Wow, you people have such an experience with it. I love that plant and while it does spread around a bit it is nowhere close to being the pest you describe! This year was first year I actually dug out few pieces to give away after having it for 3 years. It is not hard to remove where I do not want them either. I also have variegated lyshimachia Alexander which also behaves. Again my garden is informal so I really do not care if they do not form clump or migrate a little, have not noticed them migrating more than couple of feet from original placement. Maybe it is because I grow them in the shade but have not had any problems from them. I have bed of lysimachias, tiger and asiatic lilies,aconitums, macleya cordata, corydalis lutea which reseeds like crazy but very happy and blooms all summer and dwarf yellow and variegated bamboo. Those ones do try to get into walking path grass but not invasive enough due to being not fully cold hardy here. Out of all of the only bamboo is kind of hard to dig up.

This species of Sparaxis, often called the harlequin flower, is just the tip of the iceberg in this genus, they are almost all wonderful, and do so well in coastal California that they can survive in the wild, and naturalize in gardens. As they mostly come from the winter rainfall areas of South Africa, they can be planted out in areas that do not receive irrigation and do just fine. I would also recommend seeking out S. grandiflora, and the Dutch bulb growers are some of the best sources for South African bulbs in general. It is amazing to me that more gardeners don't plant South African bulbs such as Ixia, Sparaxis, species Gladiolus, Romulea, Freesia, Nerine, etc., when they do so much better year after year with minimal care than the hybrid Tulips, which aren't adapted to our mild climate.

I can't find stocks here, well, most of the time anyway. And then, they aren't the tall ones I love. Same with Snapdragons. The ones they sell here of both plants are short. One nurseryman told me it is because of our strong crosswinds - they tend to blow the tall plants over. I told him, that's what garden stakes and twist ties are for! :) But, we do get a pretty good variety of Sweet Allysum, although white is my favorite. It shows up more as a border plant. And most years they reseed themselves. I bet your flowerbeds are gorgeous, Lavender_Lass!

You guys are good! It never occurred to me that the first one was winter aconite. That would certainly make sense in that area of the garden.