Please tell me what your experience has been with Puschkinia skilloides var. libanatica. I read on Dave's Garden they can be invasive.
I just planted some this past fall. They are blooming now. If they are invasive, I'm pulling them out now.
Are they intrusive like Ornithogalum umbellatum (Star of Bethlehem)? I've been fighting them for several years.
Puschkinia l. Invasive?
You know, I read the comment you saw, and they compared its invasiveness to a chionodoxa forbesi, which is not invasive for me. But then neither is your ornithogalum, which was in my yard when I got here. Not my favorite - I pulled them out. Most of the people seemed to really enjoy them. My neighbor's scilla pour into my yard. They are always gone before I cut the grass, but I really could not control them if I wanted to.
Curious about this, I went to a couple of sites. One said that it grows rapidly but that the clumps are never invasive. But what does that mean?
You are smart to be careful. There are a couple of well regarded companies that keep offering bluebells (English?) and I understand that those things take over the planet. I was going to get some but decided against it.
Well, golly gee. I didn't know bluebells were invasive. I did some research about these. I found articles that said they were invasive. Missouri Botanical doesn't mention invasive. So, I am not sure whether I should dig mine out or not. I do like there pretty lavender blue color, but I don't want anything invasive.
Dave's Garden plant file's members that are in Oregon and Washington state said they were invasive. The rest did not. So, hmmm, not sure what to do, but thanks for the "heads up".
When I lived in KC MO, I planted this bulb. I thought it was pretty. After a few years, I noticed the neighbors behind my 6 ft privacy fence (not solid) also had the bulb blooming in their grass.
Well, there is invasive and impossible to eradicate without chemicals (violets and creeping Charlie) and then there is invasive but can be controlled by digging (lily of the valley). I am on a mission to get the violets out of my yard because they kill other plants. I am literally walking around with a dandelion digger pulling the out. I will never entirely get rid of them but I monitor them and am ruthless about them when they get near other plants.
And I am using an aggressive plant (campanula takesimana 'Bellringers') to force them out. I dug out a five by five section of creeping charlie and violets and put the Bellringers in their place. As I look out into the back yard, the Bellringers are winning. But not everyone wants to do the crazy stuff I do.
I HATE it when neighbors' ugly stuff invades my yard. At least, Carol, yours are pretty. Scilla invades from other yards too but I don't mind them because they are pretty, and they go dormant. I went on a mission to eliminate ditch lilies from my yard (invading from two sides) and actually have none in my own yard. A moron to one side of me whose house is at the other end of his lot planted a variety of invasives on my end of his yard to lower his maintenance. I dug it all out, put a foot of mulch between the properties and use roundup on the mulch. I see what happens if I don't. Another neighbor has a solid bunch of ditchlilies that crawled under the moron's fence and are three feet wide by ten feet long. Another six inches wide develop each year.
Now I'm working on the barren strawberries. I see no point to them. I am putting in fragaria vesca reugen instead. I am also growing salvia verticillata in white, which is a lovely but tough plant I had at home. The white is out of commerce but I got the seeds. In my old yard, that plant and anemone x hybrida 'Honorine Jobert' used to fight to a beautiful draw. The white is out of commerce, but I found the seeds at Hazzards and have several plants ready to go into the ground.
The good thing about ditchlilies is that they announce their presence, and with a good dandelion digger and a strong back they can be completely eliminated.
I dug up orange ditch lilies one year, put in black trash bag to compost over winter, next spring I dumped them out, they grew. I do think I like them a little better than poison ivy.
carolmo: "This bulb"?? I have mentioned two bulbs on this post--probably should make a new post for the bluebells.
Are you talking about the Mertensia or Puschkinia? Or heck, I don't even know which one of these "bluebells" I have. Mertensia or Hyacinthoides.
I guess I'll take a picture of the bluebells as they are blooming now and start a new thread. It's raining now, so might be a few days.
If anyone has any information about the Puschkinia, please share.
Puschkinia
Thanks carolmo. Sounds invasive.
I check with my state for invasive plants, but remember.... all plants can spread if the right birds like it. They'll eat it in one yard and poop it out in another.
And some will only spread as far out as the grounds been worked. I loved the look of Plume poppy but it ran in the loose soil like -- hey, I'm taking over here'.
I love the way you put it - they'll eat it in one yard and poop it out in another.
There has only been one case where that was good. I grew fragaria vesca reugen plants in a pot and put a couple in the ground. They clump, and the berries are delicious, if tiny. The rabbits made quick work of the one in the pot. The next year, to my delight, frankly, I suddenly had five more of these wonderful plants. I had enough to trade them to someone else who saw them on Dave's and loved them. I got enough to use them as edging plants.
How lucky, Donna, for you. I'd probably pull it out not knowing what it was. And what a neat idea to edge a garden with them.
Yes, I think I will ask my Co. Agent about the above plants. That's a good idea.