My wife was just getting involved with flower gardening with me about a year or so after I'd already jumped in with both feet....Well not being as well read, knowledgable and all knowing about the "peculiarities" of some of our more prolific plants as I had become, let me give you the list of the first 5 plants she decided would be "ooh so pretty for our garden darling".....
1. Gooseneck Loosestrife
2. Horsetail
3. Pink Evening Primrose
4. Chinese wisteria
5. Well its not really a plant but a weed, and I know a weed is a plant that's in the wrong place but hey boys and girls........Henbit is a weed!!!!!!!
Judge, I rest my case.......and I leave the sentencing of my wife to judge and jury.....but go easy on her judge, I'm supposed to take her to dinner tonight........:)
Paul from Alabama
This message was edited May 9, 2008 11:13 AM
what are you sorry you planted..
ROTFLOL, Paul!!!
That was too perfect! You have the scenario perfect. My vote is..."Not guilty!" Only because then I would have to be, as well.
Absolutely not guilty, but I didn't know it was LEGAL to sell the bad kind of loosestrife in this country at all?
edited to add: we have so little dirt in our yard that we generally plant into containers anyway. If it runs amok in a container, we can only guess what it might have done in the ground.
This message was edited May 9, 2008 1:19 PM
Not only NOT GUILTY but I think your wife deserves two desserts tonight. Any woman who can share HER garden must be a saint. kt
That's 3 for not gulity......Give me the phone.....Hello, give me the Matradee. Hi Paul from Alabama here, it will still be two for dinner tonight instead of one....Yep, you got it, they found her innocent....So fire up the grill and we'll have our usual, two fried Spams and the vegetable medley....Is the medley still shaped like the letters of the alphabet?....Fantastic....Dessert?, No we'll bring out own candy bars with us......Thanks and see ya this evening.......:)
It's a shame every woman isn't wined and dined like my wife is............:)
This message was edited May 9, 2008 2:28 PM
EUPATORIUM 'Cori' I rue the day that I bought 6 plants of this from White Flower Farm. I was looking for fall color, especially that lovely periwinckle blue that they are. Being a new gardener at the time I didn't pay too much heed to their warning that is spread by underground rhizomes. They should have said INVASIVE in bold letter or not even sell it. Every year I am gradually moving all the plants out of the beds that it is in and have moved them elsewhere. It is easy to note the roots of it because they are pure white so easy to spot. Every time I walk through the garden I lift up leaves looking for more sprouts coming up.
I gave 7 gallon pots of it to a fellow Master Gardener who is the grounds manager of a links type golf course. He planted it in an island area and they can keep in in bounds by mowing. I just hope it doesn't wreck their turf.
One last thing, I've contributed all I can think of to this....well all that's revelant that is.....:)....But ottahand you would appreciate this....At the Anniston Museum near where I live there's a garden outside on the grounds.....one morning they were going to have a plant sale there at 9am, well of course I was there about the time the sun was coming up and was of course all by my lonesome.....I decided to walk around the grounds looking at all the plant displays and low and behold what did I come across first.....along the walk way, it was cement by the way....is an island, a pretty large island bed surrounded by a concrete/cement walkway....and what was planted in this island in the middle of concrete you ask?....One second and I'll tell you, geez, patience......OK, ready?......Gooseneck Loosestrife.......I laughed for an hour and tomorrow morning I'm going to another plant sale at the same place but this time taking my wife with me, to show her how they "take care" of their Gooseneck Loosestrife........:)
Ditch Lilies.
Ottahand, That's interesting. I started some seeds last year of white boneset or white throatwort or something that starts out "Eupatorium" for the butterflies, and up came with some pretty foliage which I nurtured. It bloomed the first year and it was a dang weed! I laughed it off, dug it up, and I noticed it came back this year. I guess that means I didn't get all the roots?
I agree... ROTFLOL. about the Top 5. people actually sell horsetail???? i seriously did not know this. I could make a fortune off of my yard! It's a native here and a real pain in the you know it......
Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea' or yellow creeping Jenny. It's a beautiful plant and did not spread too badly when I had it growing in a part shade dry area under a some trees, but last year I moved it into a perennial bed to grow around the base of some other plants. It did! All too well and also spread into my bark paths. Gets more sun and moisure there and must love it. I'm getting rid of all of it if I can. In the one area where it's half way well behaved, it is so mixed up with Creeping Charlie that I can't separate them.
Susan
I forgot about Creeping Jenny, Susan.....that is another one of my wife's first favorites......It seems to like it in the back of our Jeep Cherokee and is rooting in the carpet nicely........:)
Paul from Alabama
LOL Paul, very funny!!! I have creeping jenny too - I think. Is that the same as White Nancy? Lamium something-um?
C.
no -- Carrie - they are different.
here is creeping jenny ===> http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/24123/
This message was edited May 10, 2008 8:24 AM
Good! Because I have White Nancy which, it turns out, is not called creeping anything, but can be invasive.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2886/
carrie -- none of my lamium is invasive, or even spreading. i'm pretty disappointed in it. there are some areas where i wouldnt mind something that spreads wildly. actually thinking about getting creeping jenny.
As an update to my earlier post:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=4928782
I was doing some light weeding and the gooseneck lysmachia is back! I swear it is back! The roots my be really really long for it to have come up out of the regrade we did, complete with concrete sidewalk! I'll probably never get rid of it now. :(
Suzy, you could move.....
I can't get lamium to grow to save my soul. But I did have it in a rather dryish spot under ash trees. I think if it were in a proper garden it might take off, though.
Oh, I planted some Physostegia (?) Obedient Plant "Miss Manners" and thought it would be very proper, but it's all over my garden now and I'll have to declare war on it come Monday (my garden day) and dig it out. The other one mistake is mint. And I should have known better, but I thought we would be making mint juleps! But not that many!!
Tab,. I have tried to give away Lamium starts so many times and no one can get it to grow, but I have mine on top of English Ivy under dry dry dry woods including ash trees and it has literally taken over the ivy. (Thug contests here) In fact, I noticed it has gone 20 feet into the neighbor's half opf the woods...ooops! It is not a good plant, better than ivy, though LOL!
I do wish I had never planted it, but I never go in the woods, so I guess I don't care too much.
Suzy
This message was edited May 10, 2008 11:52 PM
Well, I'm coming up to get yours! I thought the lamium was so pretty where it was and wish I still had it! I think it was 'Orchid Frost' from Bluestone
http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/b/bp/search.html?mv_session_id=dAvWVDCb&co=yes&ma=yes&mc=1&tf=name&to=f&rf=*&sp=results_pics&st=db&fi=products&mv_value=nametype%3Dscientific&ml=45&mv_value=srchtype%3Dkey&from_search=1&sf=%3Acode%3Aname%3Acommon_name%3Ashort_desc%3Adescription1&se=lamium&su=1&op=rm&sf=is_coupon&se=1&su=0&op=ne&sf=disc&se=0&su=0&op=gt&hide=1&submit.x=11&submit.y=3
I'll give you some Obedient Plant in trade!
I WSed a couple of different eupatorium seeds and haven't seen any results yet. I grew 'chocolate' ffrom Bluestone too, and it died on me. Also a purple flowered one. I don't know what I'm doing wrong with these! They were fine for my butterfly garden but I can see the 'weedy' characteristics in some of the others I have growing along the woods for the butterflies.
My Mom's Obedient Plant was so pretty last fall that I took a couple chunks of it and planted it in front this year. I have no doubt that I will be sorry in a couple years because I've had it before and know how it spreads.
Right now the plan is to move it to the back where I'm working on redoing a large area and putting it there. Can't right now because I'm working at getting rid of another plant I wish I'd never planted. It is a type of Dutchman's Pipe vine. I've never seen it flower and it has the nasty habit of sending out long roots and coming up 6-10 ft from where it's planted. Not sure If I'll ever get all the roots out. I've had to dig up some dayliles to get the roots out from under them. The vines are all mixed in with the golden Creeping Jenny and the Creeping Charlie. Maybe black plastic over everything might be the way to go?? Too bad there are a few plants in there I do like, otherwise I might be able to just spray the whole area with some strong weed killer and let it set for a year or so, then start over.
Susan
See, this is how plant trading begins! Go for it, ladies....
I'm not sure who was going to do the trading, but I'm going to add to it.
Yotedog....since you have to weed your salvia black and blue.... could I trade you something for it?? I absolutely love the stuff, have tried it twice and failed, and finally figured out that either the moles or gophers is what was doing it in. I have plenty of other things that I would trade that aren't necessarily on my trade list. Please, please!!!!!......
thanks, redchic
I don't know why I didn't mention this before, but I also have to add english ivy. I didn't plant it, but I'm certainly sorry that some one else did!!! whoever was at this place before let it grow uncontrolled/uncontained for over 50 years and it has taken over two acres.... trees and all. The only thing that slowed it down some on one side was Japanese knot weed! and i mean a lot of it, half acre or more. Well, 7 years after starting I finally have the knotweed knocked back to 20 or 30, spread out, scraggly stalks. But the Ivy I only have out of the trees and pushed back about 14 feet. Every year I seem to get about two more feet gone. But seedlings of it show up all over the place!
Yes, I think we should start a Black & Blue Salvia trade thread!
I need another one, too!
I don't know if this is considered a perennial or not, but I wish I had not accepted the Aloe saponaria that was given to me. It's not super invasive, but it's too thorny to weed around and it is prone to aloe mites. I'm sure that DH is sorry that he planted the mesquite tree where he did. It's gotten bigger than we ever expected.
Some of the invasive stuff that came with the house - vinca, Mexican evening primrose, blackberries, and Brazilian pepper tree.
tabasco....congratulations, you are the only person I've ever heard of that has grown 'Black & Blue" and doesn't have another one.......:)
Kelli, sounds like my wife lived there before you.....:)
Paul from Alabama
Nope.... there's two people! Bet ya can't guess who the other one is!
redchic.....Ever since I've known you it was only the most exclusive clubs for you.......:)
Paul from Alabama
I'm another one -- Paul, B&B doesn't reseed up here, and it doesn't (appear to) come back!
Tab, You are welcome to it all!
Lincolnitess, Do yo have any idea exactly which Dutchman's Pipevine? The reason I ask is because I have some seedlings in the basement for the Pipevine Swallowtail. One kind has round leaves with variegated folioage - A. fimbriata and the other likes wet soil, wooly pipevine, A. tomentosa. If either of them are that bad, then maybe I'd better not put them out. Maybe keep them in a big pot?
I have heard the same thing about Maypop Passion flower (about it coming up 6 feet from where you planted it), but so far, mine hasn't May popped at all!
I got some Obedient plant in a trade last year...but the plant tags she sent were written in a light green sharpie that faded and I don't know which plant it is to even keep and eye on it. I think I traded for some dumb takeover things -- Monarda, Sedum and Obedient plant. Speaking of trades, the varigated Solomon's seal yo sent a couple years ago is really doing well and looks great!
Suzy
all right! I'm exclusive! or so Paul says. :-p
well, you do have chic in your name..........
Suzy......Like Groucho Marx used to say, "I don't want to belong to any club that would accept me as a member"......:)
Paul from Alabama
Chic or no Chick....I always wanted to be exclusive in the B*B salvia club! Don't you Suzy???
But, then again.... paul may be right in with groucho. Hmmmmm???
I have a beautiful ajuga...all through the lawn. And only in the lawn. It has low purple leaves and very pretty blue flower spikes in the spring. Frankly, I don't have much use for ornamental lawns, but it does look a bit odd.
I have horsetail all over, just a few here and there. This seems odd to me since our ground is all sand and rock, on the alkaline side, and extremely dry. Nonetheless, it comes up in places that I have never watered, all around the house.
My wife has been asking me to plant mint for 10 years. She has almost given up by now. I have a pot of it, just for her, which I have to watch closely to stop from creeping out and rooting into the ground. I am cultivating corsican mint, however, which I consider an entirely different entity.
Honestly, I find it hard to believe that it is legal to sell virginia creeper here. I pull huge quantities of it every year, and yet it still comes up everywhere, climbing under the house siding, smothering the grape vines, running through the grass. Horrible stuff that breaks into pieces when you pull on it, runs for tremendous distances, and reseeds vigorously.
i agree with you tropical. I'm not big on lawns, so I would actually find the purple ajuga lawn far more interesting and.... no mowing!! And the horsetail.... don't get me started! It's everywhere! Fortunately I'm not the one who planted it. If your wife wants proof of the mint, i'll send you a picture of what occurred after a well meaning friend weeded the stuff and wasn't careful about what he did with the weed pile!
Suzy, I think my pipefine may be Aristolochia durior. Not positive. I know it was one of the few I could find that was perennial in zone 5 and that it didn't have the larger blooms that some do. Leaves are heartshaped and plain green, not wooly. I going to replace it with some Honeysuckle vines. Not the Japanese ones LOL. I've heard those are invasive too.
Oh, and how could I forget Adenophora confusa? I've sprayed them with Round Up every year for at least the last 5 years, but some new ones are always popping up mixed in among my perennials. Those nasty white roots go on forever. A good lesson in not growing perennials that are very easy to start from seed. Now why can't I get Foxgloves or something else I want to do as well?
Susan
This message was edited May 12, 2008 3:34 AM
I have to say the Ajuga 'bronze beauty' is very attractive in its space (so far!) and an interesting idea for a lawn.
I have the wooly pipevine in a large pot and he doesn't seem to like it too well, but I dare not plant it in the ground, it sounds like. Is it something that can be propagated from cuttings, I wonder? I would like to have another pot of it for the other side of the house--for the butterflies it may bring in....
Same thing for Maypop. I'd like to plant some along the woodland edge for the butterflies. So far I've kept it in a pot for fear of over production.
LOL Well, I would like to get a hold of another B & B salvia too. Maybe our 'club' should start a co-op to order some from somewhere. I thought I planted mine in a perfect situation, high and dryish, but I think the rains got to it anyway.