An old fashioned downfacing 4' tall orange lily that had bulbets all up and down its long stems.

I dug out the large bulbs and sifted through the whole bed to get out all the little bulblets. That was a lot of work. I am still finding one here and there after 2 years. But I did win the best lily one year at the garden club show with a stem of that particular lily.

Brenda

Canadian Anemone (Anemone canadensis). It grows wild all around us and I had a plant wander into the garden. Instead of taking it out right away I wanted to see what is was and let it get established and it started popping up everywhere. It took two seasons of hard diging to get rid of it.
Leo

Ask me in a few years...planted goutweed last fall (though I sunk it in heavy duty plastic pots, and covered all the holes with fine coated metal window screen.) And I'm in the process of getting a few shovel-fulls of lily of the valley. (Brenda...the lily sounds lovely...can I get a bulblet??) To my credit...I'm not entirely insane...I have a bed that is poor soil & deep shade under a large spruce & mountain ash...I figured I'd throw a few aggressive plants in there and let them battle it out.

Verena

(I do have creeping bellflower through-out my lawn...not sure how to get rid of it...it was here when I moved in)

Brenda, I have that lily too. It's Lilium tigrinum, true Tiger-Lily. It's in lawn edging in a strip of dry land under my east eaves, so it just fills that up and stays put. Sure fills it up though. I don't know if I would really call it invasive. Honestly, my Asiatic Lilies spread about half as fast. Verena, e-mail me at sproast@hotmail.com if you want me to send you some. The GW e-mailer thingy isn't working. If you want to look at it, I posted a pic in the L's of the Gallery list. It's the really curled upside down one. I could also send you the first pic lily, it's really insane fluorescent orange and not invasive but I have several.

I have Lily-of-the-Valley also in lawn edging in terrible dry shade, it's not invasive there at all. Actually it kinda struggles along.

Creeping blue bellflower came through my hedge from the neighbour's yard and is colonizing my driveway, despite faithful hand-pulling. I noticed when I mowed the grass today that it is all through the grass on the west side. I hate that stuff so much.

The prev. owners had planted wild roses all down the east side of my property - groan - I am still digging out the roots. It was always covered in some horrid blight and sent suckers up to 25 feet away. That's actually my worst one.

The worst tree around here is Chinese Elm (Ulmus parvifolia, I think). People in my city thought it was a swell idea to replace elms lost to Dutch Elm Disease, but the horrid things seed so heavily (and wind-spread really really far), they are just weedy now. I would never recommend planting one of these things on purpose.

Last year I planted Obedient Plant and Bee Balm - hope I don't regret it :>

Oh...DH (the romantic that he is) likes to pick me the first bloom he sees on the wild roses (cause I LOVE the smell)...so last year, later in the season, he came home with a whole little bush for me. (It's only about a foot tall right now...) Hmmmm...what to do...?

Gil, you have mail!!

Verena
(Who's very excited at the prospect of getting new lilies!!)

Verena, if you do want that lily, yes, best to get it from Gil 'cause I am only finding one now and then here.

I have an area in a dry bed, under a linden tree that gets no extra watering. I have planted lily of the valley beside goutweed beside ribbon grass. I just have left them to be for the last 10 years and they have slowly spread together but not that much. I would, though, never try to plant one of these in the actual flowerbeds by the house. I like plants that slowly get larger to be planted there.

Why is obedient plant called obedient plant when it seems to be quite the opposite?

Brenda

Verena, if you do want that lily, yes, best to get it from Gil 'cause I am only finding one now and then here.

I have an area in a dry bed, under a linden tree that gets no extra watering. I have planted lily of the valley beside goutweed beside ribbon grass. I just have left them to be for the last 10 years and they have slowly spread together but not that much. I would, though, never try to plant one of these in the actual flowerbeds by the house. I like plants that slowly get larger to be planted there.

Why is obedient plant called obedient plant when it seems to be quite the opposite?

Brenda

How did I get 2 postings of the same message on this thread when I only pressed 'submit message' once?

Brenda

LOL...valleyrimgirl they were even posted about 45 minutes apart...so it's not even like just a double click would have done it!

LOL Brenda GW must have thought it was a really good post. Obedient Plants are so called because on the spikes of flowers, if you gently turn a flower to one side it will stay there. Weird eh?

Isn't it just somehow terribly wrong that a thread on invasive plants turns into plant sharing? LOL!

I have to admit I hate my Jacob's Ladder..it self seeds all over the flowerbed and comes up in every nook and cranny...thank goodness I have it only in one flowerbed..savona

Hehe...I have something just terrible in my yard...anyone else want some...*giggle*

Maybe I'm just a sucker for punishment...so far I have or am now getting (thanks Gil!) every plant on this list. LOL!!

Verena

Fiesty plants in my garden:
Goutweed - spread ~ 6" since 1993; put it in a bunch of other places & had to water like crazy to keep it alive but it's starting to get away from me in 1 spot - have to take care of thet this year,
Snowdrop anemone - still crouching under the elder where the lawn mower can't get it; no progress in ~ 20 yrs; only 2 of about a dozen transplants survived,
Lily of the valley - double the number of shoots (not are) since 1979; got lots more last year & am babying the clumps.
So, how black are my thumbs? The site is sloping, north-facing, full shade under water hogs (spruce, lilac & mountain ash) - maybe it's not just my fault.
Actually it's great 'cuz no matter how late my letter is called at the plant exchange, I can still get all the plants I love.
My problems are raspberries &, of course, canada thistle. Thank heavens the mulch took care of the chickweed.

Lets see.... How many 'invasive' plants do I have or refuse to plant? After seeing what the solid green goutweed did in my Moms' yard (came with house), my property is goutweed free. I wouldn't even buy a house if it was planted on the property. That is how much I hate it.

But, I do currently have various mints, obedient plant, bee balm, creeping bellflower and lily of the valley planted freely in my flowerbeds. Currently I am looking at getting ribbon grass which will be planted in a pot sunk in the ground. Oh, another thing I have which does spread is plume poppy. I bought a one gallon pot of it which was planted mid summer and by the next year it had spread over three feet. As long as I like the plant and don't find it to be a problem for me or that difficult to remove I don't mind the plants that spread. It is a matter of being informed, knowing your soil and climate as what is invasive for one location might struggle along in another.

Syreeta

Portulaca (purslane) is not a weed I like to have in my garden. When we moved here 11 summers ago, we put roundup down where we wanted a garden. You could see exactly where the last garden had been because the portulaca only came up there. Each year I have spent many hours pulling each plant out and am happy to report that after 10 summers of pulling there were only a few here and there that came up last summer. I never have let them bloom and reseed. Apparently purslane seed is good for 10 years, so I heard. So...we'll see if that really is true.

Yarrow is another perennial that I would consider to be invasive. It can spread by seed and by runners and the original clump just gets bigger and bigger. I do though have it in my holding garden. I also like the long blooming period it has and often bring it in along with other flowers for arrangements in the house.

Brenda

I do have goutweed as a groundcover in an island bed. It does look nice surrounding the tulips, iris and peonies. It has crept into the grass, but it gets mowed down and the closest flowerbed to it is about 25 feet away, so I don't think I'll have to worry about it spreading there in my lifetime(I hope!).

As for ribbon grass, beware! My MIL had a bed over-run by it and decided to rip out the entire bed. So I was given some perennials from said bed, knowing fully about the ribbon grass. I thought I had removed every tiny bit of it's roots from the perennials, but of course, some ribbon grass did start growing in the flowerbed. I was able to dig it out in time and decided to give it a second chance buried in a 2 gallon nursery pot. Well, after 2 years the roots had burst open the pot and ran for freedom.....or tried to. Three days ago I dug it up(I hope I got everything) and now have a tiny chunk in a pot that will sit on top of the ground and will have to suffer through the winter in a pot. I feel like a jailor!lol

Laurie

Laurie, I had figured that ribbon grass would be fine in a pot. Maybe I'll pot it up and just leave the pot on my deck instead. Then in the fall sink the pot into the ground for winter.

Just to let you know my parents have owned their house since 1989 and in that time frame the regular solid green goutweed has moved into three flowerbeds and the veggie garden. I'm guessing it has spread over 50'. The variegated one isn't as bad but my MIL had hers cover 10' in 10 years. Apparently it is edible and doesn't taste bad in a salad. I haven't tried it but you could let us know if that is one way to control it. :)

Syreeta

Adenophora confusa - it has confusa-ed all through part of one bed. I took out shovels full last summer and planted them down at my son's - not maliciously! :) He wants things that will just grow wild, no work for him. Maybe i should get him some goutweed, eh? :>

Syreeta, I do have the variagated goutweed. It's been in that bed for about 7 years and has crept out maybe a foot into the grass. I tried getting some established under some mature spruce trees, but it never took. I guess if it starts making a break towards another bed, I'll just have to get out the ranch dressing!LOL

As for the ribbon grass, I don't think I'll ever sink a pot of it in the ground again. The root ball that it created in 2 years in the pot was just down right scary! I'm thinking if I keep it in a pot, then I can just move the pot around to whatever empty spot that needs a little flash of green and white.

I also have some golden creeping jenny in one bed that has taken over. I quite like it there as a groundcover under the hostas, and I also like adding it to containers as it cascades over the edge so nicely. But, again too, it's not the best behaved plant, so you have to keep on top of it if you don't want it to take over the whole garden.

I have a lot of plants that are invasive for some people. Goutweed, achillea "The Pearl", lily of the valley, creeping bellflower, and goldenrod are probably the main ones. I tend to just treat all my plants as weeds: if they're in the wrong place, they get ripped out. I rip back the goutweed and goldenrod every time I weed. My current monsters are a couple of lemon balms that were three feet high and four feet across last year. They may wind up planted in buried pots like my mints. Goldenrod is probably the most invasive plant I have. It can travel almost two feet in any direction per year. I have a new bed under a tree in back where I've planted goldenrod, creeping bellflower, goutweed, and lily of the valley. I figure they can fight it out among themselves, and hopefully the lawn edging will keep them contained. I do like goutweed under hedges and trees. It looks better than weeds and uncut grass IMO. However, in my front flower bed, it has spread far beyond the difficult shady slope I intended it for, so it's due for a trimming! I guess my soil/climate keeps them from getting too crazy. The front flower bed is 9 years old, and this is the first time the goutweed has gotten to be truly annoying.
Connie

I've got some Creeping Jenny that I thought I had completely dug out last year... well, it's back. It's nicely spread itself around some tulip bulbs. Maybe I'll dig some up this year for a cascading plant in my containers. I do like the look of it, so long as it behaves.

My Monarda hasn't spread as much as I thought it would. ***fingers crossed*** that it stays that way.

So far that's it for invasives... time will tell about the rest I have 8^)

Ang

I never considered how many invasives I've been courting until reading this post.
I have and really like the dreaded goutweed, but it's in an area with no possible way to escape.
Maybe foolishly I've just released ribbon grass from its sunken pot. I didn't like the strangled look of it in there. I've put it in a dry difficult bed and plant to steal chunks to put in containers. I thought it would be a nice contrast plant.
I ripped out a huge growth of yarrow, only to have an instant change of heart and replanted a small piece in a different area. I wonder how long that one will last.
I'm beginning to worry about creeping jenny. She's invading the grass, but at least the color makes it easy to spot and remove. I also really like it cascading out of pots.
I don't like achillea 'The Pearl', but I have it. I pull it out by handfuls whenever the mood strikes. The flowers are nice but the plant looks weedy and always gets mildew.
I would like to get rid of the creeping charlie that has totally invaded the front lawn, but finally threw in the towel and gave up trying to poison it. It was planted by a previous neighbor, more than 30+ years ago.
I did rip out all the lamiastrum a couple of years ago, but I see small plants popping up again. It also looks good in containers, so I'll save a couple.
I did have a variaged creeping charlie I was using in containers, but it doesn't seem to have survived the winter.
By the sounds of it, my garden is one huge groundcover. Lol

I looked up creeping charlie, because I hadn't seen it before...turns out I have a few popping up in a shovel of plants from my one neighbor last fall...and I thought she liked me... ;o)...I think I'll go out in the morning and rip the whole clump out...it's shasta daisies, and I already have a lot of my own...she was thinning and wanted to share with me...oh well...I hate to toss a plant, but that sounds like a hassel I don't need!!

my catmint seems to pop up everywhere, just planted goutweend in a bottom terrace that is hot and dry, hope it stays there

I have Lilly of the Valley also. I just moved it to a bed of gravil and pine needles on the NE side of the house. It's one of my Dead Zones, but seems to be doing nicely.

My mother gave me some Ox Eye Daisies. Boy are they just popping up all over the yard. I think they must self seed.

I have yarrow and creeping jenny on a sandy hill where I have actually killed catmint and other "carefree, grows in sand" plants. They behave quite nicely in this barron wasteland bed. The colors and textures are a good contrast with my silver artemesia.

My plant namesis is the dreaded dandelion. I visiously dig and pull whatever ones I find, but my neighnor just lets his run free, so it's a losing battle.

Oh, yeah, and after the Electric Company cut down all the trees under the powerlines on the east side of the yard, I have ragweed and goldenrod to deal with. Oh, well. Beats freeways and shoppingmalls.

Ox-eyed daisies are on the Alberta noxious weeds list, while dadelion & chickweed are merely nuisance.

In my opinion, as long as a plant does not
a)produce 1,000,000 seedlings per year
b)grow back with reinforcements when removed, or
c)grow faster than the grass, in the grass, and won't take mowing for an answer...
then it's not seriously invasive.

We sort of expect our perennials to increase, don't we? It's just how quickly and persistently they do it that gets to be a problem. Just a thought.

I'm going to dig up some of my Monarda and give some to my sister in BC this summer ***snicker*** that's one way to keep it under control ***snicker*** No, actually she asked for some already last year. I gave her the big warning and suggested she grow it in a container. She really LOVES her hummingbirds and when she heard I had red monarda... LOL. Anything easy-to-grow fits her life best right now!