Greggs salvia to some extent. It is too docile. It allows the freaking bermuda to take it over!!! Now I week wack around the ones I planted. If it eventually kills them oh well(better than stupid looking shrubs all full of grass!!!). They actually look better now. Maybe I need to be cutting them to the ground every spring???? They grow all spralled and goofy lookin!PJ

Cypress Vine
Four O Clocks
Mexican Mint Marigold
morning glories
.............the list makes me shudder

If you deccide to plant any roses and have a nose, make it a Musk rose. (or a close relative like Darlow's Enigma)

Another smelly plant I have to have is a Winter honeysuckle bush.

I just bought this attractive foliage plant at Lowes' called "Artemsia Oriental Limelight". It's very attractive.

Well, I read about it. It sounds extremely invasive.

It was too good to be true.

We're still trying to kill our Orange Trumpet Vine. We took it out when we put up a new fence about 7 years ago!!!

Yesterday, I found a huge runner climbing halfway up a pecan tree.

PJ:

If Salvia Greggii isn't sheared at least one a year, it will become spindly and woody.

I cut mine in the winter and in the late summer. Keeps it bushy.

I inherited bermuda grass which breaks when you try to pull it up. I was told St Augustine would eventually choke it out, but after 10 years it has failed to do so.
My Artemisa is in a pot that I planted in the ground to keep the underground runners from invading my flower bed.

Uh oh, I just planted 6 crinum lilies!

Almost every plant can be good or bad depending on where it is.

The fact that one person regrets having planted it doesn't mean that it won't be perfect for you:

Crinums in, say, a small garden at a townhouse are just too much; there's no room for anything else.

but if you have the space, they're *wonderful*, & they'll still be blooming many years from now, with or without care.

(As I was driving down the highway this afternoon, I saw 3 clumps of crinums in a field with waist-high grass & weeds!)

Artemesia Oriental Limelight spreads like a rumor, but it grows in full sun & covers the ground with fresh, variegated lemon & lime foliage *that does not have to be mowed*!

Blue mistflower spreads...
but in high summer, it looks like a blue mist, & the butterflies will swarm to it, & it requires no water & no mowing.

The only thing that I truly regret is Asian Dayflower.
My twisted neighbor gave it to me;
she told me that it was "ivy", & that she was getting rid of it to put something else in the space it had occupied.

It's literally everywhere;
every time I turn soil I unearth seeds, which get all excited & sprout.

If I'm in the mood & I have the time, I pull out the plants, but even if I'm tired & rushed, if I see one of those beautiful cornflower-blue blossoms, I pull it off before it can turn into a seed!

I don't know which crinum discussed. I have one that is 9 years old and has two pups beside it. It has not spread except for those two. Mine is the white with pink stripe.

I thought I might have to shear the Gregg's thanks Prickly! PJ

Artemesia Oriental Limelight might be one of those that "it depends where it is". I have had it about 5 years in 1 spot about 2'X 1' area in midafternoon sun and shade to filtered sun the rest of the time. It has not been invasive at all in that spot. It has spread a little, not at all hard to keep in bounds. I did 2 cultivars of mistflowers this year, but planted them in areas where they have defined boundaries, so unless they seed like crazy I'm hoping they'll not spread too much. Don't tell me - I don't want to know!!!

I posted a picture in the gallery of the crinum I have that has been extremely invasive (for me, at least). When I bought it there wasn't a tag on it, and the lady working at the nursery just said "crinum".

I think my list of "regret" plants is pretty much along the same lines as most others posted here. There have been a couple of surprises for me to see, however.
My arch enemies are:
Mexican petunia
Obedient plant
wood violets
Some of my favorite plants reseed more freely than I like, but they are excellent plants and are not terribly difficult to control. This includes verbena bonariensis, torenia, flowering tobacco and salvia coccinea.
To my horror, alstroemeria has been indicted here. Hope it's not because the little tubers are going to spread everywhere! The blooms, as well as the plant, are really pretty, but if it is invasive, I will have to pull it out. I'm getting too old to fight with plants.

Purple wisteria, I bought a tree form, which I had to keep pruning. So I decided to move it away from anything which it might wrap itself on. Well it died and I decided I didn't want it after all. Fate helped me dispose of it. I tought. A few weeks later on the old location there were new vines emerging and then they started popping up everywhere. To this day I am still cutting and spraying roundup on them. And will probably be doing it until I die.

Sylviatexas is right, every plant can be good or bad, depending on what you want from it. I have morning glories, which could be a royal pain in the butt except that by some miracle (also known as a hill with sparse grass - I suspect they get washed down there) they stay concentrated against the fence. There's no bed there, but I don't mind them crawling up the whole of the fence.

I also don't mind sprouts from the violets coming up, because I have so many empty shady beds, so I periodically dig 'em and put them back there, thankful for the slow and free fill for those blank spots.

(Purslane, however, will never get my forgiveness.)

So one person's burden is another's blessing?

I agree that many plants that are invasive for some are not for others. I have had Gregg's Mist flower in the same spot for 7 years and it is still with in the area it was planted. The key I would say is water and lack there of outside its growth area. I water only this area when needed( it looks best in summer with extra water) but my Hill Country fast draining soil won't support its growth beyond where I give it extra water. Sooo that being said if you water an area regularly (near grass etc.) expect it to be more of a control problem. Like many plants and homes the mantra is location, location, location and cultural practices will be a significant part of the problem or joy to any given plant. Artemesia would be another that by location and culture practice is great or it can be the plant that swallowed Dallas.
Just a few more thoughts about the thread and some of the whys and there there fors to deciding to plant or not to plant. This is why I will lose individual sales to a customer one day only to have them back buying later because after talking about the emotionally impulse buy I talked them into thinking about the area more and really looking at it and how they are as caretakers. I am more interested in creating long-term customers that are happy about their choices time and time again. This I think is true in any retail setting and is a philosophy I try to encourage amongst my co-workers. Gardeners are cultivated just like the plants we all grow. We need to understand their needs, and wants before we can provide the best for them.
Happy Growing Y'all David

We have a common name confusion going here. The Blue Mist Flower that people are refering to is Eupatorium greggii, aka Gregg's Mist Flower. It's the native that has the puffy blue flowers, slightly lobed leaves, and spreads like the dickens, but is worth every inch and foot it takes up because of the butterflies.

The "chartruese colored blue mist shrub" mentioned above, I'm guessing, might be something different - possibly Caryopterus, which also has the common name Blue Mist. It's not a spreader as far as I know.

I regret inheriting Bermuda grass.

I regret planting Trumpet Vine and Rosa setigera. It's way to thorny, and way to aggressive. I do like the flowers, though.

Sally

MAIDEN GRASS
i thought i was saving this poor pot of miscanthus grass from lowe's a couple of winters ago and it looked great in the pot. then when we moved into our house i put it in the boggy muddy clay garden and crapla - it has gone under my house and i am pulling it up out of my backyard, out of the grass that i do want. such a pain pain pain.

I like Purslane, lol. I've never had a problem with it. Mint just shouldn't be put in the ground and needs a pot to itself. I once put it in a pot with some flowers and some other vigorous herbs (I thought). It came up everywhere there was a little space and virtually shaded out all the other plants. It's scary. I've had Mexican Petunias before, too (the tall purple things), but there were in a pot, not the ground. I did have a native Lantana, courtesy of birds that spend the night on the roof or the windowsill. It was so beautiful last Spring with it's pink and yellow blooms and all the butterflies. Not only did the location turn out to be bad (it was under the drip line and had a bad case of mites only to be closely followed by powdery mildew), it stopped blooming and grew to four feet high and wide. I have only dealt with hybrids, so I had no idea it had thorns until I attempted to cut and pull with my bare hands. It's the only live plant I have ever dug up and destroyed. Took heavy duty shears, and a big shovel, and I still had to call hubby to come help me.

I do like Lantana in some situations and spots, just not that particular one in that location.

I can't think of any big mistakes, just learning experiences. So far, most of my mistakes die, they don't take over the world.

trumpet vine: I've been trying to get rid of it for years.

I wish the previous owner had not planted asian jamine nor english ivy....do you see a long trail of green pain??/

There's another Blue mist flower, Conoclinium coelestinum, aka Eupatorium coelestinum, Hardy Ageratum which I'm told is also pretty aggressive. Similar flowers to the Gregg's, but the leaf is much different. I planted both of these to see which is the better butterfly attractor. I hope I don't regret it, although I was pretty careful about where I planted 'em. I also have the Caryopterus which definitely does not spread. It is similar to a spirea in leaf and form (much smaller), but the flowers are more like the eupatoriums.

whew...thank you sally and debndal, I really love this plant already and reallly hated to think I would have to pull it out. This is the name: Caryopteris incana 'Sunshine BlueÂ' ('Jason') PPAF
And the link below shows the picture...hit the show additional tab on the picture and you get a fuller view of the plant.
Dena

Here is a link that might be useful: Blue Mist, I love it...

I rue the day I planted ruellia! Man is that one invasive plant.

I have no problem with mint, unless you count killing it.

Yarrow, it has followed the soaker hose, looks awful in summer.

Native poinsetta, I swear it grows 8' in a day.
Wisteria-it came with the house, a small bush that wouldn't bloom. I dug it up and 8 YEARS later it started sprouting again. I have to cut it almost weekly or it takes over the beds, trees...

Sky vine! Thunbergia grandiflora It literally covered 2 huge hackberries in the yard and was sprouting everywhere. For some reason it died and it's passing was NOT mourned.

Airplane/spider plants, I put the green in as a filler in an empty bed, years later I dig and dig and dig. As a matter of fact that's my project this weekend, dig it up!

At least on the island our soil is mostly sand and I can just for the most part pull stuff up easily.
Tally HO

My DH would divorce me if I even thought about planting Trumpet Vine or Four O Clocks!! LOL

We live in my in-law's house...she put Vinca and Dayflower EVERYWHERE and there is Bermuda grass in every flowerbed. I try to garden organically but this week told my DH to use Roundup on the Bermuda grass my new bed.

birdbite
Not sure that is a crinum...never heard of them sending runners. Mine do offsets...have had them 4 years, have several that are larger than softballs.

txgardenlady I love Mexican Mint Marigold...have had the same plant for 3 years...it has not spread...wish it had! Butterflies love it in the fall.

Peggy

I ran out of time this morning, so I'm adding to my list. Plus, I remembered some things.

I used to have Mexican Mint Marigold, but my Phlox pilosa at it. Interestingly, their leaves are almost identical, except for the fragrance. I'm starting to get real tired of my Phlox pilosa, but I'm not regretting it.....yet.

I also regret planting French Hollyhocks. It looks good in the winter, but about the time it starts to bloom, it also starts to look awful, and it comes up everywhere, and I mean everywhere. If I let it get too big, I can't pull it out - it's roots are way too stubborn. I've started pulling up the seedlings as best I can.

I kind of regret planting Maypops, but not entirely. They do bring in lots of Gulf Fritillaries, but definately not enough. Those caterpillars need to eat a whole lot more.

Sally

Bermuda grass, the bane of my life. Brand new house, brand new sod, spent all this time and money on a sprinkler system so that it'd take. 8 months later, now that I'm trying to put in flower beds and create a garden I hate the stuff. Sooo invasive!! Hacking through it to just make a hole is impossible. Next time I'm telling the builders to put in 10" of mulch, everywhere.

1. Trumpet vine out to be outlawed! I dig it up everywhere.

2. Blackberries. They were here when I moved it, and they pop up everywhere. I just don't have the space for them, and I get extremely scratched up (through long sleeves & gloves!) when I try to pull it out. One year I cut all of it completely down to the ground and dug up everything I could, and it came back just as strong. At least they are planted in front of my windows - no one will break in (:

I regret every single dime that I spent on plants that only bloom in the April - June time frame. Now I only plant things that bloom ALL summer OR at some point during the winter / really early spring when nothing else looks good. There's just so many things that will look good all summer and I wish I had known that when I started gardening.
But that being said, I regret the blue mist flower, which even with no water and very little sun has spread everywhere.
Mint - DH loves it so I bought some and planted them in pots. It escaped the pot.
Morning glories. I knew these reseeded with a vengance so I never would have planted them, but DH found some seeds at his grandmother's house when they were cleaning everything out to sell it. The seeds were not in a seed packet so we didn't know what it was until it bloomed. DH thought it was too pretty to pull out, plus he loved the sentimental value of it. That was 2 years ago and I am still pulling up baby seedlings.
Cross vine and purple leaved honeysuckle, neither of which will stay where we want it. They don't reseed or even spread, but they wrap around nearby plants. We are about to pull both of them out.
I do not regret the Mexican Mint Marigold. Mine is in a pot and has never escaped the pot.
Also I regret all of the hundreds of dollars I spent on 'screening' plants. There are very few plants that grow fast in the shade (which is where I need to screen) and I wish I had just spent that money on a really tall fence. 5 years after planting I am still not screened from my neighbors. What I really wish is that my neighbors hadn't have built their house where they did. It was woods over there when I bought my property. They cut down the woods and put their house right next to the property line which is way too close to my back porch.

"What I really wish is that my neighbors hadn't have built their house where they did. It was woods over there when I bought my property. They cut down the woods and put their house right next to the property line which is way too close to my back porch."

I would totally hate that!!!!

We just finished our pond tour & nearly everyone who came through wanted the trumpet vine. I spent more time telling them why they didn't want trumpet vine than about the pond. lol

After reading the latest on this thread, I hope I don't regret planting 4 o'clock. I had them in front but moved some of the smaller ones to the back. The roots were so large on some that I just left them in front & picked the stem off. So far they haven't come back. Is that what is disliked about 4 o'clocks, or are they invasive after a few years?

Oh, Weathersby, how awful about that house being built there, and the woods being cut down. I would be devistated.

Could you put up some supports and transplant that crossvine this fall over to that part of your yard to help with the screening? It won't necessarily bloom in the shade (mine doesn't) but it might help with the screening. (Sorry, don't mean to hijack the thread.)

This is a bit straying from the subject, also, but when I was in the Seattle-Bremerton-Silverdale area of Washington a couple of weeks ago, I saw blackberries growing wild all over the place. Blackberries and Scotchbroom. The Scotchbroom was in full bloom and beautiful, and literally covered the roadsides. I asked if it was native there, expecting the answer to be no, and I was right. It's an extremely invasive alien there. So are the blackberries. It's interesting what will take over in different areas. Those 2 plants looked to Washington like what kudzu looks like to the South, and loosestrife looks like to the Northeast.

I guess we have Japanese Honeysuckle (that purple leafed kind mentioned earlier) to contend with here in Texas.

Sally

Marti, I think the 4 oclocks reseed and that's why people don't like them. I've got mine in the shade, and they don't grow and bloom much so they haven't been invasive. I'm always looking for things that will live in our dry shade, even if they don't grow as well as they would in the sun.
Yea, it really did suck when they cut the woods down. They were cut down within the week of me signing the paperwork to buy the house. But then I was told they were turning it into an area for horses and that the construction they were starting was a barn. It's their property and they can do whatever they want with it, but it really gripes my butt that they have 7 acres but put their house right next to the property line. My house is on 2 acres and was built near that same property line. So even though I live in the country, I am close enough to their house to be able to ID them in a police line up when they are on their front porch and I'm on my back porch. If it was sunny in between our houses it would be OK, because I could plant things that would grow tall really fast, but the shade is so much harder. None of the plants are as tall as me (5'3") after 5 years. To add insult to injury, they built their barn literally 5 feet from the property line and it's a big ugly tin thing.
So Sally, does your crossvine really GROW in the shade? I wouldn't mind losing the blooms.

Liastris & trumpet vine.

The homeowner before me only had 4 things in the yard:

*30 twenty foot ligusturms that were last trimmed about 8 years ago. (I cut them down to 6 stubs 2 weeks ago and now they are nice controllable hedges.)
*That yucky pointed holy bush that you cant remove without serious injury.
*Asian Jasmine---more green no blooms
*And right before he moved out he put down some annual rye grass for curb appeal. It's already dying and I need to find a warm season shady perennial grass seed ASAP.

As for something I regret planting: My mother planted 3 giant elephant ears in 1986. They invaded a quarter of an acre after about 5 years. She was so sick of them she asked us to chop them up and stick them in the compost pile. BIG MISTAKE. Within a year our compost pile had been invaded as well.

Note; Elephant ears make great umbrellas when you are stuck mowing the lawn in the rain. :)

Caldwell Pink really isn't the culprit that layers--that rose is climbing fairy...blooms are similar but don't let anyone ever give you a climbing fairy...you'll chase it all over but it runs deep underground and pops up everywhere. Caldwell Pink,also known as Pink Pet, on the other hand, stays about 3-4 feet high and is a real blooming machine from about Mother's Day til the first frost. Sometimes the names on the tags are incorrect and I suspect that running rose was cl. fairy.

Thanks much to all who responded!

Sorry, Cweathersby, for responding so late. yes, my Crossvine does grow in the shade. I haven't really paid that much attention to how quickly it's grown, but it's spread from the trellis I have that's about 4 feet away from the chain link fence, to the fence, and has grown along the fence for several feet. It hasn't spread obnoxiously, but it has spread. I remember now, I planted it that way around 6 years ago because at that time we had a dog that liked to run along the fence and bark and play with the neighbor's dogs through the fence. So, I planted the vine out away from the fence. Alas, my dog died, but I still have stuff planted 4 feet from the fence. Looks a little odd, but who knows, maybe some day I'll get another dog. In the mean time. the crossvine still grows.

Sally

This is very late posting but in my Deep East Texas Woods yard of Jasper ,the list is long
# 1 of all culprits Houtania beware of nurserymen bearing gifts
5 leaf Akibia
Kerilou indigo
Mexican petunia
Bog sage
Yarrow
Asian jasmine
Taro
Elephant ears
Air potato vine
Yellow flag by the house. They were wonderful around the pond
Perenial morning glory
I am sure there were more. If it came from Japan, it loved that gumbo soil and 57" a year of rain.

In my new OLD house in Tyler I regret the previous owners English Ivy and a shrub similar to ligustrum but every black seed sprouts. I don't have a clue but I will find out.

I have planted many of the plants you have mentioned, but have no regreats. I have to pull up baby plants, and throw them away. I still love the ones that I have, I just have to maintain them, so that they do not take over my yard. I have found that mexican petunia, and obediant plant will grow, in the worse conditions. I have a cousin who said she could not get anything to grow next to her garage, it was just too hot. I gave her both of these plants, and she loves them. Barbra,

Louisiana Blue! I planted two teeny starts in 2 flowerbeds.I was seduced by their perfume in 1994.
The first few years they behaved.
But after that daaaaaaammmmmm! I still cant get them all out!
Also Pyracathus.I got tired of being pireced by its throrns when I tried to keep it trimmed.So I ripped it out.
I also had a rose that had pink flowers that bloomed once a year.It suckered like crazy and had no grace to it.
Also my Carolina Jasmine came out recently.I planted it on a small section of fence.I thought the delicate vine would be happy on it.But after a few years,I had to trim it several times a year.I later find out they can grow as wide as a room!Most of my mistakes were made as a teen.

Another vote, with Tally (beachplant), against ruellia. Not the tall kind, either, which is well-known to spread aggressively by seed. I'm talking about the 'Katie' dwarf. We must have acquired a dwarf of the tall kind that looks like 'Katie.' I have never heard of anyone else having trouble with the short stuff. Or if I had heard, I have forgotten...again...

Trumpet Vine is my nemesis. I didn't plant it here, but someone obviously thought it was a grand idea 50 years ago; I have it in almost every flower bed. It has such long suckers that you can pull a vine for days until it finally breaks. Every spring, I think I am going to make peace with this beast, and then I snap and start pullng at vines.

Now, a friend of mine has this growng in a very small bed on the side of his old building downtown; and it looks great; but it has no place to go. Agreed, it is beautiful when it blooms.

At our other house... trumpet vines (3). God bless the owners. This house... liastris, dug those up this year after only one year. STILL digging, and digging, and digging, everywhere.

In Austin,
Caladiums (deer ate them for breakfast, lunch and dinner)
Hosta (never developed-maybe snails)
Sky Pencil Holly (better suited to acidic soils, I think)
Barberry-hate the thorns

Here is a link that might be useful: My Garden Blog

It's been awhile since I've been able to log on. Thanks for the info about the Artemsia. (It was so many posts ago, that ya'll may not remember.) I've still got mine in pots.

It looks like Trumpet Vine and Mexican Petunia seem to be the winners of the "most invasive plant" award.

Funny, that some said elephant ear. In San Antonio, they come back smaller each year. After a few years, they're gone.

"Barberry-hate the thorns"

When we moved into this house 2 1/2 years ago, the original owner had landscaped the yard and it is very nice, but he had some of those Barberry's in the back yard. I'd never seen or heard of them but the minute I saw those thorns, I told DH to dig 'em up. We have two baby grandsons and I could just see them running in the backyard and falling into those things.

Funny about all the elephant ear haters - I was at my mom's yesterday and she was proudly showing me hers. I just smiled and said "yeah .... really nice mother ....."

I inherited this "plant" when I bought the house and can't get rid of it.... "thorn less" prickly pear. The previous home owner had planted it as a show plant on the corner of our lot. It quickly became dominant and has taken over the bed, with all this rain I haven't been able to get out and have at it with the machette.

It sounds like Headeranderson and I inherited the same yard. Ligustrums, asian jasmine and holly! I have torn everything out but the asian jasmine is a tough one to get rid of!

Most of the things I have planted and have regretted are due to my inexperience. I put an agastasche at the front of a bed, little did I know that one plant would get to be 5'x5' in a season! I also made the same mistake with a few salvias, I love them all but will need to move them in the fall.

We have friends buying up the old houses around here and fixing them up who are always looking for plants to get started on their yards. So I don't mind some of the stinkers, because our friends thin them frequently. I usually give away asian jasmine, vinca, mex petunias, stone crop, and butterfly ginger. The one thing that I am guilty of having planted 8 years ago is that darn pretty trumpet vine. I cannot kill it, and it's frightening how invasive it is.

We have friends who rented a house in Garland that the owner was not able to sell. The entire foundation had lifted up in the center of the house, so a ball would roll either way quickly, the slope was so great. Trumpet vine! The roots got so huge from a vine growing on the nearby fence that they lifted the slab. What a nightmare.

We were sitting out front just last week and realized that there's not one original plant left in the front yard. We murdered more hollies and dug out more monkey grass.... Oh I hate monkey grass. 3 years ago, I got on freecycle and gave away the last of it while my husband was at work. Dwarf yaupon hollies and some sort of evergreen hedge that I couldn't stand. So we got to start with a fresh slate!

Me too, Trumpet vine everywhere and all my DW says is how she loves the flowers. of course she doesn't deal with it either...

also brazilian rock rose, 4 o'clocks, and my DW's mint uggg

The place we just moved out of had nandina everywhere. In front of the house, it had some kind of clumping nandina that wasn't so bad -- it worked like shrubs, and it made beautiful berries in the winter. But in the side bed, which I was always trying to plant in, the nandina grew wild and free, and we had to dig out all the roots to get anything else to grow there.