I've been fighting Balsam pear in my yard for years. It grows rapidly and climbs any vertical object available. It's a real pain in the ass.

I have a white mulberry tree in my yard that I planted years ago. It is also considered an invasive species.

a jAPANESE hONEYSUCKLE WAS HERE WHEN i MOVED HERE 2004.
It has never sprouted another on my acreage or neighbors.
It is helping keep the sun off my west facing porch and the hummers adore it. They planted Ruellia and Wedelia both of which I DESPISE and cannot control. My husband LOVES alocasia and recently we got two different types one the GIANT ears.Oh Clerodendrum but I plented it where it cannot hop the cement.But I have Lots of space and wet soil for my ears and I needed something there.It is under some oaks.
the Hibiscus you are talking about is that the multi color foliaged one?
Personally I would call Sabal Palms and Laurel Oaks as invasive as they come!

I have Wedelia and nothing short of Napalm will get rid of it. I have tried pulling, roundup and even laying black tarps over huge sections. It just kills the leaves and once the tarp is removed the stems regrow leaves overnight. Its an absolute monster and I will probably be forced to have my entire 1.5 acres box bladed and resodded. There is no stopping this monster.

I was amazed at how many invasive and non-native plants are being sold around the state . Be very careful when you purchase a plant at Flea Markets or Farmer's Markets . Know your plant before you buy .
The link below has good links inside it and a link to tell you how they determine which plants rank as invasive .

Here is a link that might be useful: Invasive plants

I have mexican petunias and love them although I do trim them back twice a year which makes them nice and bushy. I have to admit though I did plant them along the one side of the house witha bad neighbor (Landlord) just to irritate him if they spread over.. I know Im evil!

We also planted a golden raintree which I think is beautiful but its still on the small side and I have people who ask me for the babies all the time. Really is a Love it or Hate it plant..

Sometimes inavasive for one is a treasure for another I suppose. I tell everyone who asks for something on this list what the possibilities are and be sure they want it whatever it is.

Several.

There is a Cherry Laurel and Golden Raintree which sit just beyond my property line, and (used to) drape extensively into my yard. I chopped them back to the line. No more litter or seedlings. Ah, much better :)

But I'm not off the hook yet.

I deliberately took cuttings off the Lantana bush that sprawled over the fence from a different neighbor's yard, and planted them in a spot where little else was growing... because I wanted the color and butterfly-attractiveness, and I didn't want to spend money on new plants.

Then I deliberately planted Ruellia in a rain-runoff area that is mostly contained. It has filled in but not spread at all in 3 years. It's behaving quite nicely.

There were Alocasias in the yard when we moved in. I just gave them their own shady wet spot and let them do their thing. Fine with me.

I may get yelled at for doing this, but I've planted things like Surinam Cherry and Strawberry Guava, which are supposed to be invasive. But I want the fruits!

All the same, I love native species, and have planted several of those as well. The plants in my yard just happen to be my mix. I take care of the environment and garden responsibly, and sometimes plant invasive species when I feel that they fill a very particular need.

boston fern. I love it, I have it EVERYWHERE! it soaks up the rain, it keeps the house foundation clean, it doesn't need anything and always looks great.
Lantana. I have it for my resident Mockingbirds, they love the berries.
Bush Morning Glory. I love the powder-pink flowers....

... but I will never get the Florida Friendly Yard status.

oh well

We've been fighting Balsam Pear, Carrotwood and Brazilian Pepper for 20 years. Every year we remove them, and every year we have new ones to deal with.

Also have Wedelia, every other common Florida weed, Castor Bean from the neighbors, and an unknown, really big/tough/vigorous clumping grass that gets 6' tall and is impossible to kill. I've used up 6 heavy-duty weed wacking blades on one clump!

I have one Schefflera, that is well behaved, beautiful, and pruned before it can seed. I think classifying Surinam Cherry and Strawberry Guava as invasive is utter nonsense. Anyone seen them take over like Brazilian Peppers?

There is a household in my neighborhood that carefully prunes and cares for their huge Brazilian Pepper tree. It probably is the cause for the countless rows of this invasive under all local powerlines. The robins eat the berries and poop them out as they rest on the wires.

Lisa

Hi, chris.
I have requested before and I like to state it again.
It is very offensive to me and to others to use the kind of language that you are using here. It is not polite and lacks moral integrity. I'm sure that you will have respect and measure yourself.
Felix

asiatic dayflower. bane of my garden. tiny pieces root on wet mulch... it gets tangled up with other ground covers. i am losing my battle against it.

We have Brazilian pepper that shoots up because the neighbors still have it and air potato, which I despise. I do grow lantana and we have some other plants like elephant ears that are considered invasive.

What I hate are the people who have melaleuca trees as part of their landscaping! EGADS!

Felix,
Is arse better? Free speech on the internet. One persons moral integrity is another persons sin.

Mistiaggie,
In response to your comment"Is arse better? Free speech on the internet. One persons moral integrity is another persons sin."
Now dear! We all have freedom of speech!!! I did not say it was a sin!!! I am asking for courtesy to those of us that have grown in a society where this type of communication was for private consumption or in a bar. I am not asking for people to give up their rights but just for courtesy and respect. If that is not honor then We as a society are trash. It is not acceptable for me to use the "N"word or be
judgmental toward those that want to live a homosexual life style. So Why is it not acceptable for you to be gtasecious
and give some moral respect to me,when I have politely have asked for it.

Felixs

WE planted a carrotwood tree 28 years ago when we moved to our new house with no landscaping whatsoever. I now consider it my hobby to pull out all carrotwood seedlings--a neverending supply.
Barb.

Invasive? Moi? Read my latest blog post.

Here is a link that might be useful: Things I Wish I Had Never Planted

I finally got rid of kalanochee in my back yard. I'm sure someone thought it was pretty when they planted it sometime between 1959 and 2001. It took me six years of jumping around my yard like a bunnyrabbit to erradicate them. Succulents are good potted plants, I think. Liikewise elpahant ears, having dueled with them. For Brazillian Peoppers, cut them, poison them (drill a hole in them & use round up or diesel or drive copper nails into them. I hate Brazillian pines. I saw kudzu take over the panhandle of Fla.

Brazillian peppers, I meant. Horridly invasive, and I suspect we haven't seen the worst of them yet.

I have a vacant lot next door that is fulled with Brazilian pepper and poison ivy. I have an on going battle with both. The roots of the poison ivy grow under my fence and try to take over my garden as well as the seedlings spread by the birds and wind. The city tells me there is nothing I can do about it. It is private property and doesn't have to be mantained. :o(

While the Florida Invasive List is well meaning, personally I think each species should have a footnote as to why they consider it invasive.

For invasive, personally I have a hard time calling elephant ears invasive. Yes, they can get very invasive in my yard, but so can many other rhizome type plants. However, unless I go throwing my elephant ear trash into a nature preserve, they aren't going to spread to it. On the other hand anything that seeds like the Brazilian peppers and coral vine and ruellia etc., are ridiculously invasive for people who never even planted them. I am forever battling these and I've never planted one. Again though coral vine is invasive for people in S. Florida, not so N. Florida.

There should also be an "unofficial invasive list" created by gardeners, however I could see such a list upsetting the native tree supporters, because my list would certainly include live oaks, sabal palms and sea grapes.

There are at least two that creep over from my neighbor's yard.
This, although I like the pretty yellow flower, really anchors into the ground...whatever it is! LOL

This one lives in a couple of my palms...way up high, where I can't get to it to remove it.

Does anyone know what either of these are?
I'd appreciate an ID if you can.

I also have something that looks like some sort of ivy that grows up another neighbors tree and finds its way into my yard...could be poison ivy, maybe?...the leaves are green with a reddish tint.
Thought I had a pic of it somewhere, but can't locate it.

No one lives in that house...wonder if I dare go over and spray the stuff with Round-Up? (yikes!)

The neighbors behind my house have Brazillan pepper hedges growing over my fence on 1 end....the other end ...2 diff. kinds of vines. I One has little red seeds. There is a "Java Plum" tree in the back that was here when we bought the house. I hate it...drops purple fruit that stains my shed. I want have the tree removed, but there are so many birds living back in that area and I love the birds.

I thought I'd browse thru this to see if there's anything neat I might like to put in my yard. lol. Aside from the nut grass which has roots in China, I can't think of anything invasive in my yard that I don't like. I love things with a zest for life. You could call me weedlady I guess. Probably the most invasive thing I have is a passion flower I got from a vacant lot. I love it - it is everywhere and even comes up in the lawn. The back yard smells for passion flower, it is climbing on my bushes, the possums eat the fruits, I feel like I am in a garden of eden when I walk thru that area. And after Fay and all the wilty plants I am thankful for stuff that just loves to grow.

Judy

Lellie, the yellow flowered one is wedelia, I think, pretty but hard to get rid of, vine.

Interesting thread! As usual, it demonstrates our differences of opinion on several things. For my money, the term "invasive" designates not just plants that reseed generously, but rather plants that will hop OUT of your garden and begin to spread in the WILD areas, displacing our native vegetation which our native wildlife depends on. It isn't a crime to plant something that might spread in your own yard, but you should think VERY CAREFULLY about planting something deliberately that will spread into the neighboring woods. THAT is the real battle, and one that we are losing in many areas. Please don't add to the problem by planting things that we KNOW for sure take over our natural areas. That includes Brazilian peppers, melaleucas, wedelia, the lantanas that produce seeds, the non-sterile ruellias, (I've only found the Florida Friendly STERILE ones at Home Depot), certain kinds of "elephant ears" and most ESPECIALLY golden raintrees and Chinese tallow or popcorn trees.

If you can control it...keep it in your yard...that's one thing. But don't forget, if it has seeds that birds eat, you CAN'T control it. And if it has seeds or runners that will escape your yard and go into our natural areas, again I ask, PLEASE don't plant it deliberately. And please DO keep trying to eradicate it from your yard. It's the responsible thing to do, and it's important.

Marcia

Hey, thanks Kat!
I had thought about letting it browse thru the back of my gardens but after seeing how it grows and reading about it...huh-uh...changed my mind...LOL

countrynest - I would like to apologize for offending you. I did not think that anyone would be offended by such a ubiquitous word. I definitely don't think that the effect of the use of the word @$$ is comparable to use of the N-word or gay-bashing as you've stated. I really don't believe its possible to accurately judge ones' measure of morality by the "foul" words they use. Shame on those that made such great words "dirty".

Chris, I just want to say that I'm not offended by much (surely not by what you said), however, I do understand Felix's point of view, also. In a public forum, I try to be much better about "language" than I am in real life, simply because there are so many different folks here that it is hard to judge who might be offended and who wouldn't. For myself, I usually try to err on the side of caution and not use any words that might make anyone uncomfortable.

I think today, we are surrounded by such widespread use of words that a mere 20 years ago would have really raised eyebrows that we forget some folks still don't care for them. I hear things on primetime TV today that you wouldn't even have heard in a movie theater ten years back, and I'm always finding myself looking at Mark going, "Can they say that on TV now?" I believe we (the public) are so used to it that we don't stop to think about it.

Frankly, I swear WAY more than I should, and certainly more than is flattering for someone of my "advanced" years, but I do try not to do it in public places or on a public forum. I know that there are others like Felix who are uncomfortable with this current trend in our society, and it doesn't cost me anything to try to respect that.

I sure understood your sentiment, though, and having a problem with balsam apple (or pear) in my own yard, have said much worse than that while dealing with it.

Marcia

Ruellia...wish I hadn't planted it, although it looks nice sometimes. It spreads to where you don't want it. I even have it growing in my grass now. I have a mahoe hibiscus tree and have no problem with it. Had an obnoxious weed vine that tangled in a large flame vine, weighed down the fence that blew down in Wilma. I took out everything and the weed vine keeps returning. Don't know what it is though.

The name of the vine discussed above is Virginia Creeper. It grows everywhere down here, can't control it.

countrynest - I would also like to state that I did not intend any offense in my reply. I appreciate your position and will abstain from using said word in the future.

Lellie,

I have the same thing in my sabal palm and I've been told it is strangler fig and native and a killer of palm trees. Bummer, huh? Hope someone here can tell me I'm wrong.

As for invasives that I wish they wouldn't sell, snow-on-the-mountain. I'm battling it in the front yard and I fear my whole neighborhood is too because it reseeds readily. I didn't know elephant ear could be invasive _ I'll keep an eye on mine.

My most aggressive weed is actually native as well - spanish needle. Man it makes a mess of the mulched beds. And my father was here recently and told me that he remembered his father saying it carries squash mosaic or some such thing. Anyone know about this? I was planning to mulch it back into the veggie bed with all the other weeds when it's time to plant, but now I'm wondering.

Susannah

Chris,
I thank you very much for your understanding and posting this
reply for I do not want to cause any bad feelings. I feel very strong about this subject but at the same time I feel very strong about our liberties being snuff. We just must use our freedom with respect for our fellowmen or women.
Again,Thank you!
Felix

I guess cus words are like weeds,,,,
some people don't mind them and some people do!
Having been a Baptist most of my life and a missionary part of my life Dh and I do not cus,drink or smoke but we try not to judge those who do. We are now in Real Estate and the things that come out of people's mouths shocks us at times.One customer sitting next to me in my vehicle all day kept using the F word every two words. I wanted to put a funnel in my ear and poor bleach in!!!
DH said someone recently apologized to him for being a PITA. He said it took him all day to figure that word out. I guess we led rather sheltered life and going to a Bible College we never heard much of that.
Must be why my 'What Flower are you?' came out to be a LILY!

Hey, GoldenPond... I guess this month you are a water lily! How's your corner of Florida doing today?

As President of the Wedelia Growers of America ("WGA") I must protest the labeling of our favorite plant as "invasive". Not only is wedelia an excellent ground cover, it also produces a very lovely yellow flower to boot. Anyone wanting to join our exclusive club should visit www.wedelialovers.com.

In my yard -

Invasives I Hate:
Brazilian Pepper
Potato Vine
Grape Vine
smilax (maybe not invasive but I hate it)
popcorn trees
snake weed or snake vine or whatever that nasty stuff is.

Invasives that I don't mind:
Wedelia - mine is surrounded by concrete so it can't escape.
Ruellia - I just make sure I don't take care of it and it stays pretty well in bounds. I like how it looks.

Two that I abandoned when we moved:
Heavenly bamboo
Pagoda flowers

Like Marcia said, some define invasives as spreading in wild areas. That is how I ended up with so many. This lot was abandoned for a long time and they took over.

And how could I ever forget?!

Camphor trees. Lots of them.

Wedelia IS an excellent ground cover. And it IS pretty. But in these parts, it will spread into the woods and other natural areas and choke out native plants, and that makes it officially invasive. Once anything displaces native plants over large areas, it becomes detrimental to wildlife, and therefore deserves the description.

IF you can contain it in your yard (since it spreads mostly by runners, perhaps this can be done?), fine. If it gets out of your yard (clippings thrown away, etc,) then it is a problem. A serious one.

And Lellie, your first picture with the yellow flower IS wedelia. Stomp it, pull it, kill it! ;o)

Marcia

I have a large patch of wedelia and don't consider it as unruly as some other plants. It is planted with wandering jew and they both seem to help keep each other more contained. I use Round-Up around the edges to keep it contained.

As I stated before, I wish each species was given a footnote as to why it is considered invasive. It's about how you grow it, where you grow it etc. There are quite a few natives that can easily be deemed invasive.

I don't fully agree with the theory that invasives are detrimental to wildlife. I know in my yard, the black racers love hiding in the wedelia; the coral vine is a favorite of every butterfly species; the hawks, the woodpeckers, the squirrels, mourning doves, none seem to care they're in Australian pines.

Not that I'm suggesting to go out and plant them and if you're in a newer subdivision where everything was leveled, invasives probably aren't a major problem anyway. If you're in an older neighborhood, you're probably dealing with many types of invasives and they aren't going to go away.

Minibin,
Good morning! Your description of using Roundup to control
Wedelia sounds more like a lion trainer than a gardener,LOL.
I have wedelia also and is contain by pulling and digging.
Knowing all this,I still went ahead and planted it in the median of my right of way leading to my driveway.It is a dirt road with oak trees in the median.The wedelia looks beautiful and is contain by the cars and trucks that traverse down the road.
Felix

YES! That horrible Johnson grass Argh..and the every present balsam apple. I swear if I garden to long in one spot I'll be covered in the stuff !

Minibim, you are correct that many exotic plants are fine for wildlife in your yard. I agree with that, which is why I added the caveat above about whether or not you can contain the plant in question. Butterflies love many plants that we would not want to see taking over our natural areas, for instance.

The point I'm trying to make is that when these plants escape into the wild and begin to eliminate native plants, in the wild, they become a problem. Our native plants are home to hundreds of animal, avian, and insect species, and we can't lose large areas of those plants without suffering damage to our native wildlife.

I don't care HOW widely something spreads in a garden. That's up to the person gardening. What I worry about is anything planted in a yard that can easily become an invasive plant in the wild. If you can contain your wedelia and you like it, I don't see anything wrong with that. Species like Chinese tallow and golden raintrees can NOT be contained, and those are deadly to our wild areas.

Felix, your wedelia is contained by the nature of your property. You live in an area that was once pastureland, and you have a huge border around you. I don't think your wedelia is going anywhere else. (Unless it spreads by seed, which I suspect is not really the problem.)

Minibim, if you have yours contained and controlled, I don't see it as a problem, either. And I agree that our official list of "invasive" species should contain more info on how and why they are a problem.

I'm guessing my long absence from here has gotten me out of the practice of expressing myself things clearly. Sorry about that.

Marcia

Well...I still like my neighbor's creeping Wedelia...LOL...so I'm thinkin' I may start some in one of my strawberry jars and place it on the decking...that way I can keep it trimmed back, eh? :)
Guess I'll still hafta cut hers back at my fence line, tho.

As far as potato vine goes, I planted a small plant out at my mailbox early last spring.

Look at it now........LMBO

Lellie, there's a difference between SWEET potato vine and "potato vine," which is also known as Florida kudzu. Sweet potato vine does grow like wildfire, but it is easy to trim or pull, and whether or not you like growing it (I do), is a personal choice, to date.

Potato vine is the one with the "air" potatoes hanging on it and it is horrible, evil, bad, bad, bad. It will swallow your house and car if you look away too long.

Personally, I love your Blackie sweet potato. And yes, you can eat the sweet potatoes that it produces, but they aren't real very tasty.

Keeping your wedelia in a jar is a good idea.

Marcia

Oh, I've not got the dreaded 'potato vine'?...no need to worry, then...LOL
Thx Miss Marcia...

Yer welcome, Mz Lellie! You're safe for now!
;o)

Marcia

I am sure the people who planted it never thought the next owner would despise the ruellia and wedelia they planted here.Not sure if I hate it as much as the carpet they had installed,reminds me of my grandmothers cotton stockings!
Oh, I thought of another that the egrets and herons must have planted and that is CATTAILS in the pond.I was telling the 10 yr old grandson how they are edible and how we are a distant relative of Ole Euell Gibbons who wrote a book on all the things you could do with it and the rascal pulled one out of the pond and started muching the root and said "mmm tastes sort of like cabbage"
We googled it and found they made baskets and pounded the stalks into a flour for pancakes .
Later I discovered he had whacked a bushel of the stalks.I asked"are you making a basket?"
"No "he said "you and I are going to make cattail pancakes."
Now i am the best grandma around,even made stew out of a rabbit he shot while hunting but,,,,
pounding flour out of a cat tail stalk ,,,,NOPE

My everglades tomato has sprouted and grown huge in 4 places. It's the first time I've had tomatoes all summer so I'm not complaining.

Marcia, you expressed yourself quite well. It was very clear and needed to be said.

Kudos to you.

Thanks, Tom. I was beginning to wonder if I had somehow been speaking in tongues or something. I had thought my first post was clear, but it didn't seem to be understood very well by some. I'm glad you got what I meant. Appreciate it!

Marcia