What are you sorry you planted......Part 3

Cindy, we crossed posted. In close up, who in the gardening world could resist its beauty? Beware, like many other plants that send out tunneling roots underground. They potentially be thuds when the growing condition is ideal for them. That said; we often suffer drought condition down here. I however, irrigate the garden on a regular basis. Those area that the springlers missed, they will not survive, they'll shrivel up and be gone. So for those of us that do xeriscape. This won't be much a problem I gathered. (Now I could be wrong?). Thanks Cindy, for your compliment.

Lily, what a beautiful site!
Unfortunately, I don't think I can install a similar water feature here.

Pirl, among invasive plants, the one I most regret not being able to plant is
gooseneck loosestrife. I think it is really beautiful!
I had planted it at my prior house - eventually gave up digging it out.
The only way to escape it was to move to a new house 10 miles away.
That was about 15 years ago. I presume it continues to spread at my old place.
At the rate it was growing, it should be showing up around here any minute.
I'm keeping a close watch for it appearing on the horizen. Suitcases are packed...

It's beautiful! I've never seen anything like it, must be because it isn't hardy here.

I have some white flowered liriope or monde that mush have been dropped by a bird or some sorrt of seed carrieng critter, I have dug and dug and still have quite a patrch growing. It is soo hot here and I guess I am going to have to spend a day when the daylilies are a little more finished and try to dig it out. On another note I did plant some mexican petunia Iin a plastic pot on the other side, and they have seeded into the same bed, like the ruellia but just got too much, thank goodness I have loads of plastic pots around, lots of people love this plant for its 'ease of care'...LOL

Buffy, you've named 2 more prolific growers. Mexican petunia or Ruellia is but the same genus. Mondo grass is another. Both plants are adaptible to sun/shade hot/cold dry/wet condition down South. I don't know how they perform up North?

I planted a few Ruellia a few months ago - they are still quite small at this stage. Should I be worried? Pull them up and pot them instead?

Lily, I love your pic. I bet you have more with the lake in the background? How I wish I lived near a lake.

Thnk kdwb. Come and visit. It's the next best thing. :) s&u. Ruellia will make seeds by a galzillions besides tunnelling underground. If you deadhead the seedpods before they turn ripe to reseed, then container planting may be the answer. Nice thing about them if you don't like their seedlings, you can alway dig them up. It will proven hardwork to dig them up. But they are not anyway impossible to rid off. I keep a few just because they can be charming when not many other things in blooms then you can turn to Ruella for blooms.

Clerodendron bungei...I love this plant I have had one that was brought back to me from Ga. It lives in a pot on a concrete block and it returns each year more and more beautiful...This is also called Mexican Hydrangea I think...

Yes, if you can keep them in big pots. You've done well. It's also known as Mexican hydrangea is correct. Buffy.

I've really enjoyed reading this thread! It's so interesting how depending on which zone you live in, a plant can be on good behavior, or can run amok in the garden!

One of my problem plants has been Mexican Primrose. Someone about 1/2 mile from me has a very nice clump of it, and I'd drool every time I drove past their house. I finally found some for sale and bought 5 one gallon pots of it. That was a big mistake! I had no idea that it would soon be trying to take over my yard! It's so pretty, but so invasive at my house! A friend has some too, but he was smart and buried a large pot in the ground in which to plant his, and he's never had a problem with it spreading, other than the occasional plant that comes up from seed. It just started blooming again, and I should have kept at the digging last week! I hate digging up something that is in bloom, but I've got to get this plant under control!

Natalie

Two other plants that I've had a terrible time with are Lily of the Valley, and Yellow Archangel Deadnettle.

I got a small clump of Lily of the Valley when we bought our house almost 20 years ago. The neighbor had it growing all over her yard, and that should have been a big hint right there that I shouldn't take a clump, but I knew nothing about flowers back then. It spread right away, but it was no big deal. We moved a 3 years later (hubby was in the Navy at the time and is now retired) and rented our house to a friend for 8 years, and when we moved back in 9 years ago, I noticed that it was still here, and again, it was no big deal. Our renting friend is a landscape architect, and he had moved it to several other areas of the yard where it looked fantastic! Soon after moving back in I found out that it is lethal to dogs, so it had to go. Ya, right! I've been digging for 9 years, and it's still as healthy as can be! I finally got desperate last week and brushed some Round-up on it, and it used it as fertilizer! I'd love to spray it, but it's growing all over my Delphinium bed, so I have to use a brush which doesn't work as good. We had to fence in all the flower beds because of it, at least until our puppy learned not to eat the plants.

Another plant I've been trying to remove for 9 years is Yellow Archangel Deadnettle. It's really pretty, but so aggressive that it would take over the whole yard in a short time. It's another plant that our renter put in, along with white, pink and purple Deadnettle. The others aren't invasive at all and grow at a nice rate and are easily controlled, but the yellow one is a beast. It loves being sprayed with Round-up! I found that you have to get every little piece of root out when removing it, or you won't remove it at all. It wasn't in a bad place but was smothering everything in it's path!

Natalie

Natalie ... i hear ya on the LIlly of the Valley. I cant grow it to save my life at home [in IL] but here in Wisc, it grows like crazy. I spent 3 hrs on a bed today, pulling it. luckily we have sandy soil up here, i can get the roots and tubes... but it spreads like crazy.. it will be just as thick next year. BUT.. i just pull the foliage, which is past blooming.. and I plant my annuals over it. BUT.. i have to do that every year. OH, and I didnt even finish.. i probably have about another hours worth of work.. i just ran out of time. plus i'm exhausted.

Got all my plants in -- now they just need to grow. it will take yrs, but i'll get that stuff under control.

Dead nettle does not grow well for me here either... we are pretty much shade -- so it's not much an issue.

**typos**

This message was edited Jun 9, 2011 8:54 PM

Oh Natalie, we call that 'pink evening primrose' here and it's my most hated plant ever. I feel for you, I really do - I've been trying to get rid of it for years here. The yellow archangel stays in it's bed here for me with no problem. I've been waiting for it to take off and bound across my yard with all the I've heard on different websites but I've been lucky so far. My lotv has it's own bed - I can't take all the digging and pulling out of clay. I've given up on it but at least it is in a remote place.

tcs1366, my pink and purple dead nettle lives in a bed with mostly shade and does fantastic. I've also got a nice patch of it up against the north side of my house, and it's never had sun on it. I almost never have to water that patch and it flowers from Spring to Fall, non-stop! The little bit of dead nettle that I have in full sun needs tons of water and almost never blooms. In my yard, Archangel doesn't seem to care if it's in full sun or full shade. Somehow it moved into my neighbors yard before I moved back in, and the entire back half of her yard is covered in it, but she loves it. She gets no sun back there because of her many fruit trees, so I really don't think it matters. It was/is in full sun in my yard and I can't seem to stop it or remove it! The bad part is that I've got a small rocky area, and the roots are in those rocks, which means I can't totally remove it. I've bought every kind of weed and plant killer there is besides napalm, and it won't die!

janaestone, I think pink evening primrose and Mexican primrose are two different plants, but I can't tell the difference! Mine is Siskiyou Pink, if that matters any. I just wish it wasn't so pretty! I spent all day moving Iris and getting the fence line ready for my morning glory seeds, which finally went into the ground just before the sun went down. I also had to spend half that time digging up grape hyacinth, and picking the bulbs out of the iris before replanting. Grape hyacinth is another horrible pest in my yard! I didn't get to the primrose removal today but I plan on attacking it tomorrow! I've got a large pot that I'm going to stick in the ground so that I can at least save a bit of it. I really do like it, and if I had a hillside to cover, I know what I'd plant! However, right now I'm hating it because of all the work it's going to take to remove it. It's now taking over my Daylily bed and hybridizing time is right around the corner, if they'll ever start blooming!

Natalie

I talked to my friend that has his Mexican Primrose, or Pink Evening Primrose, planted in a pot in the ground, and he said that the easiest way to get rid of it is to cut it down to about 3 or 4 inches, and then spray it with a broadleaf weed killer. He said that will work better than Round-Up on it, and it will kill the roots, which is really the problem. I've spent all morning trying to dig up the roots, and I'm throwing in the towel! I really love the plant, but it's taking over! I haven't had any problems with it reseeding. All of the growth has come from the roots spreading. It doesn't smother out anything, but it does cover up all of the shorter plants that I have in the same area.

Natalie

Hey Natalie..Thanks for the tip on using a broadleaf weed killer. I'll try that then in spots where it's by itself. Most of mine is in a bed where it's mixed with monarda and heucheras. I won't spray but I sure can paint! Yep, the roots are the main pain and once you start after them you find they're in any and every direction they can spread. It's maddening, to say the least.

I am sorry I planted whichever perennial that brought me this weed.
I have it on Plantid and Invasive Plants.
Cant be pulled with roots.
Low to the ground spreads by runners just like strawberry.
I will have to roundup a lot and might loose some plants I love.
I would like to controle it before it gets to other gardens.

ge, couldn't you dig up the desirable plants before you spray?

I'm going to weed early in spring when the ground is wet.
Round-up doesnt work at spring temps and pre emergance time.
I will just have to live with it. Pull it when I can.

ge, creeping jenny is my problem too. I actually put some in a rock garden which has some terraces and they climb down and fill up the terraces so I am constantly fighting them
As for obedient plant. I lucked up there as i was ignorant about their prolific spreading. I planted them at the bottom of the rock garden, in a strip of land that had pavement just a foot away. So they can't go up and they can't go down. I enjoy the late-season bloom.

funny i can't get the pink primrose to grow in my garden...but i am planting some evening p[rimrose, i had some a long time ago but i guess it got squeezed out.

ge, I'd try mixing some Round-Up with Weed-Be-Gone, and brush it on the plant and see if that helps. I keep a mixture of that in a jar for painting on plants that I can't otherwise spray. Just be careful not to get it on the plants you want to keep. Combining the two seems to work really well when only one of them doesn't. I use one of those sponge paint brushes for this. I'd suggest wrapping a rubber band tightly around the sponge, next to where it meets the handle. Otherwise the sponge will fall off after dipping it in the liquid.

I wish I had a problem with my Obedient plant! It doesn't spread at all, and has never reseeded for me! I really love it and knowing it's reputation, I put it in an area where it could spread out if it wanted. No such luck! The Mexican Primrose filled in that spot nicely though! I dug all day yesterday, trying to remove the primrose. I know for sure that I didn't get all of the roots, but now that I know to use Weed-Be-Gone instead of Round-Up on it, I'll zap it wherever it starts to grow. My flower bed is a lot less pink now, but it sure looks better!

Natalie

Hybrid Willow is my big mistake. Or rather, "temporarily" planting it in my flower bed until I figured out a permanent place for it. It would make a good specimen for a bio-mass farm.

Bio-mass farm - lol

I had never heard of Hybrid Willow, so I had to google it! That is exactly what I need if my clematis doesn't cover my fence soon! Gotta block out my other invasive weed - my nosy neighbor!

Natalie

Most deer repellent sprays are foul enough to keep the neighbor at bay. Try Liquid Fence for a start and hope she's trying to peek through as you spray.

Ha! Good one! She's been piling grass clippings on her side of the fence so she's got a "hill" to stand on while snooping, and the stench gags me, but she stands right in the middle of it! Bad smells don't bother her at all! I told her how bad that grass smelled, and she said that she never noticed!

Natalie

There should be a 'nosy neighbors' forum to share tips on dealing with them. LOL.

Great idea!

killdawabbit, that is an AWESOME idea!!! The only problem is that I'd never get any work done outside because I'd be on there all day getting useful tips!!

pirl, my clematis is growing super good (still waiting for the morning glory to germinate!), but I think I may pick up some of that deer spray too! I'll just tell her it's fertilizer! It sure won't hurt to try! I've got to stay away from thorny things since those would still be growing on my side, but I'm liking the idea of trying to stink her out a little. She probably won't notice, but it's one of those things that won't hurt to try!

Natalie

We had to move... our nosy neighbors were 4 brothers. They came out and would stand and watch my family anytime we were out in the yard. They had special whistle sounds for each person in my family. We had phone calls (hang-ups) right after the alarm would go off in the morning, and another call when we turned off the last light at night. This was back before caller ID. Once we moved, the calls stopped. Two of the brothers were eventually arrested for exposing themselves to little boys in the neighborhood. To this day I would love to have a privacy fence around the back yard.

Natalie, I have dappled willow shrubs planted in strategic places in the yard to block views. It grows quickly and is easy to maintain. Only negative is that it drops its leaves in the fall, so the view comes back.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/56310/

This message was edited Jun 14, 2011 11:32 AM

Tell her it works magic on dead grass piles and offer to spray it over the fence for her. It really is foul but so is dead grass.

Her pile of dead grass is technically a fire hazard to her shed, home and your home. Here's part of an article I just read about it:

"...the potential for home ignitions... including those of high intensity principally depends on a home's fuel characteristics and the heat sources within 100-200 feet adjacent to a home".

I think you mentioned she wanted to spread it in her garden. The more air that gets mixed in with it, the better it will be. Waiting for more than a few days to use it could make it the most lethal and costly mulch she ever uses if it ends up causing a fire. Your fire department might have an issue with it.

And even if it doesn't cause a fire once it rots down it will be pretty much useless for her garden. I've seen grass piles rot down into black mush. Ugh.

pirl, her garden is right on the other side of the fence, in front of that lovely shed of hers, and that's where she has it piled - all around her little garden. She piles the stuff all around her house too, and along the fence on the other side of her yard. She uses it as mulch! I guess I should just be thankful that she hasn't piled it all along my fence! Like killdawabbit said, it's just rotting mush after a short time because she's never once turned the piles. There is no getting her to stop doing it either. I've tried for years and she won't budge! She does water regularly, so I doubt the stuff is going to catch on fire, but it is gross. I'm just glad that the wind doesn't blow from the north all that often!

Natalie

We use it to make compost and for the times neighbors have saved bags of it for us the smell is atrocious. If there isn't a law against it, there should be.

I regularly rake it up after it dries out and use as mulch on certain delicate plants. The next mowing I add more. It has never seemed offensive to me, maybe it is just large rotting piles that are bad. My "compost" piles are all rather loosely made but I save most of my clippings and weeds except for irises. Humus is one of the most valuable things we can add to the garden. Thankfully, I live in the country and don't have to worry about offending or offensive neighbors!

Here it is my husband who makes the compost (we have a total of six bins) and he follows the rules about grass/dead leaves/household scraps. Well made compost only has an earthy quality for a "smell" and doesn't wreak like piles of fresh grass clippings do.

One garden guest, on our first involvement with the local garden tour, insisted he could smell the manure in the compost. We have never used manure in the compost and told him so but he insisted so we just ignored him.

Don't anyone get me wrong. Grass clippings are excellent mulch. Doesn't last very long though. And it's great for compost when handled properly.