Wednesday, April 11, 2001
by Jerry HolcombI listened to a group of gardeners the other evening. The subject? "I wish I'd never planted that." Sounded as though they were deep south with Kudzu vine.
"Why didn't someone tell me phygelius (beautiful Cape Fuchsia) would travel over and under everything?" wailed one woman. Yes, I had been there.
After admiring the striking orange flowers for a few years, and the humming birds that hovered about, I decided it couldn't be all that bad.
It grew one summer and come fall I was digging out weeks 20 feet away when I discovered a long, pencil-sized root. Right, Phygelius. It was setting shop over at least a 30-foot diameter. Just thinking about all those new plants multiplying gave me a headache. It was out of here. Not. I have found sneaky shoots popping up every spring since.
Another man declared solemnly that his golden hops vine would envelope his house this year. "I bought a machete," he concluded.
The Sunset "Garden Book" describes Physostegia, better known as "obedient plant," as vigorous and notably invasive. Gross understatement. Two weeks after planting one, I was digging a few feet away and discovered white noodles in the soil, easily traced back to Psy. Although I decided I could live without its pink blooms, I may be fighting it forever.
"Why did I think Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia) would enhance any planter boxes" another gardener said, "It touched the ground running, filling in between pavers, clothing the border beside the house, tripping up and over the roses, filling in the fence, and now its burrowing out the carrots." Exaggeration? Not much.
French mint took the brunt of another complaint, and I must add most mints to the list. Keep them in containers if you grow them at all.
Still another gardener bemoaned his error in planting Japanese Anemone. Hey, I like that plant. But, it's true, it has a mind of its own, and travels where it will. Still, I will bear with it for its show of pink blooms, held high above evergreen shrubs, (not where I originally planted it!) late into fall when other flowers have departed for the season. At least it lets me know where it spread early in the year when I can take out the unwanted plants.
Many years ago I planted one start of the native bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa), thinking I could keep it contained. Alas, it escaped, and while I admire its ferny foliage and pink blooms this time of year, especially when it mingles with blue forget-me-nots, it has become a problem that will outlive me. Only by crawling on hands and knees, yanking out armloads of yard-long fibrous roots, do I barely keep it from usurping my Japanese iris bed.
I barely escaped Bishop's Weed (Aegopodium podagraria variegatum). How lovely are its gray-green and white variegated leaves, how well it works as a ground cover. Too well, I discovered as I studied the plant's habits before purchasing. Sunset calls it a "very vigorous ground cover." Gross understatement.
Never plant Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) unless you have acres to cover and don't have to worry about its rampant habit. Choose instead a L. sempervirens which, although it lacks the fragrance, won't take over. For fragrance try L. periclymenum.
I once admired the mounds of yellow lupine that once covered dunes near Pistol River, and was shocked when a native plant enthusiast declared he hacked out every plant of it he found. That is, until I discovered its history. Planted in Humboldt County in 1917 to stabilize sand dunes it spread so aggressively that now there is an annual event called Lupine Bash Day when volunteers swarm the dunes, dig out the offending bush.
How is it that these transgressing garden plants can become worse pests than common weeds? And how can gardeners know what to avoid planting?
One way is to pay close attention to words. Seed and plant catalogs seldom tell you a plant is invasive. After all, they want to sell it. Rather, they tout its merits: "beautiful flowers, great as a ground cover, provides shade the first year." These very words should give us pause. But thee is one more that can send up a dozen red flags. That word is "vigorous" as in vigorous grower. Take heed. Inquire further before purchasing. Read the Sunset "Garden Book" or other tomes on the type of plant. Better still, ask many different gardeners. There is a wonderful gardening forum on the Internet where plants are discussed (and sometimes cussed). Go to http://forums.gardenweb.com/florum/ and pursue topics of interest. I especially like the regions forum, then click, Northwest. You can also click on individual plant names.
A bit of research before purchasing an unfamiliar plant can save you a lot of work and frustration later on.
Jerry Holcomb's newly released book "Short Season Gardening in the Pacific Marine Climates," is loaded with garden know-how and color photos. She is happy to answer gardening questions. Call evenings, 541-469-3850, or email, holc@ucinet.com.
