If you’re not careful, your new plant could go from this:
to this:
How can something in a cute two-inch pot be so dangerous? They look so innocent and fragile on the plant shelf, their tiny stalks blowing vigorously in the spring winds. But beware – there are certain plants that, once given a roothold, will not stop until they obliterate your garden, smothering all other growth in its path. Like that red-velvet cupcake, such a plant will prove a lot harder to get rid of than it was worth.
The more thuggish a plant is, the more of it you’ll find available – usually for little or no cost. Neighbors, having spied some open ground in your yard, happen by with “donations” of this super-easy-to-grow plant for you. Enterprising gardeners pot up their extras for $2.00 apiece to sell at their garage sale.
Take over your garden? L’il’ ol’ me?
These plants are among the impatient gardener‘s most tempting allies – but the détente goes seriously askew in a season or two. Be prepared to give this gang exclusive territory in your garden, (preferably confined by geologic or titanium barriers) – it will save you a lot of heartache.
Ask questions:
- How much space does it cover?
- Does it self-seed, and if so is it easy to pull?
- Does it need regular dividing?
- How does it spread? Anything that roots where it hits ground or spreads by underground runners is a potential back-breaker should you decide to remove it.
Space invaders and their known aliases
Euphorbia
English Ivy - This succulent (right) is hoping for a transplant before the ivy, well, you know…
Bishop's Weed
You may run into many of these rough characters in broad daylight – at nurseries, even.
- “Bamboos,” except “clumping” varieties like Fargesia species -when I worked at a NYC nursery we instructed customers to purchase metal barriers or cement troughs for these marauders
- “Snow-in-summer,” Cerastium
- “English ivy,” Hedera helix
- “Butterfly bush,” Buddleja davidii – a rampant seeder; yes, you see this one in many catalogs and gardening books, but I’ve also seen it growing through train tracks in England .
- Euphorbia species
- “Scotch Broom,” “Irish Broom,” Cytisus scoparius
- “Bishop’s weed” aka, “ground elder,” Aegopodium podagraria
- “Yellow loosestrife” Lysimachia punctata
- “Purple loosestrife” Lythrum salicaria, L. virgatum
- Mint species Mentha
- “Giant butterbur” Petasites japonicus
- “Ribbon grass,” Phalaris arundinacea
- “Creeping buttercup” Ranunculus repens
I’ve focused on popular garden plants; for a full list of invasive and noxious plants, see the King County Noxious Weed List.
Self-sowers
Campanula persificola: Lovely to look at, but quite wandering ways...
Red Valerian and orange California poppies vying for power
If these prolific seeders had their way, they’d have a seed in every pot.
- Verbena bonariensis,
- Pampas grasss
- Borago officinalis – borage
- Campanula persicifolia – bellflower
- Centranthus ruber — Jupiter’s beard, valerian
- Convallaria majalis — lily of the valley
Full disclosure: the Streetwise Garden is currently harboring several Verbena bonariensis, Campanula persicifolia, and Convallaria majalis – a side effect of wanting cheap, quick results. But I’m keeping my eye on them.
A lovely friend gave me some borage seeds after I admired the blossoms in her salad – but now I can’t bring myself to plant it in the garden. Something about her laugh when I asked if it was too late to plant them – it was kind of a hard, barking, “Ha! You’ll see, it’ll grow anywhere!” How to have my salad and preserve the garden peace too?
Hmmm…the western side of the house by the compost! If it lives there it deserves to survive.
Borage
Spotted in Green Lake:
And now to leave on a beautiful high note: Kousa dogwoods (Cornus Kousa) are strutting their stuff this week all over Green Lake. These asian imports bloom later, more profusely and are less likely to fall to anthracnose than their native American cousins, Cornus florida. They have a lovely horizontal branching habit, too, If you look closely, it’s like millions of tiny white poinsettias.
Kousa dogwood
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Read more about gardening in Green Lake.
Read more My Green Lake articles written by Erica Browne Grivas, freelance journalist for hire.
