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jkw7aj

overachievers of the plant world

jkw7aj
19 years ago

I thought it might be nice to start a thread about the plants we've had that astounded us in some way, those flora wonders that far exceeded expectations. I don't necessarily mean favorite plants; as a matter of fact, this thread could easily include plants that became a problem, if that's your experience. Since there doesn't seem to be another, more appropriate forum for this, I picked here ... and I'll start.

I have a cluster of borago officinalis that I seeded in the difficult-to-access side yard last spring, then promptly ignored (for a year). It lived (and grew) through the winter and is now my height (I'm 5'2"). It recently started producing flower spikes which I expect will also be monstrous and top it out at over 5 1/2 feet. Yikes! I'm impressed. And I close the windows on that side of the house at night. :)

(I'll be collecting the seeds later this summer, so if anyone wants seeds from a mutant, white flowering, monster borage, let me know.)

Anyone else with an amazing plant story to share?

Comments (4)

  • Sachis2112
    19 years ago

    I don't know if mine is amazing so much as annoying. ;-)

    I have a morning glory that my neighbors and I have been attempting to kill for about 6 years. It's destroying our common fence (where four meet in the back courner) and climbing all over, killing a tree. After many years of trimming and it coming back, I bought a big bottle of Poison Ivy Roundup and went at it. I sprayed the crap out of that thing! And a few days later, it appears I'd sprayed a wee bit of the lawn too. Whoops.

    So, a week later, a few yellow leaves but nothing to denote "death". I go at it again. Same thing. Finally, I sprayed it three days in a row, all over the place. Everything went all brown and shriveled. I've slowly been clipping everything back so that I can dump it

    Yesterday, I'm transplanting some seedlings and, out of the corner of my eye, I see something poking through the fence. It's a 24" piece of GREEN, HEALTHY MORNING GLORY VINE!!! Coming through from the neighbor's side. I looked around and, sure enough, there are some new green leaves on the other side of the yard, where the vine had been growing on a search and destroy for my house.

    I'm going to try to yank the new growth tonight. If that doesn't work, I'll just have to leave the round-up on the neighbor's porch with a note. "Kill it or we're doomed!"

  • plant_manager
    19 years ago

    Here in the south it has to be kudzu. Do any of you remember the movie Logans Run? In that movie after living subteranean for many years the kudzu had covered Washinton DC. It literally covers entire oak trees here and fields as far as the eye can see. It does have wonderfully scented flowers about August. They smell like grapes and they are purple.

  • alex_z7
    19 years ago

    I'd have to say that a vinca that I've been trying to kill for a number of years now is the most amazing weed I have ever seen. It is the cockroach of plants; it can survive anything.

    I have spent hours carefully pulling it out of my yard, every single little tiny root I could possibly find. I have sprayed that stuff that kills anything green. Yet, bec my neighbor lets it run rampant, my constant patrolling our common fence line is still not enough. The runners will go underground for a number of feet and then suddenly, a good ways away from the fence, up will sprout more. It's a constant struggle, one I am starting to really wonder if I can win.

    Then there are the pecan seedlings. OMG. Squirrels hide the pecans in my containers, in my plant beds, in small holes in the ground. I can't even guess how many pecan seedlings I have yanked out of my pots and beds. Then there are the ones that are growing in the yard from the small holes the squirrels dug. There is even a pecan seedling that is now over 4' tall and growing out of the middle of a huge yucca plant in my yard! The pecan tree is over on the other side of the yard, nowhere near that yucca!

    And then there is the darned grapevine that appeared out of nowhere about 3 years ago or so. Every year I pull it off my fence and every year it comes back. It has taken over the trees behind my property line; I have gone back there and tried to get all of it off the tree before it kills it, but it's too tall and the tendrils are too many and too strong.
    The grapevine grows over people's fences yet no one but me seems to hate it enough to do anything about it. Bec I don't want it on my fence--blowing any seeds in my yard--I am out there a good bit fighting it. It's difficult to reach it when your neighbor's side is a "safe" zone for it.

    And I am utterly fascinated by the maple tree seedlings that popped up all over my yard; the nearest maple tree is a few houses away. It amazes me at how nature works, reminds me that we can't control it.

  • jkw7aj
    Original Author
    19 years ago

    I didn't really think about it because they're all individual little plants, but now that you mention it, I pull a handful of Doug Fir seedlings out of my yard *every day* (literally). The nearest tree is a few houses away, but it's about 90' tall so it has pretty good opportunity to broadcast its seeds. Doug Firs, as a species, must be amazingly prolific. Maybe I should start a tree farm. :)

    When I overlook a few because they were strategically positioned, and they're big enough by the time I *do* notice them to make me feel guilty about just ripping them out and turning them into compost, my SO and I collect a group of them, drive them over to the Olympic Peninsula, and plant them in his unimproved property. And, after being pulled out of the ground with little care or regard, layered in a bucket with a bunch of others (roots exposed) for hours, then planted without much care or regard, they *thrive*. I don't think a single young tree we've ripped out of the ground has died. And we've been doing this replanting trip about 3-4 times a year. All the abused seedlings (some young trees now) look ecstatic. Tough, tough plant (but in a good way, I guess).

    I do really like Doug Firs, so they could qualify as favorites, in addition to amazing.

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