Huh. I've had one little lirope for years, never spreads, never dies. It's just there.

Karen

Just remembered another plant that I loved for a couple years. It's the Dutchman's pipe vine. Not the one that has the big pretty flowers, but the one that has flowers you don't even notice. I planted it along an old chain link fence thinking the big leaves would hide it. They did, but soon they were sending roots 6-10 foot away from the mother plant soon became very invasive. I spent a lot of time last year digging and poisoning the roots. In this photo you can just see the pretty leaves on the far left on the fence and that's also it along the back fence growing up into the tree.

Skip forward about 15 years and the vines had grown under a neighbor's garage and were popping up all along the fence and about 12' into the border. I had to remove most of the plants in that area and dig a hole about 4' deep X 4'x10'. I pulled as many roots as I could out of the area and still had stubs of roots that I put vine killer on. Here you can see the area that had the worst of the roots.

So far this year things are looking good with only a few strays showing up that get poisoned as soon as I see them. Will be interesting to see how many more show before the summer if over.

How did I miss that one? Please post the photo, Susan! I need to see the grief I missed!

I'll add nepeta 'Walker's Low'. Stunningly beautiful and a gorgeous shade of blue/lavender but gets huge, humongous, enormous and sends out too many seedlings. Probably great where it has lots of room to spread but otherwise it's a constant source of maintenance for me. I have one at each corner of this garden but after cutting it back I'd hate for anyone to see it now (even myself).

Nepeta 'Walker's Low' is on my list too. Doesn't look good long enough to make up for all the work it causes.

I like my Walker's Low! In fact, today I transplanted two volunteers to new spots in my yard.

Karen

I do like the color but it needs more real estate than I'm willing to give it.

kqcrna said:I like my Walker's Low! In fact, today I transplanted two volunteers to new spots in my yard.

Karen

The hummers visit it often while waiting for other plants to bloom...it's welcome in the gardens here.
I'll also be transplanting nepeta babies ...very soon.

My transplanted babies were a pretty good size. However, temps are going into the 90s. I hope they make it.

I weeded yesterday too, and I have to say, I culled out more verbena bonariensis than any other weed. The seed bank in my soil remains strong even after about 8 years of trying to get rid of them.

Karen

Karen I thought of you yesterday when I was at a nursery and saw them selling Verbena bonasaris! And I thought of the future sad unsuspecting customers.

I too like Walkers Low. But I have it in a spot where I can put little else so it is fine taking up the space. I chop mine back twice a season. It blooms almost all spring and summer!

I chop mine twice, too- first in early spring to remove winter kill, then again in midsummer to encourage rebloom.

Karen

*hiding* I love Walker's Low and V. bonariensis.

It is okay to love something that others can't deal with! Every gardener is different, and plants do different things in different gardens, and even from year to year.

I used to love Verbena bonariensis. But this year it crossed the line. With only two individual plants I have MILLIONS of seedlings. Sure they are not hard to pull out. But it is just too much.

I agree 100% with Jennifer. I used to hate lamium and had a friend who loved it - so be it. Now that she's seen how fast it reseeds (within 150' of the mother plant), she's yanking it out. Some of us can endure seedlings of cosmos or verbena bonariensis while others can't tolerate hours and hours of picking out seedlings when we could be doing work in the garden that's much more rewarding. It's probably what makes gardens so unique.

pirl said:I agree 100% with Jennifer. I used to hate lamium and had a friend who loved it - so be it. Now that she's seen how fast it reseeds (within 150' of the mother plant), she's yanking it out. Some of us can endure seedlings of cosmos or verbena bonariensis while others can't tolerate hours and hours of picking out seedlings when we could be doing work in the garden that's much more rewarding. It's probably what makes gardens so unique.

And Lamium works great for me. Especially where I have it. My friend needed something aggressive to cover a large area fast. I suggested Lamium. Guess what? It will barely grow for her!! Go figure

Funny!

I'm betting that zone makes a huge difference with aggressiveness of some plants. Nepeta works for me but I'm in 5a (this winter I was in the Arctic....). I've got a small pot of Verbena b in the greenhouse and now, with all the posts about it, am questioning my plant to add it to the big Perennial Garden...hmmm

My big three Hate plants (that I originally planted) are: Bishop's Weed/Gout Weed; Golden Hops, Vinca

Catherine - I've never had hops (and obviously didn't miss them), and eradicated the Vinca and Gout Weed. Sweet relief.

I did check all around the Anemone and did not spot any seeds, most thankfully. I'll keep watching it.

Oh yeah, I forgot about those cosmos. It took quite a few years to get rid of those, too.

Karen

Awe, I love my cosmos. And the seedlings are so easy to pull. I am very happy with the volunteers this year. They all came up in just the right places

That being said, I always end up pulling out the mature plants half way through the season because it annoys me how they flop!!

Last year I got a shorter version that was awesome! Unfortunately I had several varieties and I cannot remember which one the really good one was!

Last year I spread two very old packets of seeds not expecting any great growth. This year they returned, just like Jennifer's, in just that spot. I love them short and sweet. They get no water unless it rains and that garden is not covered by our irrigation system. They get no food at all.