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Post by Cheerypeabrain on Sept 2, 2008 17:41:31 GMT
In our garden we have a massive Passiflora Caerulea on a south facing fence...it needs hacking back every few weeks in the growing season as the new growth is very invasive, reaching out to tangle itself around all the taller flowers in our narrow flower bed. The flowers are astonishingly beautiful tho, so I don't mind ;D When I bought it many years ago I had a chat with a lady at the GC checkout who said that she'd had enough of her pasionflower and was digging it out as it was such a thug.  I hear that Russian Vine is another plant that does this...anybody else have plants that they have to be strict with?...but tolerate because of the beauty of the plant? |
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Post by Amo on Sept 2, 2008 17:52:00 GMT
Have just been discussing taking our passiflora out too. It's in the court yard and I needed a fence panel covered quickly. I think I may just put another, less rampant climber to cover the view of the neighbour's extension before I do though!! We've had a few plain English Hedera Helix trying to strangle a tree or two but, though I love ivies, I wouldn't say that was one of the beauties! The wild life love it though. And as for the elder, ash and Ailanthus ........ Three lovely trees but they are insistant on recolonising the garden so much I'd gladly swap them for something else! |
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Post by Plocket on Sept 2, 2008 17:59:21 GMT
Mmm I've always avoided passion flowers for just that reason - they take over! Some of my clematis can get a bit rampant and I have to control my urge to hack them back at completely the wrong time! ;D I've also got fox and cubs in the garden which, although a tiny little plant, spreads everywhere and I regularly weed out new plants from where I don't want it to grow. And I'm starting to think that my verbena bonariensis and aquilegias are thugs too because they self-seed everywhere - but that's the down side to having a small garden!!  |
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Post by Tig on Sept 2, 2008 18:45:53 GMT
The orange alstroemeria, although pretty, is far too invasive once it takes hold. Don't mind my passiflora - it was grown from seed so it is my baby, it is in a container and gets regular haircuts to keep it in check  x Tig |
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Post by Ruthie on Sept 2, 2008 19:46:19 GMT
I couldn't tolerate a Russian Vine CPB, beautiful tho' it may be when in flower. The worst one I can think of at the moment is Euphorbia cyparissias, absolutely gorgeous in flower ( and in leaf come to think of it) but it's strangling everything in its path! I pull it out without compunction but it knows I will never get rid of it!! How I wish I had never planted that innocuous looking plant which I recall I bought from Beth Chatto's nursery.......shame on her!!
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Post by Chuckles on Nov 4, 2008 10:10:44 GMT
I got rid of one of my thugs last week......Golden rod, Solidago. Despite the fact it is a jolly good doer and always flowers beautifully, attracts loads of bees and butterflies and the seed heads look good when the flowers have gone over this year it really had started to invade and was becoming a thug. So it has been pulled up  it was so congested I was shocked at how it had taken hold. No doubt there will be a few bits of root lurking around that will spring back to life next year. |
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Post by Spruance on Nov 4, 2008 12:40:02 GMT
I think Solidago definitely falls into the thug category Chuckles. I mistakenly moved two small clumps when we last moved house 15 years ago and now we have it all over! Last year we painstakingly removed every bit of it, or so we thought, but this year it was back with a vengeance.  |
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Post by Rosefriend on Nov 4, 2008 13:16:24 GMT
I got rid of my Solidago a few years ago and although it took another two years to totally get rid of it, I managed.
Then about 4 years ago I bought a new dwarf variety and I love it - it is compact and only about 30cms high....forgotten the name though!!
RF
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Post by torontotrini on Nov 4, 2008 14:41:27 GMT
Golden rod is sold here as a perennial, but there is a plant that grows wild like a weed all over the place (but usually in dry, full sun locations) that looks exactly like it in both foliage, height, flowering time and flowers. I'm thinking that it couldn't be the same plant that the nurseries are selling/people are buying, but if it isn't then they're identical twins. In which case why would I want to buy one of the twins when I could get the other for free. (no restriction or guilt feelings here on picking up a few plants if you wanted; they're all over the place, along train lines, unused/neglected lots, public places etc.). The plant for me that is turning out to be a thug and will probably have to go next spring when I do my thinning out is sumac "tiger eye". Wonderful golden foliage all season long. When I bought it about 2 and a half seasons ago the nursery folk told me it doesn't behave like other sumacs, in that it is much more compact and doesn't spread as much. Two an ahalf seasons later I've alrady had to pull out about 3 new "plants" that have spread through underground runners/rhizomes. |
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Post by Dutchy on Nov 4, 2008 18:14:01 GMT
Oh dear so many thugs eh ;D I have solidago at MssK and try to remove as much as I can without upsetting her. The roots are all over. But the best thug I have is by and far The Houtuynia. Now there is a wet soil thug of formidable strength. I can't eradicate it without resolving to chemical warfare.... which I refuse. Therefore the ones along the brooklet and the ones I fail to chop their heads of are good doers with added pretty white flowers. |
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Post by Rosefriend on Nov 4, 2008 19:19:39 GMT
The sumac "tiger eye" looks gorgeous TT, although I wouldn't dare get one for my garden.
Dutchy I bought a Houtuynia, Harlequin without knowing was it was. I was warned by a few folks on here and I am seriously thinking of getting rid of it. It is in a large tub and has already filled in within the summer months.
If that gets a hold and start wandering around, then I won't have a garden at all....I wonder if I could plant it next door - at least "the meadow" would be more colourful.
RF
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Post by Amo on Nov 4, 2008 20:32:03 GMT
Oooo RF!   ;D Mine's in a large pot and I don't intend to let it escape. But then I have free draining chalk that I don't think it would like opposed to it's restricted drainage pot with water retainer in. I used to hace the common Rhus, Stags Horn Sumach, and I used to find the root on the other side of my veg plots about 30 feet away. Big ropes of them with the almost uncutable core! I planted one here 3 years ago and it died. I would like to see the beautiful colours again in my newer garden, in an almost protected and restricted environment of course!!! |
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Post by torontotrini on Nov 4, 2008 21:03:27 GMT
BTW Amo; not going off topic, but out of curiosity, did you choose your nickname for its Latin roots?
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Post by JennyWrenn on Nov 5, 2008 7:27:22 GMT
One of my Lavatera took over part of the dog patio running area - it was huuuuuuuuuuuge and kept on flowering - couldnt bear to trim it down - had to do it now tho - massive trunk to it - they are usually good for a few years ;D
It overshadowed two other smaller shrubs
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Post by Auricula on Nov 12, 2008 10:54:27 GMT
I wish my passionflower would become rampant - so far ( 2 years ) it's been a bit pathetic!!! It's on a trellis in a good, sunny position, but it is making a sparce framework and hasn't yet even TRIED to cover the wood, either vertically or horizontally!!!! This summer all the leaves kept being eaten and although it has flowered it is NOT doing what it is supposed to do!! Any ideas about what I should do? Should I prune it? ( when,how hard ), feed it? Kill it??? |
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Post by Dutchy on Nov 12, 2008 18:12:36 GMT
The sumac "tiger eye" looks gorgeous TT, although I wouldn't dare get one for my garden. Dutchy I bought a Houtuynia, Harlequin without knowing was it was. I was warned by a few folks on here and I am seriously thinking of getting rid of it. It is in a large tub and has already filled in within the summer months. If that gets a hold and start wandering around, then I won't have a garden at all....I wonder if I could plant it next door - at least "the meadow" would be more colourful. RF Rosefriend aaaaargh do not let it escape it will love your soil and be everywhere. Planting it next doors will only make it hoist its skirts up a little and run for your garden. Mine reversed to being just green as it is in the shade but its other habit... It can do over three meter in one year on my wet clay maybe a little less in your soil but do your maths and shudder at the speed of this good doing thug. Auricula Passion flowers like it warm and sheltered yet sunny and only in real warm summers do they set fruit. On a south wall in an enclosed garden space in a warm town etc etc. But with a little extra feeding in early summer they will grow well and produce enough flowers. Better luck next year. |
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Post by Auricula on Nov 13, 2008 11:07:06 GMT
Thank you Dutchy - I'll remember to feed it |
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Post by Amo on Nov 13, 2008 18:32:49 GMT
I wish my passionflower would become rampant - so far ( 2 years ) it's been a bit pathetic!!! It's on a trellis in a good, sunny position, but it is making a sparce framework and hasn't yet even TRIED to cover the wood, either vertically or horizontally!!!! This summer all the leaves kept being eaten and although it has flowered it is NOT doing what it is supposed to do!! Any ideas about what I should do? Should I prune it? ( when,how hard ), feed it? Kill it??? Har har har!! That's vengence for the echiums!!  ;D ;D (TT, I've had Amoret with me for 10 years now and it's a stem from my own name. There is also the poem once sent to me written by Mark Akenside that meant a lot at the time ) |
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Post by Auricula on Nov 15, 2008 23:26:38 GMT
Hmmm..... I'm tripping over echiums as I speak Amo  Can't get near to the whirly washing line for'em!! ;D ;D As for the passionflower - I've given it a good talking to and told it to buck it's ideas up!! |
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Post by Amo on Nov 16, 2008 7:08:56 GMT
Grrr Auricula!! ;D ;D
Two more I've thought of that just get on with things are the hardy osteospermum, Osteospermum jacundum. Great evergreen ground cover, never needs dead heading and covers a goodly area self propagating as it goes at a good height. Needs sever hacking back now and then and will just walk all over others if you're not careful but it does it at a sedate pace.
The other is the Arum italicum marmoratum just coming into glory now. A great off season leaf that goes away to let the bulbs shine through in the later spring but, even if you only put a couple of bulbs in, you will soon find the leaves popping up in other places. It's well worth the finding though.
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Post by Cheerypeabrain on Nov 16, 2008 7:33:21 GMT
There's a little violet with dark, red-green, heart shaped leaves that's taking over the world. I bought a tiny plant for £2 from my local Wyvale about 10 years ago and have been digging it's progeny out of the paths, border,lawn, GH, CF and gravel ever since....NEVER BUY THEM...they are the spawn of the devil...
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Post by Auricula on Nov 16, 2008 11:27:19 GMT
Ooh, sounds lovely CPB do you know what it is called? I agree about the osteos Amo, I have several types ( ) and they are really good "doers" |
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Post by Tig on Mar 24, 2009 16:04:43 GMT
Took me a while to find this thread I want to add vinca major as a thug! I have just spent over an hour removing self-rooted bits coming through the fence from my neighbour! It was all through the evergreen shrubs mid-border and escaping rapidly everywhere! I know it has a pretty blue flower, and the variegated foliage isn't so bad, it is just so rampant! x Tig |
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Post by beanie on Mar 24, 2009 16:29:34 GMT
I wanted Achillea "The Pearl "silly person that i am, it's taken over a whole bloomin border, even though I dug a lot out last year.
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Post by Chuckles on Mar 25, 2009 7:50:33 GMT
I have the same problem with vinca Tig, tough to get out isn't it. I've even sprayed it but it still seems to creap back in Mmmmm Achillea Beanie, I have some in 3 small pots and have been wanting to plant them out, I haven't done yet because I'm not sure what colour mine are (I aquired them from somewhere  ) Would love them to be that lovely cerise pink. Looking at the roots they have swirling around the edge of the pots I'm now dubious about planting them. |
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Post by Auricula on Mar 25, 2009 10:52:11 GMT
I can't get my vinca to establish itself.. Ho Hum |
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Post by beanie on Mar 25, 2009 11:38:42 GMT
It only seems to have happened with that particular one Chuckles, the other types are fine and have stayed in a tidy clump
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Post by torontotrini on Mar 25, 2009 14:14:43 GMT
From my own experience with Achillea I would definitely put it in the thug category. I had the red and the yellow at my first garden. Started with one plant of each and within 3 years they were all over the place. It took me about 3 full seasons of digging them out to finally get rid of them; and still every now and then after that I would see one pop up here or there. Besides, I had planted them because they were supposed to attract butterflies to the garden. I never saw any butterflies hanging around them; just a few bees sometimes.
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Post by torontotrini on Mar 25, 2009 14:27:54 GMT
And let us not forget the most sentimental thug of them all, forget-me-nots. Those things spread faster than bad news. I really like their pretty blue flowers in spring, but if you don't control them - like in digging out a few clumps every year, they would end up every where. I brought a couple small clumps with me when we moved house about 4 years ago, and they spread here even faster than in my previous garden. And what made it worse is that there is a fast spreading weed here - don't know its name - with leaves that look almost identical to the new leaves of forget-me-nots so I didn't know which to pull out. Anyway, I've finally decided that much as i like them, the forget-me-nots gotta go. The pink variety doesn't seem to spread quickly, but the colour doesn't seem to consistently re-seed as pink. Not sure if that is the case or that the blue just runs it over.
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it was so congested I was shocked at how it had taken hold. No doubt there will be a few bits of root lurking around that will spring back to life next year.
Can't get near to the whirly washing line for'em!! ;D ;D
) Would love them to be that lovely cerise pink. Looking at the roots they have swirling around the edge of the pots I'm now dubious about planting them.