Data Base of Invasive Plants in a SFG

I thought it would be helpful if we could start a data base of plants to avoid in a SFG because of its invasiveness. We have had a lot of bad experiences with plants in our traditional garden that are mean-spirited and would love to take over the entire garden if possible. I would recommend not planting any kind of mint especially lemon balm, Sweet Woodruff, most types of Artemesia such as Silver King and Silver Queen, Creeping Jenny, Plume Poppy, and the red and green plant pictured on page 125 of Mel's new book (can't think of the name of it). Passion Fruit is the worst of all. Like the alien in the movies, it cannot be killed. I am still pulling it out ten years after planting it.

Someone mentioned Arugula in an earlier post. I was glad to hear this information because I was planning on planting some lesser known greens in my first ever spring garden. The Search feature in this website provides very good information that can not always be found in books.

Please contribute to this data base so we will know which plants NOT to plant.

Blackberries and morning glory are very invasive and destructive.

I agree to some of that --that im experienced with
Some Perennial Herbs do take over----I think peppermint is one of them also
Which is why I plan on giving some herbs their own bed.

I think it MUST be kept to the regional forums...as the variations across geographies and climates gets really crazy really fast.

Even by zone doesn't necessarily help.

boffer wrote:Blackberries and morning glory are very invasive and destructive.

You have a real blackberry prejudice, don't you?

I understand what LaFee means because months ago we had a discussion about blackberries on the forum. Apparently in the northwest it is an invasive vine. Here in southern Missouri it is a bramble fruit that grows on canes in old fencerows and is a welcome sight to wild blackberry pickers.

In our county we pay a special johnson grass tax, and farmers can be fined for allowing it to grow uncontrolled on their property. In areas of western Arkansas, the highway department sows it along the roadsides for farmers to bale for hay.

The only invasive plant I have problems with in my garden is bermuda grass. I would never sow it in a lawn. It creeps everywhere.

I've never had a problem with mints because although they do spread quickly, I've found them to be easily pulled up or mown down if they get out of hand.

When we were at the community garden, someone suggested planting tansy to help control ants on my grape vines, well it did but , the tansy was every where ! now I use DE., but it is a good control , they even choped it up and put it on the floor for an organic deterent in the rest room.

Property owners in my county are fined for allowing tansy to flower in their pastures. Keep it mowed or sprayed.

catnip

Virginia Creeper... my neighbor has it on his fence, and he casually mentioned that he might take it out.... I'm volunteering to help!

A little levity from The Quote Garden (http://www.quotegarden.com/weeds.html)

A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows. ~Doug Larson


A weed is but an unloved flower. ~Ella Wheeler Wilcox


But a weed is simply a plant that wants to grow where people want something else. In blaming nature, people mistake the culprit. Weeds are people's idea, not nature's. ~Author Unknown


What is a weed? I have heard it said that there are sixty definitions. For me, a weed is a plant out of place. ~Donald Culross Peattie

We can in fact only define a weed, mutatis mutandis, in terms of the well-known definition of dirt - as matter out of place. What we call a weed is in fact merely a plant growing where we do not want it. ~E.J. Salisbury, The Living Garden, 1935

When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant. ~Author Unknown

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, Fortune of the Republic, 1878

Arugula is an invasive? I've grown it for years and never considered it invasive. If you let it go to seed you might get some volunteers, but the same could be said for lettuce.

I love those LaFee....