Hi, I don't think many plants compete well with the ivy. Someone here can probably comment more on that. The plants you've chosen have a rather large variety of growing requirements... V. bluebells generally take a rich woodsy soil with a fair amount of shade. V. creeper is a ground cover that I don't think will do well in pots. Elderberries get very big, sucker and like quite a bit of water and at least part sun. Green coneflowers get very big. I have huge clumps of them growing by the creek. I am not positive of their growing requirements, but they are growing wild in my yard in part sun and above average moisture. Great blue lobelia requires at least part sun and above average moisture. That might do OK in a pot. Some types of milkweed have a large taproot, so I'm not sure they will do well in pots. I'm not sure if they all have taproots, though. Blue wood aster may do OK in pots. Most types of JPW get very large. They like above average water and at least part sun, preferably full. While I think there are many natives that would do well in pots, I am not sure all those you have in mind would work well. I hope I'm not discouraging you from trying natives in pots. You may want to do a little more research on what you chose to try. Hopefully others here can offer their thoughts. I'm by no means an expert. As far as IDs, the only one I know from your pics is the one in the pink pot--a hosta. Blue Ridge Mountain Girl

Check this out. "Zombie Spaghetti". Here is a link that might be useful: http://search.aol.com/aol/imageDetails?s_it=imageDetails&q=dodder&img=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_lclVymJYsbU%2FTNogE9ecj0I%2FAAAAAAAABRw%2FlzewgEQTk0w%2Fs1600%2Fdodder1.jpg&v_t=nscpsearch&host=http%3A%2F%2Ffarmerfredrant.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F11%2Fdodder-return-of-zombie-spaghetti.html&width=137&height=142&thumbUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ft3.gstatic.com%2Fimages%3Fq%3Dtbn%3AANd9GcSTIlt2EILjrYK-6ebvy0o62y0L5wLCjDD-fmn6CKsdllr6wPByJ40GeIEh%3A2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_lclVymJYsbU%2FTNogE9ecj0I%2FAAAAAAAABRw%2FlzewgEQTk0w%2Fs1600%2Fdodder1.jpg&b=image%3Fv_t%3DimageResultsBack%26page%3D3%26q%3Ddodder%26oreq%3D21e5040ba8264dc8ab2ff76a5580975a%26oreq%3D69736de005ba4ea29faa0d36c45578d4&imgHeight=413&imgWidth=400&imgTitle=Dodder%3A+The+Return+of+the&imgSize=43418&hostName=farmerfredrant.blogspot.com

Look up web pictures of the various pea-family members. There's quite a lot of them. You're on the right track in that this is surely one of them. I'm still picking out what's what in that tribe so I don't feel qualified to ID your plant, at least based on those pics. Mountian pea, uh....see, I can't even remember the names....but there are some natives in that bunch. There're also more non-native, invasive types besides crown vetch. I think we see one around here called cow vetch which does all the same things. But I'd look to some web-based picture collections to home in on this one. +oM

In the lawn, a tough competitor. But not even on the same page for overall destructiveness as garlic mustard or buckthorn-two plants that can prevent tree seedlings from developing on the forest floor. This one can't do anything like that, not even close. Which brings me to the subject of how everyone seems to have their own version of "invasive species". For some, they think that is just any plant-native or not-with aggressive ability to colonize a site. For others, it's a plant that can naturalize in the landscape, whether it is causing any problems or not. In reality, true invasive exotic species are those which can and do replace whole native plant communities, things like common buckthorn and garlic mustard...things where, once they get going, the total nature of the site is completely altered and simplified...usually down to just that one species. I've had Glechoma in my lawn forever. A few times, I've went through the trouble of controlling it, and this can be done as I covered above. Right now, it's back in full force, having crept in from the sides, but since I now suddenly have three grandchildren that do or will be playing on our grass, I've withheld the phenoxy stuff. I'll live with the ground ivy for now, and in fact, there is one thing I've always actually liked about it-the minty fresh smell whenever I cut the lawn. But to lump this one in with the bad invasives is just misguided. +oM