Invasive herbs

I had spearmint, chives, and lemon thyme in tubs to prevent them from spreading. I knew the mint was a problem, did not know about the others - read that chives was also a thug. I kept trimming the mint and chives - but saw the mint had escaped. So, just tossed all 3 in the trash - I have enough problems with weeds to add thugs to the garden. I am not sad. Now have 3 more nice tubs - will use for alpine strawberries. ;)

I have spearmint that escaped a pot-roots grew down through the drainhole and came up nearby. Chives-mine are not invading, they are planted in heavy clay in afternoon shade. In fact they are the only oniony thing I can keep.
I love the spearmint, dried some for tea this fall, it's terrific!

I keep my mint in an urn on the deck so it has no way to reach the ground.
I have chives as a border on one of my gardens. I like it. It's been there for years. Occasionally, I have to dig some up which is easy. I also dig it up to sell at my local Plant Sale. Oregano is going crazy in my herb garden. I'm going to have to shovel prune it. Guess I need to dig up some oregano to sell also. So busy.

Garlic chives are the thug. Not regular chives. If you let garlic chives bloom and reseed you will hate yourself. I'm still trying to stamp them out 8 years after I planted the 1st one. Garlic chives is one of my top 3 most hated weeds. The other two are cleome and creeping charlie. I have 8 acres and don't want any of them on a single square inch.

Alpine strawberries are great! I have been growing them for years. They tend to simply clump up. If, as in my garden, rabbits nibble some of the berries and "plant" the seeds for you, you can simply pick up the plant and move it. I use them as edging plants and put them in any spot I want to fill. I find that even without water they bloom and give me berries. Please just make sure that it is fragaria vesca reugen and not some imposter that forms hard little inedible strawberries and goes everywhere!

Oh, my goodness, 8 acres?!!!!! How on earth do you keep the weeds out? I have about a half acre myself and even with diligence things get away from me.

Are we talking about those pink chives? I have a client who put some in an herb garden. What a pain! I have to deadhead them every year in a constantly failing attempt to keep them from spreading.

And lemon balm and any kind of mint. In my yard the former owner kept them in a raised bed, which reasonably contains them. But this spring in my area clients who had just a bit of lemon balm last year found that the stuff became a ground cover and went into every empty space. Better yet, to get it out you have to dig it.

Ah, oregano. Another client. I am constantly deadheading the stuff to keep it from spreading any further. Worse, it reblooms!

In terms of the non-herbs, cleome, oddly, I cannot grow, and I've tried. Thanks for the tip. And creeping Charlie? In a clients garden it has a new trick. It hides in the nepeta. My client said, oh, a new nepeta! I said NOOOOO. I caught it in the first year but it keeps sneaking back.

But the curse of my existence this year is bindweed. I have a new client who has that stuff wrapped around everything!!!!!!

Yes bindweed. I had it go to seed in one area of my garden and have been spraying the weed with round up ever since. If you don't watch, it goes everywhere. I hate it. I personally don't think morning glory is much better. I grew morning glory one lousy year, and I have had it ever since. If you pull it even after a rain, it breaks off. It has to be sprayed. It shows up every where.

quote: Oh, my goodness, 8 acres?!!!!! How on earth do you keep the weeds out? I have about a half acre myself and even with diligence things get away from me.

I don't intensively garden the entire 8 acres. Maybe 3 of them. But I am slowly expanding. I probably spend at least half of my gardening time combatting weeds though. The rest is woods where anything goes. EXCEPT garlic chives, cleome and creeping charlie, haha.

This message was edited Jul 30, 2017 3:14 AM

I do try to put in plants that fight back weeds. I recommend them to other people. They tend to be plants that gently expand. Someone gave me a bunch of geranium 'Bevan's Variety', which the Chicago Botanic Garden, in their reviews, named as a five star (out of five) geranium.

It grows fabulously in sun or shade, requires no fertilizer or water, and it's evergreen! I put it in the driveway in the sun, on my property borders to deter weeds, near roses and peonies for its beauty, but I am so happy I was gifted it because I do nothing for it and it always looks great.

In my yard, it's on all four sides of the house. I give it to clients who want something pretty that they don't have to water, that won't die, that's evergreen, and requires no work.

Birder, you got that morning glory thing right. Just came in from ripping out morning glories that I don't recall ever putting in. Grandpa Otts. I grew it at my former home and didn't put it in here because it's obnoxious. I put in Blue Star two years ago and it was gorgeous and contained. This year it's GO, wrapping itself around everything and being a nuisance.

DonnaMack, thanks for the tip. Bevan's is going on my must have list.

edit: Well, I looked up Bevan's and see it is a macrorrhizum. I already have 'Alba' and 'Ingwersen's' but they aren't growing nearly as well as yours. Maybe Bevan's will do better.

This message was edited Jul 31, 2017 7:44 AM

Mine go nuts. Ingwersen was a four star. I wonder what that means. All I know is that I gifted them to someone with soil so horrible that when I started TRYING to work with her, the yard had no bees, no worms and no ants. Everything died. I was trying to find something that would grow and gave her some Bevans and they rocked out. I gave some to a client with scarce resources and they put them in cement planters (they survived the winter) and in the ground and they look fabulous. And to a third client who "couldn't grow anything" and they look beautiful there.

Just try a couple. I also grow cantabrigiense 'Biokovo' 'and Karmina'. I have had them for years bu they don't have the same impact. Those two were actually a gift from Neal "Gemini Sage" the native one (I love it, but it goes dormant).

And I LOVE the sanguineum striatums (Chicago Botanic Garden thinks they are just OK). I fell in love and have three kinds. I put them under roses and viburnums and they form these lovely soft clouds.

But for sheer charm, I gotta tell you I love Biokovo. Very understated, really delightful. They make me smile. I put the one he gave me under the Bourbon rose 'Zephirine Drouhin' . Look at them below. I want to hug them. At first they seem tender. Than after a couple of years they become ironclad, start to spread, and I can put them under other peonies and roses that I own.

Absolutely awesome. I have Biokovo and it's doing well. Also I think I have sanguineum striatum. Couldn't swear to it. But I'm pretty sure. Lost names over the years.
But none of them suppress weeds. I don't have to coddle them but I do have to watch them.

Oh, I agree with you that biokovo and striatum don't suppress weeds.I actually find striatum pretty assertive. After a couple of years it gets almost two feet tall and spreads out. But I love the soft, cloud like effect. I have white striatum under the white damask rose 'Madame Hardy'.

Am I strange? I look at the blue ones and I think they are nice but I am not interested in them. Maybe because they are everywhere. And the ones I see are kind of stringy.

Hey guys, I started a thread under Perennilas forum to discuss these wonderful plants. I would like for you to read what I had to say about them.
BTW, Valal was so active last year. Where is she? And Pistil? And that lady that lives in Illinoise with wonderful landscaping. She show many pictures last year.

Hey, you know I have heard that many plants of Madame Hardy are virused. In fact, the writer stated that it was difficult to find one that was not. I don't know whether that's true but I remembered that I was concerned about it. I got my first one from the great Sam Kadeem in the last year he was shipping. It's at my former home. I got this one from Roses Unlimited, and it was own root, which I thought was my best bet, since it wasn't gtafted, and I presume that many of the virused ones were. Both have been absolutely wonderful. The first picture is my "old" one - too big to move. The second is my new one.

I wonder if your plant is virused. Mine have been tough as nails with no care.