MB
    12 years ago

    I'd forgotten about mallow. I haven't had one growing for years, but am still finding seedlings.

    "Plant lamium in full sun. That keeps it at bay."
    Thanks Shazam, that makes sense. I've noticed the ones in the sun aren't as troublesome.

  • bdgardener
    12 years ago

    I forgot about mallow too, I didn't know what it was the first couple of years, by the third year I knew I was in trouble. Five years later still fighting the battle. C

  • marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
    12 years ago

    I should have started playing earlier - everyone has mentioned all my nemeses! Jacob's ladder (the white, not the blue) and mallow are two of the worst. I'll add nepeta to the list, and some of the hardy geraniums.

    Weedy - filipendula! It's going nuts in my garden. I'm going to dig out most of it and try to contain some in sunken buckets (if dh will give up a couple of his). It's really pretty otherwise and the bees like it.

    Most of my lamiums are fine. In fact, i tend to lose a lot of White Nancy every winter. Must remember to look if there's any in the one bed. There's one in another bed that seems to be going crazy, though - not sure which it is or where it came from. I had a lovely one called Golden Anniversary, and it died. :(

  • northspruce
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    My bleeding heart blooms early then turns yellow and looks sad. It's not in the best position but it's returned 4 years in a row so it can't hate me that much...

    Funny, Jacob's Ladder isn't seedy for me. I found maybe one seedling once. I have a lot of it but I planted it all on purpose.

    We had a conversation recently that I can't find, about sea holly. Just this spring I found a whole bunch of seedlings.

    Thought of another seedy: Verbascum! argh! It's on probation and would have already been shovel-pruned if the bees didn't love it so much.

  • Laurie_z3_MB
    12 years ago

    Ugh, shasta daisy is the bane of my existence!! That and some type of allium has seeded everywhere as well as the tiger lilies...it's war I tell ya!!lol

  • marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
    12 years ago

    Ohhhhhhhhh, verbascum! How the heck could i have forgotten that?! I only spent a couple of days last summer trying to dig out every last one of them! Still some of them coming back this year, though.

    Gil, it's just my white Jacob's ladder that reseeds. The blue one isn't bad.

  • jennypat Zone 3b NW MN
    12 years ago

    I tell you what, I will take your verbascum, you can have my Elms, Oaks, and European Buckthorn! Along with the rampant Harebell (some type of native Campanula) that I have everywhere!

    I love lamium, it's the only thing I can get to grow in some of the shady places in my yard. And I wish some of my allium would reseed. LOL

    I love the new descriptions too!

  • marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
    12 years ago

    Verbascums are really pretty. One of the yellow ones was growing near my pink lythrum - wow! But i couldn't seem to keep up with deadheading them and so was infested.

    I think i need to retire so that i can garden full time!

  • northspruce
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    If I do nothing else in the summer, I cut the verbascums down the second they're done blooming. I can't believe the fertility of those things.

    I have no problem with spready things as long as I know they're going to and I have a space I want filled. I really appreciate plants that spread but that I can pull out and they stay gone - and that don't seed.

  • shazam_z3
    12 years ago

    How could I forget...

    Columbine!!! These just sprang everywhere in my old yard.

    And raspberries. Invasive monsters. Thank goodness they make delicious fruit...

  • marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
    12 years ago

    The wild columbines are the ones that reseed like crazy in my gardens. Some came up one year and i figured, what the heck. Since none of my garden columbines reseed for me, i didn't think much about it. Lesson learned - they're just about impossible to get rid of!

  • northspruce
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Do you mean the wild red A. canadensis Marcia? I always have a couple of those here & there but never tons. My A. vulgaris has officially gone nuts though. There are sooo many seedlings! I forgot those on my seedy list.

    Agree about raspberries. They could qualify as weedy, since no matter what you do they look like a mess.

  • alyciaadamo
    12 years ago

    I don't agree about the lamium-dead nettle I put mine in full sun and they are over 3 feet wide they are starting to take over my garden. I only got them last spring as small 6" pots the guy at the nursery said they would only get about 12" wide, yeah I don't think so. I think they will be invading my neighbors grass soon! Even the lupine can't keep them at bay.
    I so agree with the Penstemon, I waited two years for it to bloom and when it did I was soooo disappointed i can't believe I waited for THAT!!
    Another weedy for me is stupid lambs ear. I thought I would try it and maybe people just didn't give it a chance WRONGO!! That thing is a weed I tried to rip it out this spring it only came back BIGGER!!
    Ohh oh and SNOW ON THE MOUNTAIN!!!! The previous owners planted it some time ago with the ditch lilies but never pulled the plain green stuff out so now I have the solid green stuff EVERYWHERE! I can not get rid of that stuff!!
    My needy is columbine, I just can't seem to keep any of them going except the yellow one. Everyone says it's hardy but not in my yard I have probably lost just as many as I have living....actually nope I lost 4 winkys(3 red and a purple), a leprechaun gold and just this week a red/white one. I think one of my Rocky Mountains isn't looking too happy either. I also can't seem to keep double Hollyhocks either-the wild ones YES DEFINITELY-the doubles ones nope, they die either every year or every other year!

  • shazam_z3
    12 years ago

    You can mow the lamium if you think it's getting too big.

    Lily of the valley is another super-invasive.

    Yeah, whod's a thunk it, but lamb's ear spreads quite readily. MIL has it and her patch is around six feet wide now.

  • north53 Z2b MB
    12 years ago

    For me it's not so much the spread of the lamium, but the self seeding it does. I have the little colourful things popping up everywhere, including in the lawn.

    Lamb's ear doesn't winter in my garden so doesn't spread much, but self seeds at will. Not worth the bother, IMO.

  • marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
    12 years ago

    Gil, it's A. canadensis. It's still coming up this year in spite of all my digging last year.