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Tuesday, January 10, 2012

I wish I would have known...

All gardeners at some point regret the plant choices they've made in the throws of excitement.
And I am no different.
Having no plan, no consideration to garden design or preconceived notion as to what I am shopping for, will stop randomly at my local garden center.
And purchase plants I am truly sorry I did.
This invasive, impossible to dig out every root plant is called 'Coronation Gold' Yarrow.
It spreads like wild fire on a dry prairie field. It seems that the more you try to cut it out the more it spreads.
This is it in the lower left corner. The flower is a nondescript yellow button.

The next plant is the 'Ostrich' fern. A "good" friend gave me a few fronds.

A word to the "wise" lol...
If a friend has something growing in his yard that he consistently gives away, beware.
Now don't get me wrong, I adore ferns. Just not the ones that crowd out and overtake any living thing in its path.
This fern eventually "swallowed" the hostas growing nearby.

So this spring, as every spring, I vow to dig up these thugs.
And not give them to a friend

4 comments:

  1. I learned early on, that the plants given to me by a (I thought) kind person were the kind that would take over. I soon realized why she was so anxious to give them away! I've dug most of them up, and did not pass them on. Guess that's a lesson every gardener has to learn - like an initiation!

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  2. Oh, yes, we have all done this. It's kind of like gaining those holiday pounds. It takes a week to put them on and 3 months to get them off. You spend a few minutes planting a new plant, and then 3 years trying to get rid of it!! I made the mistake of planting Wild Chinese Ginger thinking it was like a hosta, but it is a ground cover. Even though I have dug it up, it keeps trying to pop up. Roots go down to China, I think. Keep at it; it takes perseverance to win over the invasives.

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  3. Hi Karen, I've done battle with my share of invasives as well: mint, Queen Anne' lace, and the most invasive of all, borage. Not all borage cultivars are invasive but the one I planted, oh my! It's flowers produce seeds that blow in the wind and reseed 70 yards away! Plus, the roots are deep and hard to dig out. I did finally resort to chemical warfare. I have fought this plant for probably 4 years now and hope the battle is done, but time will tell.
    Beth

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  4. Yep I think everyone has gone through this. I used to attend the local plant swaps and while the pre-arranged "special trades" were great, what was at the general swap was often most decidedly *not* great.

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