How invasive is Creeping Jenny (lysimachia)?

I love the look of Creeping Jenny and had several plants in mixed containers last summer. When fall came I transplanted them to two shady areas along the foundation of my home where I have rows of hostas with a few bleeding hearts mixed in. Since then I have learned that it is considered to be very invasive. Is it really THAT hard to contain? Will it creep into the lawn? Smother other plants?

I don't mind pulling up a few stray volunteers now and then but I don't want it to smother my other plants.

Does anyone have an experience with this? How does it compare to Mexican Evening Primrose (now that's an invasive plant!!)

I'm in Zone 5, central Ohio.

Thanks

I just yank it out when it looks too visceous.

It doesn't seem to smother anything, at least in my zone. It will creep into the lawn (at least mine does) but it's easy to pull out. Peg

Absolutly no smothering here either.
When I want to put a plant in the ground I just pull out the Jenny and dig a hole.It looks great creeping where ever.
Here it is with Sedum Xenox,astilbe,hosta

OK, it's unanimous. I will leave it where it is and look forward to it lightening up my shade garden. Thanks everyone.

Glad to help

Lysimachia is considered an invasive alien here in Mass.

All Lysimachia?

how harmfull is it

I know that the cultivar 'aurea' is supposed to be less invasive than the species (lysimachia nummularia). I've read that you shouldn't plant it near natural areas or next to streams where it can detach and spread down stream. I haven't seen it spread to other areas by self seeding in my yard, but I think others have seen that. Here's the plantfile entry - some discussion there.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/58136/

Peg

I don't find it hard to yank up in my garden beds, where there is mulch and looser soil. However, when it creeps into the yard, which it does every chance it gets, I don't find that all that easy to yank up. I really like the look of it, but think I'm going to try to get rid of all or most of mine this year. It also provides a nice home for slugs, which is a major factor in me deciding to ditch it because I've got major slug issues here.

I wouldnt mind if the slugs could be trained to eat the Jenny that creapes into the yard. I just yank it out where i dont want iy for awhile.It has grown into other Lamiums.too.
My annual predpoppies might have fallen on the dence growth and wont germinate where I want them,

Yuck! Slugs! Had a problem with them for the first time last year... they must have come in on some trades (local, I think) that had some eggs hiding. Fortunately, they left most of my hostas alone except for my ONE stained-glass that they ate down to nothing!

I was all excited to see Jenny show up in the garden already this spring, 'cause she's new (last fall) and is so pretty. The grass/invasive doesn't bother me, 'cause it's surrounded by house on one side & high- traffic driveways on the other sides, and sits under good-sized hostas. But slugs? yech!

Maybe she'll help get rid of some of the Creeping Charley that keeps popping up no matter how much I yank! :)

You guys out in the midwest don't seem to have the same issues with slugs that we do here in the east...I've seen pics of some very pristine hosta gardens out there and I am jealous! I do think Creeping Jenny is fairly manageable if you have the time and desire to control it....and it really looks great under hosta. I wish I didn't have to get rid of mine, but I think I may need to do it...ugh, we'll see- I hate to lose that color.

I have a BIG problem with slugs! UGH!!!!! I use Wal*Mart's Slug and Snail Bait to get rid of them. I have one neighbor who has a dog, and I have a cat, but both are indoor animals, and we're careful about plants if we let the pets out. It works great!

Noreaster and I both have slug grief and we've used many products to try and eradicate them before they grind up every hosta (and dahlia and daylily).

Noreaster - for a very similar color and just a bit taller have you considered Angelina sedum? It works here in both sun and shade.

Slugs also ate my new dwarf iris sets.

Will you put out slug bait soon?

Yes soooooon?

That's a very pretty combo, Pirl. I do have some of that sedum in a pot on my deck, which is in the sun. I didn't know it would tolertate some shade.

It's even easier to pull out any excess than creeping Jenny.

I have a natural, woodsy wetland area behind my house, it's several acres. It's virtually a mat of creeping Jenny and I haven't had any problems with it intruding into my gardens or the lawn.

I am beginning to pull it out of my gardens when I can get a good hold of a root.
I think many of my poppy seeds landed on Jennyleaves and wont find ground to germinate.

It is when a non native plant escapes from our gardens into wild areas and takes over, particularly sensitive wet lands, (as described in MsKatts post) that is the real problem and the plant is a true invasive.Your description of the surrounding wetlands woods qualifies creeping Jenny as an invasive pest that cannot be controlled or confined.

When a plant degrades the surrounding natural environment in your area it is time to consider not planting it your garden.
Lysimachia nummularia (creeping jenny, moneywort) is on the Federal List of Invasive Plants for: CT,DC,IN,MD,MI,MO,NJ,OR,PA,TN,VA,WI,WV
I found this information in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden All-Region Guides, "Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants".

Since I have started to volunteer in the local forest preserve I have a new view of plants. Any non native that escapes the garden and damages the environment is not welcome in my garden any more.
There are many native ground cover plants that work well in shady gardens. Maybe we can start a list of alternates?

Oh, please do. I have terrible soil (complicated by the condo association's use of chemicals) but I amend it yearly. I love tiarella cordifolia, (foamflower) flowers late spring, then well behaved for rest of the year. It keeps down the weeds,too.
I've had limited sucess with phlox stolonifera. It seems to abandon its original site and roam at will through the garden. Phlox divaricata is better behaved but more for the woodland.
Of course, there's always ajuga! Say what you will, that sheet of purple in late spring has a certain charm.

Ajugas are wayyy to invasive here.

But what, in terms of color, habit, and height, is a suitable native replacement for Creeping Jenny? The three reasons I have it in a few spots in my garden is because the color and leaf shape contrasts beautifully with my other plants, it's a low, ground hugging mat, and I like how it looks when it trails over walls and down tall planters. Oh, and because it grows well in the shade. If there is list other things that would work in that situation, I'd love to hear it too.

I feel that I can control my Creeping Jenny pretty easily....perhaps because my garden is so small. I get what you're saying, Sempervirens, but I don't feel environmentally irresponsible for growing it. Why do they even sell invasive plants at garden centers, anyway?

I'd give Angelina sedum a chance. Same color, also ground hugging, strays are easily moved.

Many places, either online nurseries or local nurseries, sell far too many aggressive plants like Goutweed, Houttuynia Cordata 'Chameleon' (a real scourge here) and others without warnings on the labels.

Here's Angelina with Ajuga.

Noreaster, From your photos you have a very beautiful, carefully designed and visually balanced
shade garden, as does Pirl.

It is not always easy to find a perfect native alternate that matches exactly all criteria of the invasive plant but with a little experimenting you can come close. It is also important to not stray too far from native to your area, native to another area can be invasive for you.
I think of it as a giant puzzle, not unlike trying for a 4 season garden, trying to work with native plants primarily just adds another exciting challenge.

I have yet to find a perfect match for the yellow green color of creeping jenny but I can suggest a few alternates.
If the yellow color is important to your garden you might consider barren strawberry, Waldenstenia fragarioides. It blooms with small yellow flowers in the spring, has pretty strawberry like leaves and fills in an area in shade or part sun nicely. It is evergreen for me with a lovely fresh spring growth. It would spill rather then trail over the rock border.

Wild ginger, Asarum canadensis, has a pretty heart shaped leaf and fills in a space quickly.
In the spring there are very interesting maroon ground hugging flowers hidden under the leaves. It has the added advantage of being the alternate host for the spicebush swallowtail butterfly.

My favorite native ground cover is partridgeberry, Mitchella repens. It is a delicate small leaved dark green evergreen trailer with a white line in the center. It blooms with tiny white flowers and forms red berries. As it is a slow but steady grower I would buy plugs of this one and plant them close together. Because it is slow growing and small leaved and ground hugging it is perfect to use as a marker and underplant with spring ephemerals like bloodroot and twin leaf . Both of those bloom with delicate white flowers briefly but if you have them planted in a shady cool moist woodsy area the leaves of those 2 ephemerals last almost all summer. The bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis, (leaves look like land grown water lily pads and increase in size during the spring) start out with the purple tinged underside exposed to contrast smartly with the white buds. (I can imagine them looking well with the non native Japanese painted fern in Noreasters photo).
Twin leaf, Jeffersonia diphylla, blooms white also but it is the leaves that are amazing, it does start out with the more yellow green look the creeping jenny offers but it is a clumper and more upright
You could also add merry bells, Sessile bellworts, Uvularia grandiflora, that blooms yellow with flowers that look like bells in the spring among the patridgeberry. I think of them as fairy bells.

For Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants you can go to www.bbg.org/nativealternatives

To find out if the plant is native to your area check the map at USDA PLANTS, then click on the words view native status at the bottom left of the map and it will indicate in blue the native range, otherwise the map indicates in grey all the areas it is currently growing in only.

Pirl and ge, I recently purchased Salvia lyrata, cancer weed, that is a ajuga lookalike that is native for me and attracts hummers and butterflies.




This message was edited Apr 4, 2010 6:22 AM

Thanks Pirl,

The Angelina Sedum looks great with the Ajuga. Does angelina do well in shade? I thought it was more of a sun plant?

I haven't tried it before in deep shade but in dappled shade it does fine. I just moved some to deepest possible shade (total shade from a building and facing north) so we'll see how it does there.

We have new construction on a rather barren hill here and I've been desperate to get ground covers going - I must have tried eight or ten. I almost didn't include creeping jenny because I thought it had to stay consistently moist, but it successfully started up in three different places. The creeping jenny ignores weeds and drought and keeps on looking nice and neat and pretty. Glad to have it!

I have creeping jenny growing in a flowerbed at the top of the driveway. Surrounded by concrete. It is beautiful, loves the Las Vegas heat. I have some of pirl's Houttuynia. Next spring will be the third year in the holding garden. So far it has grown about double in size but mostly is just sitting there. I have it planted in about 10 different places and it is all sitting there. I know the story, third year, look out. It does not like direct August Las Vegas sun. I lost several that were planted in direct sun light. I have some in a hanging basket that get morning sun. It is doing the best. Being in Las Vegas, do not need to worry about creeping jenny getting in the water. No water......

ge1836. What if you sprinkled some potting mix on top o the creeping jenny after your other flowers have dropped their seed. Jenny will just grown through it and it will give the seeds something to grasp to.

I have two 'aurea' in containers that drooped down to the ground and started new plants there, but they were easy to remove. Once I planted some amid some other agressive plants (thyme, ajuga, dandelions(self seeded!) etc) in poor soil and it was the 'aurea' who cried "uncle".

Thanks WLS ,I think Creeping Jenny would manage to come thru. Its very agressive here.

Noreaster, your garden is beautiful.

I just pull it out if it gets to invasive here but it is very thick! Nice ccolor. I originally bought it to cove the base of my clematis. Well it did that alright!

Thank you, Rebecca. I just did the Spring maintenance on my creeping Jenny in that bed. I still find it pretty easy to pull out as long as it doesn't hit the lawn. Once it does that, I find it tough to get out. I don't plan on using it anymore in the garden except for where it already is in that bed and in large containers.

Now I've got bigger issues with Sweet Woodruff in another corner! That stuff is going crazy and provides so much cover for the slugs. A problem with a lot of groundcovers, I'm afraid.

yes sweet wofruff is very invasive I will agree with that one! Also on the point of creeping jenny in the grass. Statement very true.