I think my sweetpeas are turning into thugs. They're smothering my jasmines and nearby roses, reseeding in the oddest places, and obstructing entire pathways. I think just pulling them up should do the trick - but it's so hard when I love their blooms so much!

Anne

evergreen Passiflora vines - pruning 2-3x year, once very hard. I hate doing it, because I get less Gulf fritillary butterflies, but these things just run wild otherwise, including into my neighbor's yard!

Cerastostigma - I'm tempted to shovel prune this, but I'll probably never get it all out. I do dig out sections that try to creep where they don't belong. Because it's deciduous, it does lose out to the next one:

Iris pallida - this thing is putting up leaves everyplace yet hardly ever gives me a flower. I have tried sun and shade; it just keeps running amok through the beds and if I'm lucky I get maybe 1 or 2 flowers! OTOH, it's pest-free.

Callas - the white, of course. Z. aethiopica is indestructible out here. They sprout up where I least expect it; if I move soil from one place to another, up sprouts another patch. At least it's pretty!

Cannas - rhizome systems the size of China. They form solid blocks underneath the soil and happily tunnel several feet before sprouting up a stem. Sneaky little devils! Shovel pruning and soil sifting are the only way to deal with them.

Bermuda Grass - we got rid of ours, but both our neighbors have it (and one has ivy, as well!) so it keeps trying to creep back in, via rhizomes and seeds. I spend a lot of time handweeding...good exercise, at least!

i cut the bottom out of the large nursery pots that i have saved from shrubs ... then sink that into the ground ... works perfectly for plants that spread underground and not by self-seeding ... phyl

I have two. Limelight Artemesia...I cut it back to the ground before it sets seeds in the late summer. I remove the mulch from it in the winter and most of it dies out. In the spring I mulch the area heavily, 4-5 inches, and usually a resonable amount of it is all that comes back. If I find it anywhere I don't want it, I pull it. I've managed to keep it in a 1x2 ft. space for three years now.

The other is a wild flower known as South Dakota Vervain. The first year DH found it in a pasture and brought it home for me to plant we couldn't idnetify it. Even the extension office guys couldn't identify it. The following year it took over the entire place in every bare spot we had. Last year it was gone. No sign of it this year so far but it's early yet. The good folks at the name this plant forum are the one who ID it for me. It spreads by runners and seeds. At least it's pretty and prostate so I let it ramble.

MeMo

Asparagus fern. I really like this plant as it does so well in my conditions. But, those pretty red berries seem to sprout in the oddest locations (mehtinks the birds are responsible). New plants come out easily enough while small, the trick is to stay on top of it. So far so good.
Becky

Phyl's idea is a good one for plants that spread underground. I've used a version of it for somewhat larger plants. I buy black plastic garbage cans, saw the bottom off, then cut them in two to make two open-bottomed containers. Bury them in the garden up to the brim, and plant your aggressive plant in the container.

A traditional and lovely way to contain mints is to use chimney pots -- decorative terra cotta extenders for the top of your chimney. Since they cost the earth, I use in their place clay chimney liners. They are masonry tiles that look like an open bottom square terra cotta pot with rounded corners. They come in various sizes. I bury them halfway and plant mints in the top. They give structure to the garden beautifully.

Seed spreading thugs you either have to avoid or embrace.

Rosefolly

Almost forgot one - osteospermum! I had no idea these things reseed like crazy. However, they take no care and little water, and are pretty, as well as crossing between color varieties so I get interesting blends of pink, purple and white. And they're easy to pull up if I don't want them in certain places, albeit I have to occasionally wade through groundcover rose thorns to do it, grrrr!

I put them all together and let them duke it out. In this one bed I have obedient plant, yarrow, beebalm, turtlehead, sedums, cherry bells campanula, pink coreopsis, and a few others. So far no one is winning, but the obedient plant is the most aggressive. The funny thing is, they all come in shades of pink and these thugs are color coordinated.

I use the method of burying the pot, but I love the idea of using chimney pots or chimney liners that rosefolly mentioned.

I have to be so careful with vines since I garden in such a small area. Trumpet vine, which I love, was a really poor choice. Yet, another plant choice that was made with my heart, rather than my brain!

Marilyn

Rosefolly -

Where do you find the chimney liners? I've only tried Home Depot and the like and I've yet to find anyone who even admits to knowing what I'm talking about. (Or maybe I'm just not asking the right question)

I've been on the lookout for years but so far no luck.

Mary

I have ferns, ajuga and oregano fighting it out in one bed, but I think the ferns are winning. Asparagus fern is a curse for me down here - thorns, rhizomes and berries...hate it. It completely ate a rosebush in one bed, and I have it covered with cardboard and mulch (for 2 YEARS), but it won't die. Everytime I see it for sale in box store, I want to throw myself down in front of it and scream "NO! Don't buy it - it's green Satan!"

MaryC - You may need to find a masonry supplier to get the chimney liners. They're also called flue liners. Here's a link to show you what they look like.

ThinMan

Here is a link that might be useful: Clay Flue Liners

Most of my thugs are planted right up against the street where they can fight with each other and put up with tough conditions. In that spot I have obedient plant (an early flowering one I've never seen anywhere else) oneothera, orange ditchlily, siberian iris and Black-Eyed Susan which croaked. In another spot I have some oregano which I simply yank back severly every spring.

MaryC, I also started out searching at Home Depot and Lowes. They don't have them, just the metal liners. Chimney flue liners are a specialty item that goes beyond the scope of these stores. (This is not a criticism; I find both stores very useful.)

I did a lot of searching on the internet, trying all kinds of searches, "concrete building supply", "clay chimney flues", "clay chimney liners", mixed with the name of my town so I'd get a store not a manufacturer. I forget what eventually worked, but eventually I found a store near me that specializes in this kind of building product. You're in southern California so the exact place I found won't work for you, but I'm including a link so you'll have an idea of the kind of place it is. Also, ThinMan's link has good pictures of what they look like. Chimney pots (made by Superior Clay) can be very beautiful and ornate, but they cost quite a bit more. Still, I can see someone using one as a focal point in a garden, a sort of garden art object that blends nicely in with other terra cotta.

Good luck finding the right supplier in your area.

Rosefolly

Here is a link that might be useful: Peninsula Materials

Nell, are you talking about moving the clerodendrum and then keeping it in check by mowing? If so, it won't work. And if you leave any bits of root in the old spot, it will grow back there, too.
I planted one...that's ONE clerodendrum last Summer. It has become a major pain in my butt.
Clerodendrum b. sends out runners and forms new plants in the blink of an eye. Mowing it won't tame it.
As a last resort I've started using RoundUp on any new clerodendrum sprouts that come up where I don't want them. But one hit with the stuff doesn't work...takes at least two sprays, about a week apart. It won't harm the larger parent plants you may want to keep as accents in a border or bed, but it gets rid of the escapees.

My other thug is Monarda (bee balm). It isn't nearly as bad as clerodendrum b., but it's bad enough. Still...I can't bring myself to get rid of it because the foliage smells so delicious and the flowers are gorgeous. The runners are fairly easy to remove but it spreads faster than I'd like.

Perilla has also been a thug in my garden, however the seedlings are easily removed as long as you get them when they're only an inch or two tall. Pretty plant, but boy! does is ever self-sow.

RENEE

Depends on the thug, how much I like it, and where and who it's "thugging".

There is a difficult spot, like my dry slope in 1/2 shade, that I just put things and if they gallop, I'm happy. Otherwise it's so hard to get things to grow there since the 45 degree slope makes the soil pitiful. I let these plants duke it out.

Now if foxgloves or forget-me-nots wanted to be thugs (in my dreams) by reseeding everywhere, they would stay and I would patiently pull up the unwanted seedlings and smile at my fortune.

I admit I wouldn't try, not that I would be successful, to get rid of all my wild violets. When they bloom in cracks and crevices in my rock wall in the spring - I forgive them all the time I've spent weeding them out of places where they try to trample my seedlings.

If something is trying to nudge out my peonies, iries, roses, or a particular favorite plant - I try to get rid of it from that area completely. If I can, of course, since some of these thugs need a silver bullet through the heart to get rid of them.

bloominganne

Thanks for the warning, Rivers. Note I said SOME clerodendrum would be moving. The originals will stay (sort of) where they started out, in poor soil under pine shade with other thugs like yellow lantana and crocosmia. Those stolons do travel all over. A shovel is a good defense against them. Dig, dig, dig. Pull, pull, pull. They're cold tender enough that they haven't completely taken over in ten years.

You rarely see it recommended as a nectar plant, but butterflies do love it.
{{gwi:655066}}
Stinky leaves, fragrant blossoms. Not for the faint of heart.

Thank you all for the flue information. It should be enough to get me started in the right direction.

The liners are definately what I'm looking for budget wise but wow - Peninsula has pictures of the actual chimneys and they are beautiful - nice to dream about.

Thank you again,
Mary C

Back on topic....

My former neighbor had mint that liked my yard better than hers. It traveled into my yard and wouldn't leave - the more I tried to remove it the further it spread.

Finally I resorted to Roundup - full strength concentrate, not the pre-mixed. I got chemical proof gloves, put on some sort of feltish work glove over them, and thoroughly soaked the mint. It took a few applications but it did work.

I've also used that on bindweed - still not 100% but it is the most effective tool I've found.

Mary

I know I should shovel prune some of them but they are sooo pretty, Alchemilla, Polygonium, Violets, Lily of the Valley, Geraniums and heaven help me, I just planted Clerodendrum bungei. This last one I will shovel prune around it every year and hope for the best. If that doesn't work out it comes. In my location it dies to the ground every year. The others, I just rip them out where I don't want them. I mentioned somewhere my biggest thug was Clematis tangutia, it almost strangled my Wisteria, no I didn't dig it, just cut it to the ground (2 truckloads to the dump), I'm hoping it will come back, when it bloomed it was simply gorgeous, bloomed all summer and the silver seed heads were quite striking. Crazy lady, I guess I am.

A......

Goodness, how did I forget the crocosmia?? Thanks, foxesearth (I think)!

Maybe because I haven't managed it at all. I planted it in one spot, decided it was getting too big, and ripped half of it out last year. So of course, this year, it's the exact same (huge) size.

Hmmm, may have to try that Roundup trick on my neighbors bindweed. She thinks it's pretty, but it's getting closer and closer to my garden beds!