Oenothera Species, Mexican Evening Primrose, Pink Evening Primrose, Pink Ladies, Showy Primrose

I no longer plant this species, and I try to eradicate it where I find it in clients' gardens.

It spreads very aggressive...Read Morely by underground stolons, which are hard/impossible to remove from the crowns of other nearby perennials. It isn't a plant for the mixed/perennial border. I find it jumps root barriers, probably by self-sowing.

It does respond well to 2% glyphosate herbicide, but to control it you may need to sacrifice any other perennials in whose crowns it may have taken up residence.

It generally doesn't grow taller than about 12-18"

I think when you buy a plant, it should be labeled as potentially invasive. This is a beautiful plant, but very aggravating. I've fought...Read More it all summer.

I love this plant, it has bright pink flowers and spreads once planted. It is a strong perennial knowing that boston winters are a pain i...Read Moren the butt. Fortunately they always survived. My dad wants to dig them up but I forbid him from doing this because it reminds me of the times when I travel to Texas.

i love this plant, very showy with its flower starting white and then turning pink. ofcourse is invasive, but easy to pull out(dont we ha...Read Moreve trouble with Dandelions twice a year :) ). has a light fragrance, planning to start a new bed under my birch tree and it can overtake the lawn(which looks very bad because of the huge tree and shade) ofcourse i have others under the tree, tickweed, lirope, anemone peony, pink butterfly bush, big leaf hydrangea, astilbe, ajuga, creeping phlox, etc

I planted this in a few of my raised brick beds last year as a mid-summer space-filler. In a matter of a month the runners were everywhe...Read Morere and overtaking everything even with diligent management. Flowers resulted in seed germinating nearby and quickly expanding its reach through all types of soil, plants and even robust turf-grass. I tried digging it up to no avail as even the tiniest remaining rhizomes quickly produced new plants. I was eventually forced to commit plant genocide with commercial strength Round-Up - which took not one, not two, but FOUR applications to finally kill the stuff. Heavy doses of pre-emergent and diligent watching of the affected areas will hopefully rid me of this menace once and for-all.

VERY VERY invasive! Buyer BEWARE!! This plant has jumped the flower bed and spread to cracks in the sidewalk and everywhere. I am find...Read Moreing it hard to kill without killing my surrounding plants! Any suggestions helpful!

Very invasive. Can survive without being watered, even in Vegas. But my Desert Tortoise loves them.

When I lived at my old place, my next door neighbor had them growing along the front of her house. I thought the pink flowers were rathe...Read Morer nice.
Then I moved away and had gardening space on all four sides of my new house. On the west side, there were the cute little flowers. I decided to plant roses along that side, and weeded and cleaned the strip thoroughly, pulling out tendrils that were easily 2 feet long. I then covered the area with 6mm black plastic. I left it that way from January till the bare rose sale in November. I removed the plastic, no primroses, yea!! and planted the roses with gazanias behind them.
I put in my sprinkler system, put in a pretty little fence and watered the roses regularly. Suddenly I began to see tendrils coming out from under the house and beyond the fencing. They were back, tangling themselves in with the gazanias and on the march! I pulled them up, as much as I could since they break off at the soil level, and cleaned up the area again. Over and over again.
This has been a 2 year fight and they are winning. I pull them out and they send in their secondary troops. They lay on top of the gazanias and flatten them. Evey now and then, I'll see a pink flower about 8ft away, but aside from that, they never bloom. I can't use an eradicator because of the roses and gazanias so I just keep pulling them out.
I think I hate them. I tell myself that the bending and stretching is good exercise, but , yes, I hate them.

I'm located in Virginia, I like this plant a lot -- it spreads, for sure, but it's easy to pull up. It provides a nice mass of pinkish/w...Read Morehitish flowers.

I originally started it in a pot, thinking I would keep it from spreading, but it broke out of jail and is now a nice show of pink flowers as my other perennials are coming up.

Native in my area of coastal South Texas. Evening primrose, often called "butter cup" even though it's pink. Noninvasive in its native ...Read Moreenvironment; I don't recall ever having to pull one out of my garden more than once and never in my lawn. (No ground cover herbaceous plant survives competition with a watered, healthy, Saint Augustine carpet-grass lawn.) Creates an attractive carpet of pink flowers in fields and pastures during our hot, dry summers. Drought & heat resistant and thrives in poor soil. Another case of a plant that can go rogue outside its native habitat.

Invasive. Invasive. Invasive. I hate it! Pretty on the outside--evil on the inside!

Be sure you and your neighbors...Read More are ready to have it everywhere! It was planted by my builder's landscape company all over my front and back yard and I am pulling it out daily in the hopes that I can get rid of it for good. It sends runners underground and pops up everywhere--in grass, from under large rocks, in far away locations too. Maybe it is also reseeding? I've only had it 6 months, or so, and it has covered anything near it. No need to spend money on it, just grab a sprout from some other poor victim and watch it take over.

Before you plant this, be sure you love this crazy thing--and don't plant it anywhere near my house!

If anyone has had success in eradicating this weed that is promoted as a desirable drought tolerant xeriscape perennial please post it he...Read Morere! This plant is terrible. It seems like the more I pull it out, the more the underground octopus sends tenticles that pop up more than 30 feet away! When I pull the plants out I can see that they just break under the ground. It is a contstant battle. I've been pulling it out for 3 years now. I have tried Spectricide weed killer and that merely slows it down. Please HELP!!!

Why does the plant's description say that all parts of the plant are poisonous yet every other site says every part of the plant is edibl...Read Moree and very important in medicine? Even one of the seed suppliers (J.L. Hudson) listed by this site says it's completely edible.

Extemely invasive! Beware unless you plant this in an area that you want covered, you will be constantly pulling it up!

Spread is rampant and prolific....very invasive, and hard to irradicate.

As stated multiple times, this can be invasive. However, it doesn't "choke" out other plants, just grows around them (in my experience)...Read More. It just grows low around things as a filler. I found my cherry bells campunula to be more invasive. The deer like to browse it, which can be controlled with repellent. I am having a problem with Japanese beetles this year (first time in three summers) and this is a favorite of theirs. But that gives me a good place to look for them when I want to drowned them! With so many blooms, the deer browsing and pests don't create that big of a problem. I also have it planted with lavender, dianthus, peonies. It is a nice addition to a cottage garden if you want a breezy, somewhat overgrown look.

This is a very drought tolerant plant and is great for a hillside or other dry areas where little else will grow. I use it along the stri...Read Morep next to my garage where the roof overhang and dry soil make it impossible to grow most other plants.

It is very easy to pull extras if it spreads too much.

If you shear it back to a few inches from the soil after blooming it will rebloom.

Yes, it's invasive. It's taking over one of my beds, but, it blends in nicely with the other plants in the bed without choking them out....Read More I've had it for about 4 years now, and I look forward to it each and every year. I'll be back in a few years to add any additional comments, positive or negative ;)

About 5 years ago this came up in my garden after I planted a wildflower mix and it has been coming up every April and May ever since. I...Read Moret is beautiful, but it also somewhat invasive. That doesn't matter to me because it only blooms here 2 months out of the year and then entirely disappears.

Plant stops blooming when it gets wet. Best to not water at all. It will stop blooming after rain. As soon as it dries out it blooms aga...Read Morein. Very invasive in Maryland, be sure to plant in a contained area. Cut down in the fall when it has stopped blooming.

This flower grows well in Bucks County, PA. My barber let me take a root cutting, and I now have three nice stands of Evening Primrose (s...Read Moreoon to be two). Tolerates a little shade. If it didn't tend to be invasive, as others have noted, this would be a positive recommendation.

I planted one three years ago in a flower bed and it has spread out a little bit and filled out the flower bed nicely, but it is not so i...Read Morenvasive that it crowds anything else out.

This is a beautiful plant that spreads like the devil. (1 year+2 plants= covered about 40 sq ft) I resorted to letting it bloom and then ...Read Morecutting it all the way to the ground every year. In northern wet climates like mine- best to plant as a groundcover underneath eaves, so that it gets very little water. It is a little tall for an underfoot groundcover. Mine also has some interestingly variegated foliage and looks nice in the fall (although I usually pull it before then.) If this plant were a movie character it would be like the magical broom in Disney's Fantasia because it comes back as a million plants from every little bit of root.

Stay away from this pretty devil of a plant!! One small pot took over my whole garden and has resisted constant weeding and several appl...Read Moreications of Round-Up. It has choked out and killed many small perennials. If this plant were a movie character, it would be the killer bunny in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

I like this plant and I have no problem with it taking over. My problem is the little black worms that are taking over my Mexican Primros...Read Moree. I was told to use Sevin 5%. It's a dust and since we have been having a lot of wind and some rain those little pests keep coming back. Anyone out there having the same problem? If so, please let me know what you used to get rid of the little black worms. Thank you.

I dug up some river rock that had been embedded in cement in my back yard when I bought my home, which had suffered from years of neglect...Read More. Underneath the cement were some strange roots. Because I was not planning on doing anything with that area, I turned it into a compost pile, covering the roots. A few months later, these lovely flowers came up. Although I think they are beautiful, I am going to pull them up because I don't want them to take over.

Last fall we ripped out dozens of 30 year old, 40 foot shrubs that had grown into a solid green wall around the property we bought from t...Read Morehe original owners. That not only got rid of the rats and ticks, but what was mud all winter is now solid hardpan that I can't cultivate, covered with these beautiful pink wildflowers. I look forward to having them do my work for me and take over a good, big section of this impossible yard!

We have found this plant to be completely invasive. One plant has tried to take over our garden

Wow! This is one of the most invasive plants I have ever seen! In it's first year it spread rampantly in soil that isn't much more than...Read More clay. It is beautiful, but I am going to work to get rid of it (or at least keep it in check).

This plant grows wild in Wyoming on the plains. A certain amount of moisture at the right time is necessary, or it doesn't come up in the...Read More spring. I tried cultivating it, but it did not respond to being dug up and replanted. None of the transplanted plants came back the next season.

For Southern California, it's good for dry banks and areas you seldom water. Mine starts blooming in early March and goes until we get a...Read More light frost. HOWEVER....You need to trim these plants (a little beyond deadheading) to keep them blooming well. They reseed and spread to the point of becoming invasive, so only plant them in areas where most other stuff won't survive without ample water. These plants look a lot better than the typical iceplant you see here, but like I said, it needs to be trimmed to look good, whereas iceplant requires no deadheading. After seeing mine growing, lots of neighbors have planted it on their hillsides. In the heat of summer, you will see them wilt to nothing and bounce back by morning. I shoot a little water on them once a week during that time and they come back and spread like wildfire.

Now for the BIG NEGATIVE - Do not do what I did and use it in an area of your flower bed that doesn't get much water. Although the seed packet said that it was extremely invasive, I became a moron and thought I could handle it. It looked great the first year when I started with 2 plants. It filled in the area nicely. The second year, it took over the entire flower bed and choked out my petunias, lavatera, and just about everything else. I got so tired of pulling out the plants by the handfuls only to see it emerge from seedlings within days, that I sprayed the entire flower bed with Roundup and repeated the process 3 weeks later when the seedlings emerged. It took care of the problem, but I had to replant everything. The more water, the faster they spread to the point of taking over the world.

Don't plant this in an area where you don't want it to overtake everything. Less agressive neighboring plants will suffer unless you are...Read More commited to hand pulling this pushy plant away from them. Yes, it's charming in a cottage or country setting, but be mindful of it's propagation by underground runners. I pinched a single sprig from a basket at a neighbor's house 3 years ago, stuck it in the ground (without a thought) outside my front door, and now it's everywhere, despite all of my best efforts. The stuff won't be eradicated.

Absolutely beautiful! I love invasive...LOL.
I think the negative comments are not fair on this plant. It does what it's suppose t...Read Moreo do. Some plants reproduce better then others. Therefore be mindful where you plant it and give it the room it needs. I have found it to be full of blooms and constantly gorgeous! Yes it spreads, but don't put a spreader in a 6 foot garden...LOL. I have mine planted where it can be free.

put in one plant, it keeps popping up all over, the more I pull the more come back, it's very showy, I should have listened to another cu...Read Morestomer in the store when she told me not to get it!!!!!

This plant (or a near relative) grows wild along the road in Kansas. I often admired it, and finally stopped to dig some for my garden. ...Read More I live on 14 acres, so it could actually be pretty invasive and not bother much. I suppose it is proof of my inability as a gardener that I could not get it to grow. It lived for one year and then died out. I think I may have had it in soil that was too rich, considering it does so well along roadways where the soil can't be all that good. I will probably try again and locate it in some really sandy, poor soil.

I have found this plant to be EXTREMELY INVASIVE. I imported sandy soil to do my xeriscape so that may have something to do with the plan...Read Morets (unfortunate) success. I just spent the last two days trying to eradicate this weed. I am going to use Oenothera caespitosa instead-even more drought tolerant, fragrant flowers and not invasive.

There should be an option for a DOUBLE NEGATIVE!! Never ever plant this is a residential garden unless you want a lot of weeds with a fe...Read Morew pink flowers. They are impossible to get rid of and if your neighbors plant them you will have them too. A single 1 gallon can and 7 years later they are a constant presence in the garden, hundreds of little weeds!!

Did I say "don't plant these"......a negative for sure.

When I bought my home an in-ground entryway bed was full of these. I pulled them only because I wanted the bed to be a cactus garden. I a...Read Morem delighted when the odd flower pops up and blooms.

Small bees collect pollen from the flowers, but are unlikely to pollinate them. The size and length of the stamens and stigma suggest tha...Read Moret hummingbirds, large butterflies, or day-flying Sphinx moths are more likely to pollinate the flowers while seeking nectar, although I have not observed this. Like many other members of the Evening Primrose family, the foliage can be consumed by various mammalian herbivores, including rabbits, groundhogs, deer, and livestock.

One plant. One single plant covered an entire yard. We rip it out and cheer the rabbits that eat it. It's actually beautiful in bloom, bu...Read Moret golly gee. Daily spring activities include beetle juicing, hand picking and squishing the thousands of Mexican beetles that invade these, then move on to my light roses. Roundup is useless.

A most beautiful plant!!! I bought mine for $3.90 and forgot about it. It got very tall, wilted and began to lose it's leaves many times ...Read Moreand when this happened I left it in a bucket of water ( about 5cm of it ) overnight.It always sprung back up!!!
Very tough and hardy. Now after planting in the ground it has been a sea of beautiful white blooms since Midspring to Now (Early Autumn)!!!, And is spreading wildly. Very beautiful and dainty. Always swarming with bees!!! VERY drought tolerant. Keep in control if you do not want it taking over desirable plants. Everybody should try this plant in either it's white from or it's pink form!!! pokerboy.

I received 10 or 15 plants from my neighbor in June of this year and now have around 100 of them all over the place. When they pop up so...Read Moremewhere I don't want them to pop, I just pull it and plant it where I want some more of them. I'm constantly making new beds around my yard and love flowers that are this easy to grow.

I live in AZ and planted this plant this year and just love the flower but right after the first 100 degree day some of the plants had no...Read More more flowers and one died, what did I do wrong? Also where on the plant is the seed and how could I transplant some of those shoots so they will grow where the one plant died.

This has always been my favorite Texas wildflower since childhood. For some reason, it refuses to naturally spread into my small acreage...Read More... but I have bought seeds (silly since there are so many free ones around!) and hope to plant them at the right time for a beautiful spring crop next year. I'm hoping it will be as "invasive" for me as it has been for the others here on the board. The area I plan to sow it in is a "wild" part of my yard, not my true flower garden area, so I will let it wander naturally around the area as it grows and reseeds and such. Wish me luck!

I live in zone 7 and have not found this plant to be invasive. I do grow it in shade so that be may be a factor. My plant stays small wit...Read Moreh flowers almost as big as the plant itself. It successfully survived our winter here and started flowering the second year.

Editted on June 6th, 2005: This plant did not come back up this year and our winter wasn't especially cold.

This plant is amazing! I bought two little sprigs for 50 cents at the end of the season last year and it has filled part of my garden! Th...Read Moreousands of blooms that continue to multiply. And if I want them somewhere else - I pull out a bunch and plant them in the new location - and they grow! I have found it in areas that I don't want it - so I just pull it out...I've never seen a plant that is so easy, strong, and pretty! This is my first season for it, so we'll see what happens.

I love these flowers. They are taking over most of my yard, but that's fine with me. I live in Las Vegas where the temps can get up to ...Read More106 to 115 all summer long. It is very dry here and I am wondering just how often I need to water the primose. The say they're drought tolerant but don't say how often is often enough. Please any help would be appreciated.

The primrose is a wonderful plant with beautiful flowers that make the country side totally charming during Spring here in Texas. I have...Read More a wildflower area in my yard that is gorgeous right now and a joy to all who pass by. The primrose together with bluebonnet and indian paintbrush presents one of the loveliest pictures designed by mother Nature.

I'm with all the other 'positives' out there. Known to the indigenous in So. Cal as Grandmother's Necklace, the "invasive" quality so ob...Read Morenoxious in crab grass is charming in her, and she doesn't choke out anything else. A decent weed whacker will cut her down when she's looking weedy, and your lawn mower will take care of her in your lawn. Now, if you're going for a rock garden, she's probably not your best choice, but in all other applications no other ground cover beats Grandmother's Necklace!

I've had oenothera speciosa in my garden for 2 years, and I love it. I understand that it can be invasive and problemmatic, but in our he...Read Moreavy black California clay (East Bay of San Francisco) and hot summers, it's a winner. We have a sea of pink blooms from May to September. I just let it fill in around my other plants for a meadow effect.

Very pretty, clear pink, papery flowers. Although they're not noted for their smell. I detected the nicest, soft, Earl Grey, or Bubbl...Read Moree Gum? scent. Very easy to grow from seed and re-seeds readily. Easy to grow in full sun, tolerates a range of soils especially very dry. It's least favorite thing is probably very wet or heavy soil. Can be invasive, but is pretty in naturalistic, or wildflower plantings. Can be planted in the perennial border, but deadhead or look out for the seedlings. Easy to grow in more difficult parts of your yard. Thrives in poor soil, (don't overfertilize). A good xeriscape plant. A pretty, durable plant.

This is my favorite wildflower (south TX) and it comes back every year in the same spots in my yard. It has never been invasive. Maybe t...Read Morehat's because over the years, different people have cut my grass for me and no matter what I tell them, they cut most of these flowers down. So I count on the same patches coming up again every spring, and they never have a chance to spread. Maybe next spring.

I'm new to CA - zone 8/9.5, and found this flower beautiful and easy to grow. YES it is invasive. I planted it next to lavender, which it...Read More blends with nicely, but towards the back of a weedy, non-developed hinterland where it can go where it wants. I haven't had a long experience with it, so I'll report back after a couple of years.

I have observed the plant in different places (different plants) in colors ranging form white to palest pink to a deeper pink.
...Read More /> Here in Texas they are a wildflower, and bloom from April to end of May; after that they do not appear until the next spring.

To control invasiveness (which I do NOT consider it to be since it is only arund about 1 1/2 months per year or less),
but if you think it is so, they can be mown down to control.

In my own case, husband just mows them down much to my chagrin. I would rather them reseed and expand the next year.

The flowers glow at dusk. Beautiful plant.

This plant has been growing in my garden for the past 5 years. It was originally 5 seedlings that I planted and I had always worried abou...Read Moret it not coming back. It is interesting to know that in some areas it can be evasive. It is a nice addition that I look forward to every spring.

I also like this plant. If you don't mind pulling it, to keep it under control. The flowers are beautiful. It's a great potted plant.

Although the plant blooms beautifully in Arizona, we have discovered a problem with this particular plant. We have it planted near our k...Read Moreoi pond and it has grown so much that it started invading the water in our creek. After all 15 of my koi died I consulted a pond specialist who informed me that the stems secrete a type of poisonous resin that is toxic to fish. We have since cut the plant away from the water and haven't lost our newest fish as of yet. I'm not still totally convinced of this explanation, but felt it best to share.

Invasive weed! I can't get rid of it and it never blooms as nicely for me as in the pictures posted here. If it would bloom and look ni...Read Morece in hot weather, I could forgive it, but it just looks scraggly.

I like this plant, I can see where it can be invasive (even in zone 4) but if you put it in a area you don't mind it spreading in (a encl...Read Moreosed area) and it has to compete with other invasive plants it works well. The flowers are very pretty.

This plant has taken over my garden, and I am constantly trying to weed it out. I have tried everything to rid my garden of this plant, b...Read Moreut it comes back.

DURABLE...!! well suited for use in sidewalk medians/cracks/crevices as it tolerates mowing. Can be very invasive though removal by pul...Read Moreling seems effective.

To propagate in frost-free regions, dig up and replant bits of the rhizomes showing sprouts near the end of dormancy. Plant in containers...Read More to control rampant spreading.

It can be a nice filler plant, but it WILL take over if you're not careful. I thin this plant by the handfuls several times a year to ke...Read Moreep it in check.