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Love my hostas, and the more the merrier! But some other plants are just rather invasive and tend to take over. And are often hard to remove permanently.

I've recently been trying to get rid of Lily of the Valley (Yes the flowers are pretty, but the plant crowds everything else out and dies back to bare earth all winter) Not the look I want in front for half the year.

I've tried again and again to make my back yard shady garden look nice, but the Forget-Me-Nots, while they are very pretty, they are taking over the entire garden. They're coming up inside of other plants!

Common yarrow (white, not the yellow) is the equivalent of botanical cancer. What a mistake that was.

I accidentally planted Scilla bulbs? Was told they were little grape hyacinths. NOT. Thought they were sort of cute at first, now they are thick (one cannot even plant annuals in the area) They are now spreading into the lawn, very weedy. And like the Lily of Valley, a quick flash in the pan spring bloom...and they are just a nuisance the rest of the season/year.

I'm with Conrad...but for me it's ALL yarrow. It took me years to get rid of it all. Bleah.

And my yarrow stays right where I planted it. I have one lily of the valley that has survived for 4 yrs. now...I started with 4 that a gal in Mo. sent me.
I've had forget-me-nots a couple of times but they don't reseed for me.

So far I've been pretty lucky with what I've planted. My biggest problem is keeping a lot of things alive in our heat & drought.
I haven't been able to get an allium to grow either, while down the road aways...that's the only "flowers" one gal has...go figure!

Oh boy, can I ever weigh in on this. Last year I found a pretty, low growing plant called "Oenothera 'Siskiyou'" (O. berlandieri).

http://www.northcreeknurseries...ant_id/210/index.htm

I'd never seen it before and it's very pretty, short and has lots of delicate pink cup shaped flowers on it. What's not to love about that?

It's incredibly invasive as I soon found out. In just one season it tripled it's size and is crawling all over my flower garden, getting into everything. I've spent hours pulling it out and then I resorted to Round up. I've definitely made a dent but it's still coming up here and there.

I told my husband if we ever decided to do away with the back lawn and go with all ground cover this stuff would be great. Only problem is that it dies back in the winter and we'd have the same problem you all have described with Lily of the Valley and others.

Those are pretty! I can understand why you wanted to plant them.

But then again...we might think dandelions were pretty if they were actually HARD to grow and propagate.

We will be moving to the mountains permanently in the next year or two. I am getting very excited about actually NOT planting anything there!
We have many wild flowers, sage, and pines/spruces that will be just fine with me. And they take care of themselves, long as the deer and elk don't eat every last one. The money that I would have spent on landscaping, I will invest in lovely rocks from the rock shop.

I must say it would be the morning glory vine. While very pretty, it is very difficult to keep it where I want it. And may I add, this isn't a bulb/plant but a tree. The Bradford Pear. It is too top heavy and very messy.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Georgia Peach,

I can't think of anything except maybe those EE's I dug up from the roadside about 4-5 years ago...they sure do multiply fast! In fact I'm looking for more plants to "takeover" large areas in the yard, even better if I don't have to water them.

I didn't plant them, but I wish I didn't have 3 Pampas Grass bushes in my yard. The people who owned the house before I bought it planted one in the front yard, and 2 in the back. I found out when I only just brush against one of the leaves, I break out all over. There is usually one place on my arm or leg that looks like a cut. The only thing that will heal it is alcohol. When I get that cut healed up all the other sore looking places go away.They look like I have Poison Oak or the Shingles. And they also planted several Spanish Bayonet. I hate those things. I've backed into them more than once mowing the grass. My neighbor helped me dig them up, and I thought I was rid of them, but the other day we were trimming the Pampas Grass bush in the front yard and discovered the Bayonet was back. I wish the people who owned the house before had never planted those two things.

Pampas grass. We have some neighbors who planted the stuff near their property line on a corner. You cannot see to make a turn, as it blocks the view! One really has to think about the mature height of plants and their effect before planting.

The Spanish Bayonet may be similar of what friends had in their Brownsville Texas yard? They used to trim off all the "points" to blunt as they had kids, and a fall into one of these could cause some serious injuries.

Tiger Lilies. I didn't plant them, my mom went crazy with bulbs when they owned the house before us. Took me about 5 years to get them all out. Now nothing else will grow in one area of that flower bed. I should have just left them alone.

Oh, My dog, that's the latin name for evening primrose, now I got it. It is soooo pretty, but I had some yellow ones in my garden when I moved to this place & it took me a long time to get rid of it, too. They did want to take over & I wasn't that crazy about them to begin with. I'm glad they're gone, too.

Interesting about the Forget Me Nots. I was given a single pkg of seeds and was going to plant them at our Kansas place when we get up there next week. I don't have much success with seeds but thought I'd try them. However, I'm not so sure I want to plant them if they are invasive.

I agree with the lily of the valley, which I did not plant. I have tried to dig it out several times and have just given up and let it take over that one bed. It blooms for a few days and then that's it. Don't like them at all.

When I first started gardening I made the mistake of planting mint. That stuff really takes over and is hard to get rid of. Now I grow mint but in pots.

Lily of the valley. Feverfew. Violets. Also a green/red/yellow leaf that spreads like wildfire--it's not a ground cover, it's a plague on my yard. I swear the stuff grows overnight and takes over entire beds!

I also have lily of the valley in my backyard that the previous owners planted. I've tried moving it but it doesn't transplant well at all. I also have snow on the moutain/bishop's weed that takes over the area it's planted at.it's all over the place. it's pretty, but it does spread a lot. most of it came from my cousin a few years ago. I also have daylilies that I uncovered when I first moved in here. they were covered over with plywood by the previous owners. now they are all across the back fence. all orange ditch lilies. pretty, but between that & the wild violets, & the lilac trees, & the weeds everywhere, it's pretty much a jungle back there.

While there's nothing I 'regret' planting in my beds or containers.....

...my hardy hibiscus in a 20" pot is a water hog. (gets droopy if I skip on day sometimes)

So I've learned to make drought tolerance, or at least the ability to withstand being dry, or inconsistent watering one of the priority questions I ask. Let's just say I'm not really eager to have anymore plants that need to have moist soil.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: clbselah,

I have one more to add to the list. has anyone ever seen rose campion? it looks like lambs ears, but it's much taller. I got it in a little 3 inch pot & now it's taken over my front yard. does anyone know if this is a keeper or should I dig it up? it hasn't flowered yet, but it should be soon. I guess I'll decide after I see the flowers.

clbselah...if your hibiscus is a hardy one, why not plant it outside instead of leaving it in the pot?

I have a stupid sago palm that we put out the year after we moved in. Wouldn't you know, it has thrived and is now about 7 feet tall and about 8 feet in diameter. I think it's going to meet its demise this summer. Shoulda done it last year when I had a bunch of other overgrown shrubs removed. That thing totally hides my hydrangea bush, and I want a more cottagy look to that area.

Two trees at my Virginia Townhouse 20 years ago, a purple leaf plum that was a Japanese Beetle smorgesborg and a Bradford Pear. I didn't know any better on the Bradford, now I actively discourage their planting. They are a temporary tree at best, good for about a dozen years until their inherent weak design causes half of the tree to break off in a strong wind, snow storm or ice storm.

VIOLETS. Those lovely purple and white tame violets. We brought them to our flower garden with some lirope(sp) some one gave us. We thought they were so pretty, until they started spreading faster than we could pull them out. Now they have completely taken over one bed and spreading all over the place.

Pattyo

well, I've decided to pull out the rose campion. the flowers are white, & look really weedy. they take up way too much space & the flowers are awful. so, out it goes. even if I have to shovel it all up. how do I get rid of bindweed, though. I've tried digging it up, & it's still coming up. any ideas?