I discovered this major garden thug - Plant Invader of the Month
Oh-Oh! I discovered this garden thug growing naturally down beside my shoreline - well away from the gardens but snuggled nicely into the long grass and growing quite nicely - thank you very much - in several large and attractive clumps.
The problem with Anemone canadensis (thanks for those who pointed out my mistake) is that it rarely stays in one place for very long and whether the ants or birds take the seeds is irrelevant, something takes them and moves them around. It has a lovely white flower in early summer and I've seen it sold in more garden centers than I'd care to mention. In fact, I was in one the other day and the manager (a really nice guy) and I were laughing that they were on the bench for sale.
But once it gets into a garden, it won't let go. It is tenacious. It was imported naturally into a large perennial border at the old farm gardens and I worked for 5-6 years to get rid of it and never really did. I dug, I sprayed, I did all the things you're supposed to do and it still popped up here and there (mostly there).
So in this case, I already have it and I'm prepared to let it live down at the shore (some 200 feet from the gardens) but if it pops its head into my cultivated garden, I'll declare war.
And if you have any doubts about this little gem. I really don't think you should be buying it even though it is for sale and "cute".
What's your nomination for Plant Invader of the Month in your own garden??
posted by Doug Green @ 7:33 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
goes to show...one person's "thug" is another's "buddy". i have this anemone in my gardens, and in my zone 4, it's not invasive at all. it does meander around a lot, but if it goes where i don't like, i just pull it up. i enjoy the flowers, too. now my spotted knapweed is another story....
I hate to be difficult, but the photo is Anemone canadensis, not A. sylvestris. The leaves are different.
I grow Canadian anemone and may yet live to regret it, but so far I'm still enjoying it. At least it's a native, so I won't have to feel guilty about it.
Camanula punctata.
Bullish thug numero uno in my garden. I am going to keep a plant, in a pot - a deep pot - sunk into the ground, but all of it's off-spring are toast.
I'm in zone five, and have it planted in dry shade. I'd HATE to see what this thing does in conditions it FAVORS.
One of our neighbors kindly planted - after buying it from a garden center no less! - creeping charlie in their garden thirty years ago. It has managed to span a 2-lane road and crawled its way over acres and acres of land in all directions. The only thing that has fought it to a standstill is... bishop's weed. It's sort of like "Godzilla vs Mothra!"
I put it in a buried pot in my garden since I thought it was rather pretty
I vote for comfrey - closely followed by creeping charlie. I KNOW the former can be used for lots of herbal remedies - but its roots go down forever and it multiplies. I swear it can't be killed (I put what I dig up in the driveway for tractors to drive over.) Creeping charlie has a "sniffer" that detects my fertilized gardens from hundreds of yards away, and it beelines.
Thug of the year award in my garden goes to lemon balm, which, within three years, went from one plant to taking over the whole huge centre portion of my garden, with woodlike roots that had to be dug out like ice blocks and removed to the woods ! It makes weeding fragrant, but it is sooo invasive I yank it out at first glance.
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