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juliana63

in hindsight, what invasives would you avoid?

Juliana63
18 years ago

I just gave a lady some free advice about variegated ribbon grass (phlaris something) at the Home Depot -- never again! She was planning on edging her annual beds with it... Other plants I would handle with caution, if at all are:

Plume poppy (sleeps the first year,then takes over the world)

Artemisia "Limelight" (be afraid, very afraid)

Artemisia "Valerie Finnis" (beautiful, but use carefully)

Knautia macedonica (very promiscuous, not worth the effort)

Gooseneck loosestrife (I love it, but it needs a firm hand)

Burgundy loosestrife (just keeps coming back...)

Any others we should know about?

Comments (98)

  • wildcitywoman
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Vinca minor . . . periwinkle? Geesh! I wish mine would 'invade' something - I have been trying to raise it for two years in a shady spot in my garden - it won't budge.

    Yet the ones I've got in a place where there's more sun are ok.

  • birdinthepalm
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Mine I'd state without reservation would be ladybells or Adenaphora confusa, which seems not only to spread with many runners if you don't get the whole plant when trying to pull it out, but drops many thousands of seeds that come up everywhere by the thousands and which from a very young age are difficult to pull even when young since the tops break easily off, but then leave the roots, and only digging those up will remove them . That's no so easy though since they have a habit of comming up in clumps of other plants where you don't want to disturb or damage the other plant's roots. Deadheading religiously helps of course.

  • sheryl_ontario
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Any kind of mint is so invasive, but smells so nice and you can use it to cook and make tea or soap, etc.

    You know...some of these invasive plants do very well in the pond. Ribbon grass is a great pond plant, in a pot on a shelf. So is mint. Another very invasive plant that loves the pond and stream is creeping Jenny! Mint and Creeping Jenny did very well in my stream and will hide the edges of pots for the bigger plants in the pond too. Another bonus... goldfish don't eat it. Creeping Jenny is also great in the aquarium! Unfortunatly, I also planted it in the garden. Wow does it ever take over!

    The very worst one I've ever seen is the creeping ranuculus (buttercup)! I've had all of the above, but nothing, absolutely nothing took over like the creeping buttercup. That stuff is terrible! Except maybe the gout weed...Yes, I was dumb enough to plant gout weed one year. Still there after 15 years. It'll never go away. I just keep digging it out and pouring roundup on it. It still comes back!

    The snow-in-summer (Bishops weed) is pretty bad too. I did have some in the garden but ended up digging it all out so the other ground covers would have a chance. I put it in a small walled of section of garden, edged all around by stairs and walls. It did really well there, by itself. One of the plants it was growing over was vinca minor. While slightly invasive, its not really that bad in my garden.

    I planted Virginia creeper on the side of my house one year and on a chain link fence. The first year it didn't come up, the second year it got about 4 ft high, the third year it grew to the top of the house and had the entire side covered in 5 years! It looked great but I had to cut it back from the windows after that.

    Violets are invasive! I planted some in the shade garden, where not much else was growing, one year. After a couple of year my grass was full of them, so were the other flower beds. They reseed like crazy. After I read in my book that they make a good salad and have more vit A than spinach, we began to eat them on a regular basis, helping to keep them under control. They're quite good and very mild.

  • Juliana63
    Original Author
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Water Celery -- a pond plant that escaped its pot and took over the stream last summer. I tried pulling it up in the fall and found the roots adhered to the liner -- what a mess! I'll probably have to replace the whole stream to get rid of it.

  • sunflower_ilz5
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Lady's Mantle -

    It did not start off bad, and I can easily pluck the seedlings I find scattered around. The problem is the plant just grows and has lots of runners which go out below soil level. It does not stay in its place. It might be okay in another location where it is surrounded by lawn, but it is currently strangling its neighbors.

    Here are my experiences with some of the other plants.

    If I am careful to remove the garlic chive flowers before they go to seed, I have no problem. I have had no problem with my garlic chives in their current location, and I've had it there several years. I am still trying to remove them from their their previous home. I got rid of the original clump, but I am having difficulties removing all the babies from before I learned my lesson about cutting the flowers. I thought the seed heads looked pretty. :)

    So far I have not had a problem with tansy, but I sure would if I did not weed the seedlings. The seedlings pull easily. The mature plants have these tough woody roots. If I had to get rid of it, I think I would try roundup. I do not have the tansy in a perennial bed, it is at the edge of the vegetable garden. One side of it is mowed and the other is plowed. Treat it rough, it's not delicate. I don't think I would put it in a perennial bed. I have not found it to be beneficial except for the pretty flowers.

    Calendula reseeds easily, but I have no problem pulling the seedlings. Same with Angellica, mullein, and a bunch of others.

    I've never grown mint in except in containers. Make sure it does not escape out the drainage holes or over the side. My oregano needs watching, but so far it is managable. I think it would be difficult to remove. I just keep hacking it back. I do have common chives in the center of the oregano, but the oregano is swallowing it up. I also have to occasionally hack back my lemon balm.

    I withhold judgement on my sweet woodruff until I live with it a couple more years.

    Violets can spread, but they have not alarmed me. I just keep yanking them out where I don't want them. I like violets. I like violets in the lawn.

    Borage seedlings are good in salads.

    Morning glories are horrid weeds. I can think of only one use for the seeds, and it's not planting. I would not recommend that "use" either.

  • tastefullyjulie
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    yarrow, yarrow, yarrow, mint

    did I mention YARROW?

  • lizzyvann
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Myostosis (forget-me-not) drives me nuts. It was here when I moved in and I can't get rid of it. It's beautiful when in bloom, then looks like crap later on. Self-sows like crazy. Find new seedlings ALL OVER the yard.

  • hostared
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi,
    On the "Perennial Forum" there is a thread or Poll that I started this summer "Most invasive plant in your garden". It's still going strong with 88 responses. Especially insightfull for Newbies as what to avoid. Some of the comments above would be helpful and a great addition to the thread.

    In addition some gardeners has come up with some useful hints in control and even a nice 4 flat tined pitch fork for removing these pesky invading runners.

    So Newbies beware...it may look pretty the first couple of years and after that its an invasion.

  • tenor_peggy
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My In-laws back up in Green Bay, WI have those small purple violets in their lawn and they are constantly trying to get rid of it (they didn't plant it, lord knows where it came from). My sister up there has Lily of the Valley and it is popping up everywhere too. When I was a kid we had that creeping charlie in our back yard and I don't think Dad ever got rid of it completely.

    I grew roses for 20 years in GB but darn! I never saw this forum until after I moved! :-/

  • lizql
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yuccas (sp) Green sword like leaves with clump of white flowers in summer. A friend gave me one. Took over. I have cut it out, sprayed it with Round Up, vinegar, gasoline, have threatened to set it on fire. I've dug into the foundation after the roots. This thing has got to go.

  • magda
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Blue Lyme Grass. Here is the description taken from Ohio Uni website, 'Blue Lyme Grass is a deceptively beautiful plant that will spread like wildfire in good garden soil, being extremely invasive via its underground root system (this recent transplant still retains its clump appearance, at least above ground).'

    We had it in our front lawn in difficult very sunny dry clay conditions. It behaved beautifully and I loved it for two years, and then it TOOK OFF! I am still finding shoots two years after.

  • poppydog
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Gooseneck loostrife, which I happen to like a lot, I put them where nothing else would grow. They sure do and of course, have escaped their boundry.

    Yarrow - took over the lawn

    Buttercups??? Honestly, I've NEVER succeeded in getting one to grow.

    Daisy - I got a free packet of seeds from the teen-girl's store Delia's years ago with a purchase. I don't know if I would call them invasive, but they pop up everywhere ever since. I didn't even expect them to sprout. Delia's is not exactly where I go seed shopping!

    vinca vine - I don't believe I can win this battle. It grows up into my house siding. I dug up most of it, but some is intertwined with tree roots and I don't want to kill the tree to win the war.

    English Ivy - I have heard that this is being banned in parts of the country as a weed. I put it in a container once and am now losing the battle with it as well. Also grows into the siding of my house.

  • loosegrip
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm a beginner and more attracted to the native plants of my area, so the question I want to ask is.... will I still have invasive problems if I just stick with an all-indigineous garden? If not, what's the solution? Also, should I deadhead the plants or leave the seeds for the birds?

  • jenny1220
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    OMG! Someone else mentioned Tansy!
    Two summers ago, after attending a herbal workshop where I learned all of the beneficial uses for Tansy. I ran right out and bought two small plants at a farmers' market. Small. In the tiny little plastic pots. I planted one at each end of my flower bed

    Two years later....

    These are monsters. They're unbelievable. They spread underground and pop up where you least expect them. My two "main" plants are now 5 ft tall and probably 10 ft in circumference. I dug them up this spring - about two months ago -along with countless starts throughout my garden. They're back and you can't even tell I did anything to them. I figure at this rate, within 5 years my flower bed will be one huge Tansy patch.

    As far as the "beneficial uses" for Tansy...the only thing I've ever used it for was to keep the japanese beetles out of my veggie garden. You boil the leaves of Tansy and make a tea, then spray it, and it does a fairly decent job of keeping the beetles at bay.

    But what a price you pay for that....

  • tosa_rose
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The common moss rose, a beautiful, soft pink-lavendar plant has spread throughout one part of my garden and is totally uncontrollable. We dig it up as much as we can and still it keeps coming up. I have over 300 roses in my yard, but nothing that sends up shoots like this one! We even used Round-Up and that didn't work either! If I could just control it, I would keep one or two but this is plain crazy! The thorns are soft and somewhat sticky near the top and of course the sepals are moss covered. It is an interesting plant. I friend of mine had given me Alika (a pretty rose) but instead of Alika, I got what has been determined to be the "Common Moss Rose".

    Forget-me-nots and the beautiful pink peony poppies were a gift from the birds and I dig them up and give them away. People love them even though I tell them how invasive they are.

    Jan

  • byline
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Re: "I'm a beginner and more attracted to the native plants of my area, . . ."

    That's pretty much the approach I've taken with my side garden. I've tried clearing it out, multiple times, and planting various bedding plants and then keeping it free of the invasives (many of which are named in this thread) . . . to no avail. They just keep coming back. So, in the end, I've given up the fight and have adopted a "go with the flow" approach. They win. And my side garden is actually fairly attractive, though it's full of all kinds of native and non-native plants, many of which are no doubt considered weeds or invasives. When it starts getting too full, I just go in and yank a few things to thin it out.

    I had so much trouble growing the stuff I planted, but am having no trouble at all now, LOL!

  • byline
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    By the way, I notice that several people have recommended sprinkling Borax on creeping charlie to get rid of it. I tried it on a few sections in my lawn, and sure enough it seems to have fried charlie without messing up my grass.

    Question: I also have several flower beds in my lawn; they're surrounded by rocks. How close can I get to those flower beds without hurting the plants (including a young Shubert chokecherry) inside? Or, as someone else suggested, is it best to avoid that risk altogether?

  • decolady01
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Creeping Charlie and Bouncing Bet (soapwort). I'd never heard of using borax on the Creeping Charlie, but plan to try it out this year. It is almost worse than kudzu. Do you just use the regular 20 Mule Team Borax?

    Becky

  • shiollie
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    TRUMPET VINE!!!! Hate the stuff!! I have 4 plants growing up a hitching post. I have dug and burned and pulled but it just keeps growing... now it is growing out into the lawn. How can I get rid of this stuff???

  • Juliana63
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Earlier post from kec01:
    "Here's my guide to borax and creeping charlie from the U of Minn extension site...You may have heard about using Borax to control creeping charlie. You have to use Borax very carefully. Boron, the active ingredient in Borax, is an essential nutrient, needed in minute quantities for healthy plant growth. Amounts even slightly over what is needed are toxic to plants. Borax can be used against creeping charlie because the weed is more sensitive to boron than grass is. Small amounts can kill creeping charlie without permanently harming the lawn. (Grass may brown a bit, but it will grow out of it.) The problem is, boron does not dissipate or break down like standard weed-killers. If it's applied repeatedly or at too strong a rate, you will end up with an area where you can't grow anything until the boron leaches out. That may take years.
    My vote is no to borax - it's not worth the risk."

    I received the borax advice in a MG class -- unfortunately, the lecturer did not mention the negatives. Miracle cures seldom live up to their hype. I always try to pull and dig out invasives (sometimes a many season task...)before resorting to chemical control. I also am more diligent about researching cultivars before I introduce them to my garden -- my personal "Just Don't Grow!" campaign.

    I'm amazed at the longevity of this thread -- thanks for all the great responses.

    Juliana

  • seil zone 6b MI
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Morning Glories, wild or otherwise, will not die, will wrap around everything else and kill it. Also Violets and Lily of the Valley both spread profusely and choke out other things. I made the mistake of planting Bee Balm once too. I've been trying to get it all out for 3 years now. Cosmo's are lovely but put them somewhere by themselves or they'll take over a bed. If you have strawberries be ruthless with yanking them out around the edges or they spread like wild fire into everything else. I even had one spring up from under a 2 foot wide patio block.

    My neighbor on one side loves loosestrife and the neighbor behind me has decided that she prefers creeping charlie to grass because she doesn't have to mow it. Needless to say I do battle with both of these regularly as well.

  • seil zone 6b MI
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I forgot to add that I have found a way to keep some spreaders that I like without their taking over. I plant them in those big black nursery pots and then just sink the pots. It doesn't work for things that seed themselves but for the spreaders like day lilies it works great. I've had some in a pot like that for 5 years and they haven't spread and inch.

  • joyful_grower
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    No one mentioned grape hyacinths! They multiply and are the hardest dang things to get rid of!! I wish I had never planted them. Vinca vines? Inherited that problem. Have pulled and pulled, they are underneath the arborvitae, and they have now grown into my neighbors yard. Told my neighbor, sorry, they were there before I moved in, and have tried pulling and pulling and pulling!! Ughhhh!!!

  • linda_schreiber
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This great thread will never die..... and it should not! Thanks for bringing it current, so that I scanned through the old posts up to now. Great guffahs!!! Lots of commiseration, but lots of well-needed guffahs... The husband asked me if I was ok.... Oh, yes! Warnings and whinings are good!

    I would also add the once-praised 'Russian Blue Sage'. Any tansy (dittoing flowerfarmer's wonderful multicolored offering of old, and comments from others). Yellow Corydalis. Luckily easy to weed out. Sweet Annie. Chop it to dry *before* it sets seed and lays down..... Trumpet vine (don't even get me started). Egyptian onion is cute as a button, but ends up everywhere. Lemon balm.... Grow it in a pot, on a balcony, over a parking lot. One little lemon balm plant out-competed the catmint and the spearmint, and is spreading like wildfire.

    Ya gotta laugh....

  • douglasont
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Might have come up before.
    SILVER LACE VINE ----------- DANGER!
    DO

  • wi_blackthumb
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Bindweed! You would have to be insane to plant it. Unfortunately, it migrated from my neighbor's yard. I went on vacation and when I came back it was trying to smother the cars in the driveway! I spoke to a landscaper and his advice: MOVE. I did end up moving (for other reasons) but I must admit that bindweed won the war.

  • linda_schreiber
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    A really lovely thing .... "Pink Mallow". After a few troubled [!!!] years, I do still let a few go in a specific area. But they seed vigorously, and everywhere! And unless you catch them as very tiny seedling plants, they are difficult to weed out. Like their 'common mallow' cousins, they root to China before they are 3 or 4 inches tall. When I was just starting to understand and battle the infestation, from a single plant, I learned to forswear the shovel and began weeding the marigold-sized 6-8" plants with a post-hole digger..... I've learned to recognize them small, at max 2-3 inches, and a trowel suffices. And I do love them. But if you plant one, beware and be vigilant in the following spring!

  • lmcd
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    No one has mentioned scilla or Siberian squills (those little blue-flowering bulbs). The previous owner planted them over 20 years ago. They pop up everywhere and spread through the lawn. I try to dig them out, but half the time, the bulbs snap off in the soil, and all I get is the top of the plant.

    Goutweed and violets are the other two thugs in my garden. On the other hand, all of the bugleweed that I planted last fall is dead.

  • abintra
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I am asking how to get rid of an indiginous weed! I think it is 'wild carrot'... I believe it spreads by seed.
    For 4 years had a farmed field behind my house. Now there are houses & I have a fence.
    Besides the grubs I am finally winning control over... I absorbed a large population of this weed... and would like ideas of how to get rid of it in my back yard's lawn/grass... there are so (literally 1000's in a 20x50 space... creeping into my total 65x50 back yard) many pulling by hand seems to not keep up with it... HELP!!!
    Purple loosetrife (or firecracker lysmachia) is aggressive - but not hard to dig up strays... a few plants put in about 3 yrs ago & now have hundreds... happily planted beside the fence I share with a 'diligent' gardening neighbor couple that only speaks to my husband & not me... hehehe

  • beth_ontario
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Himalayan Balsam...............1 plant gives you hundres and hundreds of babies in the spring. I'm still pulling seedlesing from the lawn.

  • gardenerupnorth
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Do you think Borax will work on snow in the mountain? It is incredible, all through my raspberries, whole side garden where I usually plant squash, corn, veggies. At this point, I don't even care if I have to leave it unplanted if I can just eliminate this stuff!! Roundup did not phase it.

  • gardenerupnorth
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    oh, boy. faze it

  • dogsitter
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    goutweed! it is the devil. and virginia creeper is taking over my grapevines.

  • gardenerupnorth
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I think my snow on the mountain and your goutweed are the same plant different name. Can anyone comment on whether or not we can use borax to kill the stuff, and then expect anything elseto grow in that soil? Thank you in advance for your advice.

  • baboo
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Comfrey! When we bought our old house it had two huge comfrey plants on either side of the granite steps and they were so pretty. When work was being done on the house and they were in danger of being lost I asked the backhoe man to lift them up and move them. Little did I know that it has huge tubers that go up, down, right, left, and unless you get the whole thing it will spread and take over all other plants. I read about this great idea to overfeed it to death rather than use chemicals. The theory is that it is such a heavy feeder that it will absorb high nitrogen food and (in case anyone knows Monty Python) "blow itself up" like Mr. Creosote. It didn't work, but it sure is huge. Any suggestions for getting rid of it...and I have a ridiculous amount of it.

  • pansypassion
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Lathyrus or "Everlasting Sweet Pea". Everlasting alright! Planted this in a side bed that is hot so most plantings don't go crazy - but this one ... Took over the trellis, totally intimidated the Clematis and it was a daily battle to stop it from strangling the Peonies. Actually not that attractive either. For two years we've pulled and dug deep and voila! no sign of it this spring. Until this morning. But I think we're slowing winning the battle.

  • messymoops
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Excellent discussion! I am here to check in with my experience. Perhaps you can learn from me... I am the only person I know who CANNOT get mint to spread or even come back the next year! I now have it planted in a small bed, separate from everything else and....bupkus!!! I planted two kinds last year, one of which I wound up hating, and guess what came back? Not very much, though. Also, my lily of the valley didn't come back! only one plant flowered. two others (out of, I think, six) grew, but didn't flower. I have now planted some in my perennial bed, so I'm sure nine hundred will emerge and I'll be smacking my head!! So,if I ever figuire out what I'm doing to inhibit these, buggers, I'l be sure to let you all know!!

    p.s. I also have the ribbon grass which I did read about before planting it, so I'm monitoring it carefully. it hasn't seemed to spread since the growing season started, it doubled in size since I planted it last year, though...

  • northerner_on
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I am still battling wild violets, and a campanula which 'walked' over the fence from my neighbour. Another bad one is Lamium - the yellow flowered one. I bought one little plant several years ago, and I have been yanking it out each fall, but can't keep it at bay. My bugle weed is on its way out since I saw it in my lawn this spring.

  • messymoops
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh, yes! That's another one! Lamium! Can't get that to spread to save my life! I've moved it three times. It lives, but does not spread, though I bought it as a 'ground cover.' Hah!! Perhaps if everyone would send me their invasives, i could sterilize them, or whatever I'm doing, and send them back, chastened!! No bittersweet, though. Our neighborhood--well, TOWN-- IS overrun with that.

    Sigh...

  • jeanr_2007
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I was surprised to see lily-of-valley mentioned a couple of times in this thread. I wish my bed of it would fill out! I'm new to gardening (4th year) and I made the primrose and ribbon grass mistake and mother nature gave me a problem area of crown vetch. The ribbon grass I dug up and planted in 6 large urns that I move around the yard, the deck and the dog pen. It's their third year in pots and they are doing well that way. I used Round-Up on what I couldn't dig up. The primrose will get moved soon to a little field at the back of our property where it can fight with whatever crown vetch I can't pull up.

  • tyler_23
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Snapdragons- the previous owner planted yellow, white and pink snapdragons. They are everywhere now. This year I focussed on removing the yellow ones as they flowered. It is mid November and the battle continues as yellow flowers keep appearing even after two frosts.
    Lamium- a great ground cover in a contained garden. Spreads wildly and cuttings are very easy to take. One plant sprouted up this year as a volunteer so I dug it up in October and split it into 25 cuttings which didn't even wilt when moving into their new home.
    Lily-of-the-valley- Mom has been digging them out of her tiny shade garden for years. This year I redesigned shade garden for mom and dug up the whole garden. Found hundreds of bulbs still remainng. It will be interesting to see if they are still there in spring.
    Herbs- if they go to seed beware. You think maple keys are a pain.
    Japanese kerria- in two years, three shrubs have become a 25 foot wide thicket.
    Wisteria and honeysuckle- everybody knows these two right?

  • lmv67
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Herbs, yes I totally agree - I was trying to have a cottage garden and grow herbs with my flowers and now there is oregano everywhere! And don't get me started about Tansy....arrrgh...the sad thing is that I have a really shady backyard (there is a huge walnut tree), where nothing grows and so I dug up all the oregano and tansy in the front garden and transplanted them in the backyard saying 'OK do your worst!' and they up and died on me within 2 weeks! And of course, I didn't get them all out of the front garden so they are still rampaging there, sigh...

  • sweetpea20
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This was a really fascinating message board to go through! So I thought I'd put in my nickel's worth. I don't have any trouble with Tradescantia and many others mentioned, probably because my garden is not all that hospitable - the northern climate, very sandy soil, windy and exposed. BUT, I made one very horrendous mistake five years ago and have been paying for it ever since. As I am a Scot, I thought it would be nice to put in the kind of perennial garden I knew and loved in the old country so I dug out (I thought!) an old strawberry bed and planted on that, plus a good sized extra piece. Those xyz strawberries have taken over almost the whole bed...I pull them out, but don't get every little piece obviously as they pop up again and go on their rampage once more. Mind you, they don't seem to do any harm, other than probably taking nutrients away from my plants, but because I know they are not supposed to be there at all and I don't like to be beaten, they drive me crazy. In view of my advancing years, I think this summer I am just going to let them run (no pun intended,lol) and use them as a sort of ground cover. The plants themselves are small enough for that and maybe some day, if I live long enough that is, I'll see them die out. I'm not going to hold my breath though!

    Take care everyone! And Happy St. Valentine's Day to all.

  • Drakens
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    "I read about this great idea to overfeed it to death rather than use chemicals....It didn't work, but it sure is huge."

    I'm sorry to laugh Baboo, but that just really struck me as funny.

  • garden_for_life
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Gooseneck Loostrife - horrid stuff. I hated it so much, it was a bane at my old house and was constantly crowding everything else out and impossible to get the roots pulled out - even with diligence every week. I was so glad to leave it behind when we built a new house. My husband brought one home and it quickly disappeared before it was planted (heh, heh). I feel like such an idiot though - I knew better than to plant obedience plant and evening primrose, but in my eagerness to fill in all the empty spaces I put a few in - regreting it already a year later! I should probably move it all out to the wild field & woods beyond our house, before it is too late.

  • slr8
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The word "invasive" for me are the plants that have the underground runners. I don't mind (to an extent) pulling up volunteer plants if they come out easily and won't come back. I don't even mind dead-heading to prevent spread by seed. My story begins with my Mother-in-Law who is retired and spends all day in her garden (very lovely one at that) but now I know why. She is keeping things in check but the problem is that she gives me plants. The second problem is that she has an accent and I don't always understand the plant names she is saying. Stupid me, I take them anyway and plant them. So researched everything she gave me and have found some are incredibly invasive. So I have pulled some it before they became a problem. I also think that some mint root was in a plant she gave me last year and now I have it growing everywhere. I am going to paint it with round up and see what happens. I just know I won't win the battle so I will probably simply put up with it just like I do Creeping Charlie. After reading this forum, I have recently dug up Campanula and yarrow and planted it in a pot into the ground. Will this work??? I have sweet woodruff...should I get rid of it or is it easy to pull out???

    I guess the reason I am not losing sleep over these is because I am losing sleep over the trumpet vines!!! AGHHH! My husband and I have actually talked about moving from this house because of them...we were joking...but were we??? I am sure that is why the last owners moved...they moved to Texas (we live in Ontario Canada). I think they moved to Texas to make sure they are in a far enough distance away that these trumpet vines will never invade their home again. Well, my husband and I are currently trying to kill the trumpet vine. We have dug all the dirt around the parent roots and sprinkled some root killer in the holes we drilled and then painted the leaves with roundup. The leaves are not green now and are brown and crispy. So now we are on the look out for the annoying upshoots that keep coming. We paint those too. I know we will fail, but we have to do something to at least slow them down. In two weeks, the three parents and their roots (the ones we can get to) will be dug out and DISPOSED of. So we will see. Pretty...pretty annoying, that is. Why can't everything be like a hosta! Stays put, flowers, easily cut back...

  • origami_master
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Trumpet vine is supposed to be 100 times worse down the US south

  • cannedam
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Interesting....I suppose what one person considers invasive is another person's idea of chemical-free, no-need-for-mowing weed-fighting ground cover :) I love my ajuga bed, but I knew what I was in for when I planted it. The bed is 4 feet wide and 20 feet deep, edged by sidewalk and two retaining walls. It's not going anywhere I don't want it.

    I inherited the variegated bishop's weed when we bought the place. It is rather attractive and from what I understand less invasive than the non-variegated form. I have been continually reining it in, however. Before I'm too old to do this stuff, I'll erradicate it. I do remove the flowers to at least prevent spread from that.

    Now, I've got some persian catmint that I purchased last year in a small 2" square planter. Put it in the garden and watched it become a lovely foot-wide mound of purple flowers and scented leaves. This spring....3 bazillion seedlings. I reined them in, but I do have a 3-foot square patch of it now. Now I am harvesting the flowerheads (the cats love this stuff) before they go to seed.

    I've planted a couple different loosestrife this year. *sigh* we shall see what I end up keeping and for how long.

    I also have sweet woodruff in an area where I'd like it to become a ground cover. It is not. Two clumps are remaining two clumps. I think it's not wet enough over there for it (and it never will be). I'll probably pass it on to someone else because I'm not liking it so much. It doesn't even smell sweet. :/

    Anyone know what those orange daisies are called? The leaves look like the plantain weeds that come up in our yards. These puppies self-seed with wild and reckless abandon and I don't know if I'll ever be free of them.

  • whynotmi
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Let me start off by saying I have a 4'x200' border garden along one side of my yard so I really look for self sufficient plants.

    I inherited many of my invasive plants when I bought my house. Here are the worst offenders:

    violets

    honeysuckle

    chinese elm (hate hate hate hate hate)

    tree of heaven (hate hate hate hate hate worse)

    blackberry (they duke it out with the honeysuckle and fox grapes)

    mulberry (love the fruit hate the dozens of volunteers each year)

    morning glory (a neighbor planted them 10 years ago, never replanted and I've been pulling seedlings from the same spot for 8 years now)

    rose of sharon (I pull dozens of seedling each year)

    redbud (again, I pull tons from my garden and lawn each year)

    fox grapes

    invasives that go to die in my yard:

    bishop's weed (couldn't grow it if I tried, and I have)

    LOV (thought it would be ok for a contained dead zone, 3 plantings later... nothing)

    yarrow (planted some 6 years ago. was great for 3 years then nothing though my neighbor has it now lol)

    lemon balm (been 3 years and it just sits there looking bored)

    grape hyacinth and scilla (plant plant plant the bulbs and barely a clump to show for it)

  • shadara
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sadly, I'm reading this to get ideas for plants I CAN use in this zone/region/area. We are what my mom calls "high and dry". You dig and get 6" or less of acidic topsoil (thanks to all the oaks), then the rest of it below is sugar sand (or "blow sand"). We are about 2 miles inward of Lake Michigan, but still have way too much sand in a heavily forested area.

    The years-long established woodland areas have typical wintergreen (teaberry), wild blueberry, wild violets, some kind of resilient fern, some dry-loving moss, a small non-violet purple flower, and others I can't remember names. But around my mom's house (built about 6 years ago) has nothing but sand under 1" of any kind of topsoil. Maple seedling from the few trees she has seems to be the worst weed in my beds.

    She's struggled over time to grow any kind of lawn and is just now starting to succeed in her back yard. We haven't found ANY plant so far to be invasive besides crab grass and dandelions.

    Snow-on-the-mountain died after first year somehow.

    Vinca minor (creeping myrtle) has grown (a little) over the years, but been struggling down a north slope.

    Lily of the valley will work around her deck area, but spreading VERY slowly.

    I purposely planted a sweet autumn clematis (paniculata) just to see how invasive it can be. I doubt it will survive and/or thrive.

    We do have some native weed of sorts in patches in the lawn which resembles a green, creeping jenny but we leave it because it's better than just plain dirt or failing-looking, patchy grass and it stays low to the ground.

    Her buttercup is still very slow to spread in her part-sun back rose garden. Spread like 3' dia in several yrs.

    We have a place to fill with something low between the west house wall and fence that will fair well (with no watering) and/or deal with regular lawn mowings. Was looking at tansy. Just want something that didn't fly over spans to faraway beds.

    But I can't STAND any wild violets in my flower beds, though. I moved away from the stuff at old house. It consumed all but some roses and bulbs no matter what I did to get them out. Pulled and dug for days to no avail. Then left bed to nature... and how ugly it got! Brought a few plants with me to my mom's house and nabbing any and all violet sprouts I see popping up around them.

    I wanted to refresh this thread for this list anyways. Maybe I can get suggestions along the way... Otherwise, great read!

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