Many plants can become garden thugs, given the chance
You've watered them, fed them and coddled them. And now they're taking over-sending out tendrils, dropping their seed everywhere and generally bullying their adopted siblings into submission wherever and whenever they can get away with it.
Given the opportunity and the right conditions, some plants can become garden thugs, greedily appropriating more than their rightful share of light, air and space.
Like most responsible guardians, you'll probably wonder how one of your charges grew to be so aggressive. Did you unwittingly purchase an invasive plant from a garden centre? Or, perhaps someone gave you a problem child (people rarely give away slowly reproducing plants, but they're happy to share those that multiply freely). Sometimes the potential bullies even come with a veiled warning.
Years ago my father was digging out a patch of overgrown tawny daylilies (Hemerocallis fulva). I asked if I could have some. “You can have them,” he said, “but you'll be sorry.” He was right. Even a decade later my daylily patch requires constant thinning so that it doesn't completely overwhelm the adjacent poppies and peonies in the border.
And while most garden thugs are attractive, making them hard to resist, I now realize that descriptions such as “soil should be of poor or average fertility,” “drought-resistant,” “makes a great groundcover” or “is a low-maintenance plant” are actually tip-offs that they are potentially invasive. All of these “warnings” refer to several plants in my garden that would happily take over the whole place (or fight each other to the finish) if I let them, including my beloved columbines (Aquilegia spp.).
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5 Comments
I have a tiny brown bug that is eating the leaves on my European Birch tree. Is there anything I can do to prevent more damage to the tree?
I have a tiny brown bug that is eating the leaves on my European Birch tree. Is there anything I can do to prevent more damage to the tree?
Yes, free plants, although a wonderful thing when looking to fill empty spots in the gardens, are often more trouble than they are worth. I was given a small pot of feverfew last year & very carefully divided all the little plants to spread out. They have taken over many of my gardens! I didn't realize that they would grow to almost 3 feet high & most of them were situated in the front to middle of the bed. I chopped them all back even before they flowered so that I could see the rest of my plants & in the fall will dig most of them out to put in my other bare patches. It is nice having something growing, but now I know to research my free plants before I put them in the ground!
I have a small green catapiller eating the leaves on my hollyhocks, what is it and how can I get rid of it other than picking them off whenever I can catch them?
Hello, we suggest that you take this question over to our forums where gardening lovers from all over the country can work with you towards an answer! Go to the forum here: http://www.canadiangardening.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=1 Thank you!