How to eradicate houttuynia cordata (chameleon plant) What I did when Houttuynia cordata took over my garden beds. I was one of those unsuspecting persons who thought this was a lovely groundcover and brought a couple home. For a couple of years due to my job, I did not have much time as I would have liked to tend my garden. I did not know what this plant was going to do. When it was in bloom, the little white flowers seemed to add a sparkle to my landscaping. And then it happened. The penalty I paid for admiring this plant and letting it spread was that my beds ended up completely smothered and taken over by this plant. In my yard, the chameleon plant behaved like fairy sized kudzu. In July 2019 I began researching online and was thrown into a panic. The prospects did not look good for getting rid of it. I found out this plant is on the list of globally invasive problem plants. I was stressed. I am going to tell you what I did after reading everything I could uncover on the internet about trying to get rid of this plant. I have never knowingly put any chemicals in my yard. I do not like them and I do not want to harm any wildlife or the ecosystem. However, in this instance, seeing how aggressive this plant was and having read that it can even spread under a driveway, I made a personal decision to use Ortho Poison Ivy Spray. It was not a decision made lightly. I did not want this plant taking over anymore of my property, spreading to my neighbors’ yards, or escaping into the wild areas where I live. From July to early September, I carefully applied the spray. The container it comes in has a very narrow stream, so I was able to be careful and not lose any plants I didn’t want to. After this application during the hottest months in Memphis, TN, the offending plant began to look dead. But from my research I knew it is a zombie that would return come Spring. My next step was sheet mulching. My beds needed to be re-done anyway, so in my case, I just dug up plants that I absolutely needed to save and moved them and with a few – like my Baptisia that have long taproots and can’t be transplanted, I worked around. 1. In September my partner and I got a lot of cardboard. My source was behind stores like TJ Maxx. After they unpack clothing etc….they put all of the cardboard behind the retail establishments. The cardboard was clean. I removed any tape. I had purchased a large supply of landscape pins. I used the sheet mulching method. Heavy layer of cardboard, then wet it and had humus and triple milled hardwood mulch delivered and applied on top of the cardboard. The beds stayed like this until March when I began putting in new plants and shrubs. 2. Spring 2020. A silver lining to Covid Times, I worked from home through the Spring. This enabled me (with the help of my partner) to re-do my front garden beds and tend them everyday. After planting all of my new plants and shrubs and mulching with pine straw I checked every morning for any reappearing houttuynia leaves. Whenever one sprouts up, I zap it with poison Ivy spray. Yes, there have been a few that have popped up. I still do not like using poison. I am still getting rid of the plant, but honestly, so far the reemergence has been very easy to handle. Mostly because I have checked it everyday. I know I will have to keep on this, but I feel like I have it under control. I just hope I can continue to be vigilant next Spring when I will be at work. Meanwhile, my new landscaping is settling in. I planted a lot of natives, and my garden is humming with pollinators. Don’t give up.

I believe that there is a use for most any plant, you just have to find the right spot. I grow chamelion plant as a ground cover under Oregon grape holly, in an area where it can be controlled, and it succeeds in the shade where nothing else did. I have a bed of lily of the valley under a mimosa, also controllable, and an isolated ground cover of euonymous wintercreeper, another aggressive thug that gets a good trimming a couple times a year. Japanese honeysuckle climbs a trellis and I am very careful to cut off any wandering, ground- creeping tendrils. Other ground-eating perennials find their way to an area at the end of my woods where they can compete with each other, far away from my garden beds, and give me a riot of color in the summer and fall. There are a lot worse invasives than these manageable plants that do need to be eliminated totally, and what is invasive in one area of the country might not be a problem in another. Observation is a good clue to the aggressiveness of a plant before you ever put it in the ground: tip it out of the pot and take a close look at the roots. If it has new shoots coming up the side of the root ball or out of the bottom of the pot, beware, that plant is going to spread by runners and take up a lot of territory! And if the description says, spreads well, colonizes nicely, or other such words, buyer beware! And be aware of the invasive plant list for your area, and avoid the plants on it like the plague! Are you aware that the coveted Japanese maple is considered invasive in some areas, for example? Always research any new plant before putting it in the ground-- and beware of friends bearing gift plants they want to get rid of, lol! Fifty some years of gardening has taught me a lot, and yes I've made a lot of mistakes with garden thugs, some of which I'm still paying for. But I have also acquired a lot of sharp tools for digging things out! Sandy

Love this, I would have one if available here. Still missing my bearded dragon who died with leukemia. Weird huh?

What Nina said - as with any wild, semi-wild, nondomesticated animal you need to recreate exact conditions for them to thrive..... or they wont. Hopefully reptile expert will weigh in but pls also be doing your own research. Your seller may or may not have the expertise to guide you - Ive found that sometimes pet stores are more about selling products than actually providing good information. Beware if they just want to sell you a pile of medications but have no concrete knowledge of routine care or how to create a good environment for the animal (as I learned when I was getting up to speed re: my pond fish.) You might have to look outside your city - major metropolitan areas may have more exotic pet and/or reptile specialists - google/call around. University zoology depts/zoos may have advice for you - if only where else you might look.