I have sweet woodruff and creeping jenny and find neither invasive...prolly had the woodruff fifteen years now...the jenny..five or 6...

I think that it's a case of 'right plant; right place' for most things like this. Sweet woodruff is an invaluable plant for me under the white pines. It rarely strays outside its designated spot and is easy to remove if it does. At our previous house I had snow-in-summer around/under bridalwreath spirea and yews. It bloomed at the same time as the spirea and the combination of the bright whites against the dark yews was fabulous. It never strayed outside the bed it was in.

But I do agree that labels should be more explicit about plant growth habits. New gardeners aren't aware of the 'code' words that indicate a plant that you might need to be wary of. And a bad experience with a couple of plants could put a new gardener off gardening altogether!

I agree that "runners" should come with a warning label. lol! I always warn people when I offer something like that, but many people WANT them! and almost always to fill in areas where nothing else will grow. They serve a special purpose. :)

Then again, what's invasive for one person may not be for another. A lot depends on climate, soil, water, and even general care (such as edging and deadheading).

I was just lamenting tonight about all the "runners" I have that I need to get under control. sigh.

I guess they are just in business to sell plants and really don't care what plants they promote and sell. Things like fast grower or healthy grower are usually a dead give away but without studying plants year after year it's hard to know what is what. And as you found out they aren't going to come right out and say so apparently. Tisk tisk. I just visited a website that I use regularly and was shocked to find that they have all of a sudden changed the zones on many plants that have been a certain zone for years. Now they are saying hardy to one zone colder and that really upsets me. I already KNOW they are not hardy in my zone. If the listings are not accurate they are stealing a lot of money out of peoples pockets. They should be ashamed!! Gardening is now the number one hobby of the boomer generation, they must be nuts to think that people our age are going to keep buying and replanting every year. At least not for very long anyway.

MeMo

Some of those fast growers are advertised for rock gardens. When planted in that environment they often have the rock bed as a barrier and don't invade everything else. It is a "right place" kind of thing, but it is also bothersome to think that I as a customer have to know all this ahead of time before I purchase. It is, indeed, my responsibility to know what I buy, but some guidance would sure be helpful, especially since I'm just starting out and my knowledge base is so low. I've been considering bugleweed, but I just can't take the plunge because I don't know if I can trust it to not take over. My nursery sells it, and they are knowledgeable and SO SO helpful, but I still feel like I need to research it more. It would be very helpful to already know that info. Sometimes people want it to be invasive. I'm considering getting rid of my lawn with some invasive/semi-invasive groundcover that won't need mowing since we have chosen to pay for lawn mowing services. Is it possible to have something grow like the dickens where you want it, and then say the magic word and not have it invade the rest of the yard? ! I sure wish it was. I can't decide if an invasive would be good or bad for my purposes!

Ianna, I don't have either of those plants but I hope they aren't too invasive in your garden. I have several plants that are said to be invasive but most aren't too bad. One that is beginning to take over more than I like is the clustered bellflower (Campanula glomerata). I've had it for several years and all of a sudden it's spreading like crazy. I'm going to weed out most of it as I can't have it taking over a bed.

I was amazed to see goutweed for sale at a place I recently bot plants at. Now that is one plant I've never heard anyone say is not invasive in their yard. It should be illegal IMO.

They sell Virginia Creeper at the store here, which is insanely invasive in my backyard. I think there are few groundcovers though that are not somewhat invasive, the idea seems to be for them to spread to cover lots of ground.

keesha, I do have sweet woodruff and creeping jenny which I keep tightly controlled. It's just that I am aware of their habits and know what to do. These are invasive in my area -- that I can say with confidence. But I'm very vigilant with them and cut them back many times over or dig out their roots.

It's this soapwort and snow in summer that I wasn't aware of. There wasn't even a mention of 'Fast' growing on their labels. I'm just feeling duped and a bit disheartened. These are plants that I have placed in a location shared with my neighbors. I don't want any issues with them.

deanna that is a good point. in rockery areas these are fine and well contained. Elsewhere they can proliferate like crazy.

Ianna, I've grown soapwort, the little rock garden plant and it didn't travel or reseed for me. It was in part shade, and I just moved it to more sun and I just bought Snow in Summer, which died out on me once. I have clay soil and I don't really consider them invasive. Are they supposed to reseed?

I have had the snow in summer (Cerastium) for years and haven't found it invasive. One patch is in a gravel-y site between two large shrubs and the other in the alley garden draping over the rocks. It stays in a nice mat-form. Only trouble with it has been some mildew (humid summer) and some rotting out when one plant got old.

Last year I got a start of soapwort (Saponaria officinalis) from a neighbor who has it growing wild in a weedy section of their yard. Never water it and it blooms like mad. I had to move mine last week and noticed it DOES send out long runner-roots. Haven't seen any seedlings, but I harvested most of the seed last year, so maybe it didn't have a chance to seed itself around. May regret it in the future, but for now I am keeping my little clump. It smells wonderful in bloom! Hope yours doesn't become a pest either. Could you maybe stick it in a plastic pot and sink it into the groud??
CMK

What's invasive to some may not be invasive for others. I bet your plants will look great!

I need to take a picture of the cleome that has reseeded itself outside of the flowerbed where I originally planted it. A dear friend gave 3 little innocent looking seedlings of it to me. DH loves to see it bloom, so I let it alone when I noticed the area thick with cleome seedlings. I had already hurt his feelings when I dug all the purple heart out of the same bed (Same friend gave me the start for it).

This same friend gave me oxalais, and Turks Cap. The Turks Cap ate my beautiful Monte Carlo lily,( the ants got what was left and I have planted new ones) so I dug the Turk's Cap all up (hopefully) and it is now planted in the butterfly garden with other aggressive growers. The hummingbirds do love it. Some plants are really invasive.

I love the look of water hyacinth, but they can't be imported to Alabama because they are a problem in the waterways. They won't get out of my pond, but I haven't bothered to get any in a long time.
kay

My Soapwort doesn't go out of its area, but I don't water it either. It is in a rather dry area, but semi-shaded by shrubs, only getting watered when it rains. It grows just fine on its own and stays put. I loe the sweet flowers.
A relative of mine had it in with her flowers where it got runoff water from their driveway, so the soil was moist there and had filtered shade most of the day. It grew 3 feet tall and invaded the entire area. She loved it though.
To each his own.

It is a lovely plant and flower. Just don't water it!

As for Snow-in-the-summer, I cannot even get it going at my place. I have tried seeding it many times. Tasha Tudor had it in one area of her garden and I loved it so much that I wanted it in mine. No such luck so far.

As the Rolling Stones said in one of their famous songs:
"You can't always get what you want.
You can't always get what you want.
You can't always get what you want.
But if try sometimes, you just might find,
You get what you need!"

~Annie

There are two different soapworts. One is Saponaria officinalis and I read that is considered aggressive. Could it be two different plants and only one is a problem?