I was thinking about this earlier this Spring as I was digging up and digging up......St. Johns Wart. In my yard, this has got to be the most invasive plant I have ever purposely planted! It just about choked out my Rosemary bush and has the most agressive root system I've ever seen! It's still popping up in the herb bed. Have you all ever bought ONE innocent looking plant and then found out it's the bully of the plant world? They look so good at the garden store and you're innocently thinking, "ahhhh, wouldn't that little plant look just lovely in my garden". Hah! Innocent!!!???? Yeah, right! They need to come with a warning on their label....DO NOT PLANT UNLESS THIS IS THE ONLY PLANT YOU WANT TO EVER GROW, IT WILL SMOTHER OUT EVERYTHING IT GETS REMOTELY CLOSE TO.

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), April 27, 2002

Answers

When I moved here, there was a comfrey plant in the corner of my garden. A guy came to rototill and he went right over the comfrey, making dozens. Now we have dozens of dozens. The same thing happened with Jerusalem artichokes. If you are ever in Vermont and would like some of those plants......come visit me ;-)

-- Peace and Carrots Farm, Vermont (wsm311@aol.com), April 27, 2002.

must be nice,, the deer eat EVERYTHING,, if it lasts 2 years,, its doning well,,Ive plants chokes, comfrey, St Johns Wart,, alot fo differant things,, have to keep them behind a fence so they dont disapear,,still waiting on that wild muiltflower that was offered

-- Stan (sopal@net-pert.com), April 28, 2002.

Cleome. Planted it in my front flower bed last year to fill in some space between the perennials. It self seeded itself quite well, most of what I am weeding out of the bed this year is cleome seedlings.

Now, I'm wondering about bee balm. I planted some of it in the aforementioned flower bed last year too - 2 little plants from 4" pots. When I went to dig it out this year (wrong color) one area of it was about 1 1/2' in diameter; the other was about 3' across. I replanted 4 chunks of it out in the garden; one chunk in each of my 4 big beds - wondering if that was a mistake. I still have a pretty good size piece left; maybe 12" x 20" that I've been trying to give away at work. Stan, if I could figure out how to wrap it to mail it, it would be on it's way!! How about some cleome seeds instead?!

I planted some Batchelor Buttons this year in the small 3'x 3'bed in the center of my garden; then I started reading about how invasive they are. Mine are just sitting there, not growing much. I suppose they are just waiting for me to turn my back...

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), April 28, 2002.

Poppies!

I finally let the horses at them and that killed them off.

-- Lenette (kigervixen@nospam.com), April 28, 2002.

Lemon Balm, I like it, but it is everywhere now, and no hope of getting rid of all of it. I have pretty much given up!

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), April 28, 2002.

Chocolate mint!

The people who have posted so far have named plants in two categories - plants with square stems (lemon balm, bergomot/bee balm) are both members of the mint family. Hard to control unless you plant them in a large pot and sink that into the ground.

The self-seeding annuals are easier to control by far - pick off the seed heads! Save them, and then put the plant only where you want.

-- Bernie from Northern Ontario (bernadette_kerr@hotmail.com), April 28, 2002.

between me and the rabbits,, my lemon balms cant keep up. I eat it in salads all summer long. How can you grow somthing,, and not take advantage of it ?

-- Stan (sopal@net-pert.com), April 28, 2002.

Mallow..I didn't plant it but always liked it until I moved here. Now I can't get rid of it or contain it. I just ignore it now.

-- Alison in NS (aproteau@istar.ca), April 29, 2002.

Well, after the descriptions on lemon balm vs. lemon verbena, it looks like I have the balm. Noticed yesterday that it had "jumped" the sidewalk and is in another bed. Stan, I sure wish you lived closer, I'd load you up with some plants!!! No deer around here, only rabbits and they prefer my young green bean shoots. I haven't used the lemon balm because everytime I mess with it, it makes my skin itch. Must be alergic to it......

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), April 29, 2002.

We use it (lemon balm) pretty often, but I have never noticed any dear eating it, they are too busy eating my fruit trees! I have even found it growing in my pasture now, which is about 75 feet away. I started with 1 small plant and now there are probably a thousand!!!

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), April 29, 2002.

Meican primrose. Pretty pink flowers in the spring, but once it gets hot it looks scraggly and way ugly. Plus it is extremely invasive.

-- Lynelle SOwestVA (X2ldp@aol.com), April 29, 2002.

Bee Balm! It has spread every year since I planted it, and my peacocks won't eat it (to keep it in line) either! Great humming bird forage though, so I don't irradicate it all.

-- Karen (karen@kabri.net), April 29, 2002.

obedient plant -- it spreads by runners and it's all over.

jupiter's beard -- i like the flowers enough to keep in around, but pulling up all the little seedlings is a pain.

-- Bethany (nospam@4me.com), May 01, 2002.

I am a lazy gardener so anything that spreads is usually welcome in my yard. Except vinca. I will not allow that on my property. I am also trying to remove kennelworth ivy from my flower beds and establish it where I need low ground covers instead of grass around my well where the horses are not allowed to mow.

-- Laura (LadybugWrangler@somewhere.com), May 03, 2002.

Those Chinese Lanterns..........I thought they were so neat and now they are a WEED in my garden.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), May 03, 2002.

I didn't plant it, but this place is practically over run with sweet cicely, and it gets 7 feet tall.

-- Cindy (S.E.IN) (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), May 04, 2002.

Planting something is often not a problem. Allowing it to go to seed is a different matter. As others mentioned, lemon balm was one of my mistakes as I assumed that it would stay in its little corner of the garden. It spread like wildfire via the roots. Native bees loved the blossoms so I let it go to seed. Bigger mistake! Another is garlic chives. Seemed to have a million seeds resulting in a million seedlings. Went from a dozen plants one year to a bed that looked as it is were sowed thick with grass seed. And catnip. Tossed old plants on the compost pile one year. Then had thousands of seedlings coming up all over the garden the next year. Dill is another although I will admit that I've not had to buy dill seed since the late 1970s. Just need to allow one head to remain in the garden to assure that there will be dill coming up everywhere the next year. Cilantro/coriander is another of my favorite weeds but only dating back to 1983. Again, just need one plant to go to seed and tossed on the compost heap. Then cilantro all over the garden the next year. Again, no trouble to transplant to another location to begin the cycle again. And try to allow several leeks to overwinter and form seed heads next year. They also suddenly are everywhere. Come to think of it, along with volunteer tomatoes, I could get away with not planting anything and still have a garden full of edibles!

Happy Gardening

-- Martin Longseth (paquebot@merr.com), May 06, 2002.

Allison -- glad I'm not the only one with a hatred of mallow. I pull every one I see and they still keep coming. I've come to the conclusion that it's time to make my peace with it -- it won!!!

-- Tracy (trimmer31@hotmail.com), May 06, 2002.