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Craving gooseneck loosestrife
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Posted by yardgroupie z4NY (My Page) on Sat, Jul 26, 08 at 8:46
| I've just come home from visiting the Montreal Botanical Gardens, and I'm CRAVING the gooseneck loosestrife "river" in the Chinese Garden. I know that it is invasive, though not the same as the dreaded purple loosestrife.
We have a french drain around our house to alleviate dampness in the basement. A spring drains into it, runs through a pipe, under our asphalt drive, and empties down a few rocks into a small pool in our front yard. In the spring, a true stream empties from the pool , runs along the edge of our lawn, and peters out at the paved road (lots and lots of sand under our property). In summer, water is a trickle. I've thought about this, and I think I could plant gooseneck here responsibly. Unless it can teleport itself back through the drainpipe, it can't get into the top of our property. Our yard is mowed regularly, and the loosestrife won't spread that way.
Can I PLEASE?? At the moment I have ligularia, lady's mantle and siberian iris. They're okay, but a little boring. Please let me know.
Yardgirl
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Craving gooseneck loosestrife
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Hi Yardgirl:
I got a few cuttings of gooseneck from a friend a few years ago and I planted them in my front border. Strangely enough, they multiplied very slowly and only this year are a sizeable clump and in full bloom. I believe many people confuse the name loosestrife, with the wild purple one. BTW, there is also a cultivated purple one which is not at all invasive. So go ahead, they make great cut flowers and you can always rip out what you don't want. I don't think these ones will 'walk'.
Northerner. |
RE: Craving gooseneck loosestrife
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| My experience with gooseneck loosestrife is fairly limited; however, I planted it about 4 years ago for the purpose of having a taller groundcover. It's in an area that is very shady but stays moist thru out the summer. It has spread throughout that area and sneaks out a few plants out of bounds in the spring of each year which are relatively easy to pull out. I haven't found it to be troublesome yet. I think if it was going to be I would know by now! |
RE: Craving gooseneck loosestrife
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| Thanks, Northerner and Magpie. I was pretty confident that I had thought things out, but I've learned to check GardenWeb! Magpie's experience is especially cheering: yes, after four years, the mistakes usually come out! Yard Girl |
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