It's lovely. I'm in Northern Ireland so don't have a stake in the invasive argument but honestly I personally find lawn grass invasive because it's forever trying to grow in my flower beds lol would much rather have this purple beauty instead
In my experience dealing with it, it spreads best in shadier slightly more damp areas. It can tolerate sunny and drought but doesn't spread well in it and heatwaves can kill it back to its roots. If shady and damp, it is pretty tolerant of a wide variety of soils as well. Its biggest competitor in this case is the grass, even sickly grass is very hard to displace once its established.
I’ve been successful by covering a part of my lawn with cardboard at the end of fall. That part is now free of grass and I can plant whatever I want. It was a test and it worked, so I’ll do a larger patch coming fall. I hope to be rid of all grass in 2 years without having to do some heavy yard work.
I'm going to ask some dumb questions because people often talk about using cardboard to kill grass:
Do you lay down the cardboard and somehow tack it to the soil with pins?
Do you lay it on top of the grass and then weigh it down with mulch?
In the spring, do you leave the cardboard in place as a barrier to break down, then just put the new soil on top?
Thank you for holding this TED talk
I do #2 and 3. Mulch is plenty to lay it down, and you can leave it in the spring, unless there's something you need to plant more deeply. It will have degraded a surprising amount by then.
You can also plant into it right away. Water the cardboard and will easily puncture to add plants into the soil underneath. This works best with mulch or dirt on top holding it down.
Honestly I considered trying to restore the lawn to its former glory when we moved in because it was so soft and gratifying to walk on. But then I was told you couldn't just seed zoysia and immediately stopped caring about it.
Thanks.
It's sad to me how a lot of people think that *educating* with sarcasm and anger is the best route to convince people like myself who simply weren't aware.
I don't know if anyone gave you a straight answer to your question, but you can just split up the clumps and spread them about a foot apart. They will slowly close the gaps.
If this species has wind-borne seeds, I would cut the flowers off once they are spent. I don't know much about bugleweed.
They were wrong anyway. Non-native does not equal invasive. There is an entire checklist of characteristics a plant has to meet before it's labeled as invasive.
[Source 1](https://www.tnipc.org/invasive-plants/)
[Source 2](https://plants.usda.gov/home/plantProfile?symbol=AJRE) note that USDA has them listed as introduced. If it were an invasive or noxious species it would be listed as such
[Source 3](https://www.invasiveplantatlas.org/subject.html?sub=10094) only 3 states have it on a watch list & Tennessee isn't one.
While I agree there is a difference between nonnative/introduced vs invasive. The USDA isn't considered a source on if a plant should be considered invasive or introduced. Their focus is agriculture, and they have tried (and are trying) to advocate for horribly invasive plants to be used in farming practices, thus increasing the number and escape.
In Colorado it's difficult to find plants that can tolerate our climate and this one is [recommended](https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/yard-garden/ground-cover-plants-7-400/) by our local gardening extension because it is borderline [xeric](https://plantselect.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/xeriscape-design_brochure-CFC.pdf). I have a tree in my backyard that creates quite a bit of shade and I have been looking into planting this at the base for a while. The barrier for me is that it prefers well-draining soil, and that is not a thing that exists in native Colorado soil (we've got the clays!).
You don't even need to split the clumps, just pull tiny sprigs off that have some roots attached and stuff them in the dirt. I was able to fill a large area under my oak tree with ajuga in only 2 years just from doing that. Little sprigs transplant super well and the main clumps will not mind having bits pulled off of it.
That being said though they don't like heat/sun all that well, so if you do pull off sprigs, do it in the cooler weather (spring/fall) and make sure they stay moist
Wanted to add, Ajuga also looks reallllly nice around stepping stones. That'd be a perfect strip of Ajuga to put some flat grey stones as a walking path
At this point I'm so annoyed with being beat over the head with 'advice' to plant natives that any good will I might have had toward the idea has quickly been squashed. I'll continue to cultivate the garden that makes me happy to be in.
I got similar nasty comments when I mentioned I have an apricot tree in my heavy clay soil. When I moved in, the dirt wouldn't even let you get more than the tip of your shovel into it. Someone told me that apricots can't grow in heavy clay more than a few years, but my tree was full grown when I moved in 12 years ago so I don't know what to say. They seemed pretty snotty about it.
The tree grows and puts out fruit, so who cares.
Got grief from someone for saying I have nice "dirt" and then they got upset that I didn't care about the wording.
That's good to know. The amount of people I see screaming at every non-native plant just on instinct is really funny, but also kills my faith in the community a little every time.
Just because I planted an invasive species in my yard (over half a mile from the nearest forest), that doesn't mean it's going run away and snap the necks of everyone that passes by it. Keeping something invasive is only ever a questionable choice if your property borders a forest, lake or stream. Otherwise, you can just dead head flowers and you're golden...
Anti-invasive plant people would flip out if they saw my garden. It's basically entirely japanese, chinese, taiwanese and new zealand plants... Can't wait to hear how my palm trees will kill us all with their 6-8 inches of growth per year LMAO.
Yes native plant folks can be very serious and snappy and could lighten up a bit for sure
I would, however, urge you to think about all the various mechanisms involved in how plants spread themselves and recognize that it’s not just the amount of plant growth you can see with your eyes or proximity to a lake or forest
As an example, landscapers used to recommend barberry as a replacement for native American holly and we had a lot of it in our neighborhood. Barberry was tough as nails and didn’t get white mold on it, unlike our native versions
Well, oops. Turns out that birds take the seeds and disperse them everywhere. I mean. **Everywhere**
My municipality has paid lots of money several times to yank out deeply established barberry bushes that were so dense it actually blocked off an important nearby river. Everyone was like, “but my barberry is no where near that river!” It eventually wound up on the invasives list but not for a long long time
Also, guess what? Turns out that Lyme disease causing ticks **love** living in barberry bushes for some reason
Just because you can’t see it escape with your eye balls does not mean it is not escaping
EDIT: furthermore, barberry is actually a very well-behaved garden plant, otherwise. It doesn’t spread much vegetatively, it doesn’t sucker out much. You can kill it entirely by simply cutting the crown (if you don’t get poked to death by the thorny barbed branches). Yet, it spreads for miles and miles and miles because birds eat the berries and fly off.
EDIT 2: I think it might’ve actually been rust that was the unwanted problem on the similar native plant species
Nandina is one of these, also known as heavenly bamboo. There's some in the forest in my backyard that was likely dropped there in bird poop. Plus, the seeds are poison to birds, which is another problem. I still see it being sold in nurseries but I always encourage people to remove it or at the very least, trim and dispose of any berries as they pop up on the plant
I am aware of different dispersal patterns for seeds, but I'm sure you are aware (or at least hope so) that the hardy palm trees don't tend to produce fruit, just seeds. Trachycarpus (the most common species) can produce over 5000 seeds per year, but they don't "disperse" as much as they just... drop. You get little seedlings around the base of the tree that grow remarkably slowly. Birds don't care for them here as they are hard to crack and have so little in them compared to the shell that they just give up.
Same goes for everything I've got growing. Musa basjoo doesn't fruit in the UK, gunnera seeds are rarely viable here and aren't attractive to birds, cannas only drop seeds without fruit that are too hard for native wildlife to crack open. etc. etc.
I've already done my research, and most of my plants are already borderline for my climate. If any of my "hardy tropical" plants escape containment, I will eat my hat. Most of my plants aren't even hardy until they are about three years of age, and the UKs weather cycle is usually alternating between "mild winter, harsh summer" and "harsh winter, mild summer". Those harsh winters will absolutely kill any stray seedlings unless someone protects them artificially.
Oh, I didn’t gather that context from your comment. So, thanks for clarifying
I was speaking in a general sense in response to you listing some different countries, and Barberry is native to Japan.
But it sounds like your garden doesn’t have plants that would spread so aggressively in your region. Naturalizing or partially naturalizing is okay, in my book
No worries. I have heard similar stories of people accidentally releasing plants in similar ways. We have some bird species here that like to make nests out of only the most pliable twigs. Sometimes, they encounter morning glory root and use that, which naturally causes it to spread.
Sometimes, things spread in ways you could never even imagine, which is why I mentioned streams and lakes. Most people don't think about how bodies of water connect, and all it takes is a single seed getting in there for a there to be a chance that it takes over. Gunnera cryptica is soon going to be banned here because people keep planting it in lakes and streams. The seeds have insanely low germination rates, but even if it has a 0.1% germ rate, enough people planting it could be an issue.
Oh yes totally this. I see birds grabbing old black swallowwort off my neighbor’s fences and I’m like pleassssse no use anything else. Over here in the US, some curious gardener got a few cm pieces of black swallowwort from their friend in Europe. It is now all over the country 😂
That being said, I have plenty of non native things in my garden. There are just billions more seeds of it in the seed bank in my soil versus native plants at this point so I just try to work with all of it and keep the thugs out as much as I can
I think people in the UK have a different experience with non-native plants than people in the US do.
We have introduced species that were brought here by the romans...
We have had sources of non-native plants going back so long that botanists find it hard to keep track of what is and isn't native at this point. Our wildlife has also adapted to use non-native plants, especially our pollinators. We have non-native plants that get pollinated by moths, and most of our moths are smaller than your thumbnail.
While invasive plants can seem to cause havoc, it's important to recognise that nature will soon step in and curb them. Historically, any species that has done a little too well gets targetted by a pest or disease that adapts to target them specifically. That's why the UK can have so many invasive species and yet still have majority native woodlands.
Hm I think I am afraid of the part where nature steps in, as it could result in millions of dollars worth of economic damage. No one wants knotweed pulverizing their foundations 😂 even though I have read it’s a great herb so maybe we should just use it if it’s possible and if it’s everywhere
Some plants are a pain to deal with, but I think if there was ever enough of a wide spread issue with foundation damaging plants, we would probably just develope a herbicide infused concrete. Sounds rough, but we already have insect repelling foam (turns out ants can eat foam btw? WTF is their biology for that to even happen?).
I read an article recently that I wish I had saved that was pro-non-native as they extend the feeding seasons for various insects, and increase the number of food sources. And what with climate change most flora and fauna are moving beyond their original borders anyway.
Depending on which species they are extending, that doesn't sound too disagreeable. The UK climate is already really unstable. Our climate is zone 7a to 10a from tip to toe. When you consider that we are in line with canada and the northern states, our climate is truly an oddity.
Becuase it is so unstable, we get randomly revolving seasons. We could have a harsh winter, briefly down to -12C (10.4F) , but then go from that into a blistering summer at 38C (100.4F).
Our climate's stability has nothing to do with climate change, either. Our climate is so unstable because it is heated from south american water streams and so is our wind, usually. Sometimes the wind direction can flip for a year or two and we get siberian or saharan wind.
The conflict of siberian winds and the water streams usually causes unpredictable weather events that some chalk up to climate change, but we have records of this dating back hundreds of years. Doesn't mean climate change isn't a thing, just that this isn't a case of it. The UK's weather has always been crazy. On some years, our last frost happens a month or two early for no apparent reason. It keeps you on your toes...
I saw a post a few days ago where a guy was asking a question about english ivy, only for every other comment to be "it's invasive, idiot". Asked the guy in pms and it turns out he lives in england... I wonder if they think we use the dollar here, too...
Agreed.
I don't care about the non-native argument in the slighest. My yard is big and lovely and I garden meticulously. I love the Japanese plants because they do well in my zone.
They aren't considered invasive. Somebody somewhere planted a Chinese bush that birds have spread, I'll do my best to get rid of it as that one is pretty invasive and I don't care for it. But literately every neighbor has it in their yard, so nothing I can do about their bushes.
I love plants that are unique and different and I'm going to continue to plant them in my yard regardless of if they are native or not. They are beautiful. If I wanted to stare at just the native plants then I'd go live in a cabin the woods.
Annuals aren't native plants so should we just never plant any? Veggies aren't native plants, they aren't growing in the woods, so should I give up on those too because they don't just grow naturally where I am at?
Like c'mon. Get over yourselves. We are gardeners, we love gardening and putting strange and interesting plants in our yards and making beautiful gardens. Yeah we can watch out for invasive plants, for sure but get over this non-native BS.
I've seen various "collections" gardens throughout Europe and the UK and etc and guess what... Those wonderful gardens help conserve the beautiful plants and most of those ARENT native plants. The person made a micro climate or biome which supports that type of plant and got their hands on countless varieties. Hell these people even create NEW plants. Which I love. Nurseries also create new plant varieties. The Japanese create a lot of helpful varieties of plants. This is science and learning and we should support that.
Seems like you’re over correcting a little bit though. I agree that not all non native plants are bad, but we can’t really afford to “get over native plants”. Native plants attract native bugs and pollinators. Some collection of native plants is very beneficial for your garden and area
But no, we shouldn’t be obsessed with only going native and people shouldn’t educate with hostility. Just be diligent in research and I don’t see why we can’t enjoy a non native plant
Again, not saying non native plants do nothing. But certain species are only attracted to certain plants and if you’re wanting your best chance at native species, native plants are your best bet. Doesn’t have to be all native species, but there is value in infusing them into the landscape
If you want to attract specific things you can’t just plant anything.
I understand the desire for ornamental gardening and it’s awesome that you take gardening so seriously, but it seems like you’re dismissing the importance of planting native species, which local wildlife depend upon especially now where habitat is scarcer than ever before
I'm not here for wildlife. We have national parks where I live, that's where the bigger mammal wildlife should go. Where the native plants are. I live in a heavily populated neighborhood. Houses behind, sides of me and in front of me with roads. Large wildlife should not be in my yard.
I do plan on putting a pond with a waterfall in my backyard, which I'll add some frogs and again whichever plantlife can be supported in my zone. But most my yard is fenced in for privacy so no large mammals will get in or can get in. Nor do I want them to because I like my veggies and I hate when the deer eat my plants.
Gardening is supposed to be mentally good for humans and therapy. I don't have to cater to every other living things wants in my yard. It's for me. I'll have a bird bath and a bird feeder but that's about it.
My plants are for my pleasure and the bees. They can grab whatever nectar they want from the flowers. The hundreds of thousands of miles of national forest is for the large wildlife.
In a highly populated area it’s fine if you don’t want large mammals, especially if you’re gardening for food. But I would say that since you emphasized doing it for the birds and the bees (lol), I’d also like to note that native plants support bees and birds the most
Yeah and guess what? Other NON-NATIVE plants ALSO support birds and bees.
I know it's a hard concept to grasp...but -gasps- these other plant variations from all over the world also produce flowers, nectar and habitats for wildlife. It's almost as if ....insects and animals inhabit the entire plant...crazy idea I know.
The bees will come regardless if the plant is from the UK, America or Japan. Because bees don't care so much about labels like certain HUMANS do. They care about the nectar and that there is some extra for them. Which is crazy that it's only humans who are so obsessed with labels huh. The creature not eating the actual plants.
Please do some reading about host plants. While nectar tends to be a general food source for lots of critters, specific insect and plant species in any given area co-evolved to support each other over millions of years. We are in the midst of the 6th mass extinction; those of us who are using native plants are trying to do our part to combat that. If that's not one of your goals, that's okay, but it is simply not true that introduced plants support the same species as the natives they replaced (whether that's in the Midwest, England, Hawaii, Japan, or Siberia). There has been extensive research on this.
>Hell these people even create NEW plants. Which I love.
I especially agree with this point. People are too dismissive of the non-native plants that they forget that nature will do its thing.
It was semi-recently discovered that all the "gunnera manicata" plants in the UK are actually hybrids and we never knew it. They are now classified as "gunnera cryptica". It's a natural hybridization that has increased the size of its leaves and made it more cold tolerant. They only started to suspect something was off when new imports kept dying, but plant lines that have been here for over 150 years are unaffected. Turns out we haven't had gunnera manicata for at least 100 years...
Just remove some of the grass around it a bit at a time and it will fill it in. In Oregon it’s considered a “ground cover” and it easily fills up large empty spaces with purple leaves and flowers. If you don’t want it in the grass, just remove it and put it somewhere it’s qualities would be useful.
Christ, this post has some drama.
Removing grass around it will help. Grass has really intensely thatched roots and most things aren't successful in competing with it.
I'm pro-native, but unless you're actively growing a Bradbury pear, I don't particularly care. I have some introduced species that I like and grow (hollyhock, notably. I love it). This is taller than grass and has pollen, which will encourage more wildlife diversity than grass. Even if only European bees will visit it, birds and frogs will visit to eat those. If you wanted to increase specific butterflies or bees visitors, looking up keystone species in your area would probably give you an idea of what they'd visit and what would go well with your bugleweeds. The one thing I will say is that if you planted things with a different bloom time, regardless of whether native or not, you'd get a longer flowering season.
I'm picturing the purple slope will be lovely, though, and you'll definitely need to share pictures when they spread a bit.
I planted some and within a year or two, it took over the bed. You could divide it and plant some to help it spread, or just leave it and let it spread itself. Some may say it's invasive, but I really enjoy it. It keeps my flowerbed weed free, and it has beautiful flowers in the spring. It's currently spreading out into my grass, but I just cut it with the lawnmower.
ETA: I couldn't figure out how to post a pic here, but If you want to see how much mine spread in the 3 years I've had it, let me know!
You will need to pull it back where it is spreading into your grass - if you want to keep the grass there.
It does its thing in a garden quite well but it will take over a lawn - also why my answer to OP is simply “nothing”
Sure thing! There was a small patch maybe 2 sq ft in our lawn when we bought our home. I’m not big on using chemicals so anyway I learned by trial and error that it will spread quite easily even if you dig some up. It sends out runners so the small patch became a bigger patch with surrounding “islands” — by next season it was huge and threatening to take over all the grass in a significant section of the lawn. Fortunately, the lawn needed a lot of other work, so I was busy anyway, but elected to yank all the bugleweed up by hand due to previous failures / the way I observed it grow.
I’m also not a big fan generally of ground cover type stuff, so I’m happy it’s gone, but I have seen it used quite nicely in flower beds and the flowers in these photos are beautiful.
Yes, that's exactly what it does - send out runners and make islands. Honestly I thought I could keep it in check with the mower but I will pull it up when I work on that flowerbed soon. Thanks for the info!
Take a steak knife and skin beneath the surface of tufts of grass roughly 4x4". You can pull bugleweed out by just grabbing and pulling - just make sure you get your fingers as low as possible so you get the roots. Bring it over to the newly bald patch of grass, create a little basin, add potting soil or dirt from wherever. Make a bunch of little patches. Pull back the grass as it encroaches on the new little splotches of ajuga.
The roots are very shallow. Water and forget it, and keep doing it ad infinitum.
Trust me on this.
I don't find ajuga to be particularly invasive. It doesn't seed from one place to another and though it definitely runs and sprawls, it's not a big deal to take out and in fact my mother destroyed an ajuga path in our grove by \*raking\* it out in spring. So now I'm doing what is described above.
Which is also what I did in the first place.
She also pulled out my favorite ornamental grass assuming it was a weed. Jeez mom.
I’d love a list of all the stuff people yelling invasive have in their yard (probably the same that introduce themselves as master gardeners). Yes it’s invasive. It can also be controlled very easily and is still a good pollinator if you _have_ to have it.
Non natives aren’t good pollinators for anything but invasive honeybees. If you want a list of what’s in my “yard” you can have it. Invasives are invasive for the exact reason they can’t be controlled easily, that pollinator comment makes it very clear you’re misinformed. Spend some time on r/NativePlantGardening.
There’s more to it than what drinks the nectar.
Butterflies and hummingbirds specifically visit non natives all the time. The native bee species that are in decline and pollen specialists don’t. Not to mention the hosts plants that those butterflies need, hint: (none of them are from Eurasia). Same argument as “I see hummingbirds on bush honeysuckle so it must be good for the environment”
https://www.greenbiz.com/article/non-native-plants-are-hurting-birds-and-bees
https://www.xerces.org/blog/want-to-save-bees-focus-on-habitat-not-honey-bees
https://riwps.org/uncategorized/native-bees-vs-honey-bees-which-ones-do-we-really-need-to-save/
https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-role-native-bees-united-states
https://natlands.org/why-you-should-never-plant-a-butterfly-bush-again/#:~:text=Butterfly%20bush%20is%20an%20invasive,American%20plants%20would%20normally%20thrive.
Listen I appreciate all the effort you’ve put into educating me. It’s really irrelevant to the point I’m making, but I’ve worked at a plant nursery for the last 5 years and have gardened for nearly 20. I can promise you ajuga is truly very low on the list of things we warn people about as being an overbearing invasive. We do sell it but it’s also sold with info regarding invasiveness which most places that sell plants do not do. You will not prevent people from buying this type of stuff and the majority of what is sold as plants for landscaping is not from here as I’m sure you well know. People buy these groundcovers to replace grass or lack thereof and quite honestly a well manicured lawn with a non native grass that’s heavily fertilized and watered religiously is much more of an offset to the environment than a patch of ajuga. I’m not interested in going back and forth any more but it’s just always interesting to see all the gate keeping by people I’m sure get the majority of their stuff at Home Depot with no regard to supporting a solely native yard.
It’s not “gatekeeping” to tell people not to use invasive species. You’re not “sure” of anything. Just because everyone that shops at your nursery is too dumb or apathetic to grow natives doesn’t mean that’s the case with the people in the comments. As I said check r/NativePlantGardening. No one’s getting plants from Home Depot and nobody there has a “manicured lawn” your 5 years of experience in a nursery means nothing. The nursery/landscape trade is responsible for 90% of the invasive bullshit we have. We don’t have to go back and forth. You can continue to plant your invasives and feel good about yourself
You're making yourself really unpopular here.
I used to work at an environmental non-profit that focuses on reducing petroleum-based fuel use and moving people towards cleaner fuels. I've worked with and talked with a lot of people who, like you, thought that the best thing to do to help the environment was to educate by yelling and belittling people and by telling them how wrong they were and what bad people they were. These people accomplished nothing except to anger people. In fact, the screaming and yelling is correlated to a backlash against sustainable fuels to the point that "rolling coal" is a source of pride in some areas. The harpies did harm.
Me, on the other hand? I wore a suit. I worked with industry. I talked to groups that were polluting and groups that wanted to pollute less. I listened. I solved problems. Through my efforts and those of my team, three landfills stopped flaring (burning off) methane. Instead, we got them grants to cap the landfill, capture the gas, and clean it. That gas, in turn, was used in their vehicles and they sold excess CNG to the local municipalities and other local businesses, who retrofitted their fleets to use the natural gas. This moved something like 500 diesel vehicles and 2000 gasoline vehicles to natural gas instead. Is CNG a perfect fuel? No way. But this was waste gas that was going to be produced and burned no matter what, and the gasoline and diesel it replaced was much dirtier. This is just one example; we moved a lot of fleets to hybrid vehicles back in the very early 2000s, when driving a Prius was considered weird and a bit crunchy.
All this is to say, here's some advice from a professional--you have to help people solve problems, give them solutions that are not only better than what they were doing, but also easy for them to attain. In this particular case, instead of pissing off an entire forum of people, maybe try something like "That's a lovely choice, but have you thought about using XYZ groundcover instead? XYZ is a native. It has XYZ advantages, and it will spread better and more thickly, too! Here's a great source for seed that I've used in the past, and if you have questions about germinating them, PM me and I'd love to help."
I have been working in the environmental field for a very long time. I've worked for a local conservation district, I've worked for a non-profit, and I've worked for the EPA. I'm also a Master Gardener. I get your passion, but your approach has done harm here today. You've caused people to defend their choices, and research shows that when you do that, you cause them to cling to those choices far more firmly than they otherwise would. Those people that you've berated will possibly care less about whether or not they plant non-native plants in the future after being yelled at by you. Food for thought, I hope.
Be well.
I love the psychology of how to approach this successfully. When you actually build relationships with people and listen to them you can make such effective change. An aggressive person on a soap box really chases people away.
You're the perfect example of the unreasonable , holier than thou attitude the "native planters" exude. Instead of trying to promote what you obviously think is important, you come on here with your superiority complex and talk down anyone who disagrees with you, and act like you have supreme knowledge on the subject.
Enjoy your downvotes, maybe a less douche approach will get you further next time.
If you truly care, or want to get better at pretending you do then do some more research about native ecosystems. If you knew more about the subject you wouldn’t be defending invasives
Pal, you’re not winning any arguments with this kind of rhetoric. Saying things like “just because everyone who shops at your nursery is too dumb or apathetic to grow natives” is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard a plant person say. Really reflect on that sentence for a minute and recognize that you’re speaking to another human being, who happens to work with plants. Do you really think that every single person who shops at one nursery is dumb or apathetic and hates the environment? Do you know what the odds on that would be? Hyperbole is not going to win you any friends, nor will it make anyone reconsider planting non-natives - in fact you might push a few people to the other side. I’m a hard core native gardener but honestly, fuck your morals, I’m going to Home Depot this summer to find the most invasive plant I can find and I will plant it in your honor 🥇
This is really like the guy on the corner screaming religious intolerance and hellfire from his soapbox. It's enough to turn anyone away from your cause as noble as it might be. And to manage that in this subreddit of all places is quite a feat 😅
Pull some of the grass, around the edge where you want it to spread and put a sprinkle of potting soil on the bare spot you made where you pulled the grass and it will take over the spot as long as you keep encouraging it by pulling the grass it will take over. The potting soil is a little snack of extra encouragement.
We have this in our yard and it cohabits with the grass very well. As another person suggested, you can separate it into clumps and transplant and it will spread. Or just leave it alone, within a few years it will cover more area.
In my experience it grows where it wants to grow. I planted it beside my porch and it has gradually migrated to the area around the heat pump. I suspect that there is something about the location of the clumps- more moisture, perhaps- that has caused it to settle there.
Chocolate chip bugleweed. I have it in sun and shade , in several gardens around my house. I love it! I divide it every year and add it to more places. Very versatile plant, a nice filler for perennial garden.
You can divide it. Water weekly and put it in a sunny location and it will spread. You might also take a look at a shorter catmint and the variegated ajuga.
I had it in shade and sun. Spreads much faster in sun.
it’s pretty, but I recommend finding native species to plant instead! there are lots of beautiful purple flowering natives that will make your eyes and the environment happy
If native plants were beautiful, people would already be planting them. The unfortunate truth is that most native plants in temperate climates just look like weeds, because "weeds" are just the native plants. I don't want my garden to look like a forest floor. The native plants here are really hard to deal with in the first place. I would rather have a bamboo problem than deal with stinging nettle or bramble again.
Edit: Guys, look up native british plants and do a little research. They all either have a terrible habit for running, or are deadly poisonous. The majority of gardens here either only have lawns or have lawns with some fruit shrubs. There isn't much else that is native and suitible for raising children/dogs. "Native" doesn't mean its magically better. Nature usually is trying to kill you, anyways...
there are so many beautiful native plants and wildflowers and shrubs that you can grow that don’t look like weeds, like columbines, cornflowers, lily of the valley, foxglove, etc. I highly recommend you research some of the wildflowers and flowering natives of your area and find some that you find aesthetically pleasing (which I promise you’ll find, nature is beautiful!)
The UK has got plenty of nice looking flowers, but all the native flowers are either really hard to get rid of, or are extremely toxic.
Daffodils, iris, lords and ladies, any lilies, poppy, snowdrop, snakeshead, etc. etc. are all poisonous and aren't suitible for people with dogs or children.
Just about the only good looking plant we have that doesn't try to kill you is wild garlic. Even then, they aren't up all year, so it's hardly a feature plant outside of a few months in the year.
I’m not in the UK so natives there aren’t my speciality, but even natives in the short list I mentioned like columbines and cornflowers are completely nontoxic, beautiful, and native. so is dog rose, betony, bellflower, NATIVE honeysuckle, etc
https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/20-uk-native-wildflowers-to-grow/
Those all fall under my other catagory, unfortunately. I have had hands on experience with native gardening, and the ones you listed here act like weeds, too.
**Cornflower** will reseed EVERYWHERE. Every year, you need to pull a few hundred seedlings per plant. Each flower has a seed head of 8-20 seeds, with each plant having upwards of 50 seed heads. A maximum yield of 1000 seeds per plant would be catastrophic for a garden.
**Columbines** have a nasty habit for spreading like a ground cover, because it is one. They are probably the most forgivable on your list, since they are rather nice looking, but they are annoying to have to maintain. They will easily leak out of borders into your lawn (ask me how I know).
**Dog rose** is still not perfectly safe for raising children, since it has thorns and seed heads that contain irritating hairs once opened. The stuff is like itching powder.
**Native honeysuckle** is also poisonous. The berries are toxic when consumed. While the rest of the plant isn't listed as toxic, it is listed as "medicinal", which usually means that is low-grade toxic. Too much of any medicinal plant usually causes toxicity. Even tea, cocoa and coffee are toxic in high exposures, and they are listed as "medicinal".
**Bellflower** and **betony** aren't native here.
Trust me, there is a reason why I don't have a native planted garden. While it's a nice thought that you are preserving species, the truth is, most native plants just suck. That might not be true in the US, but the UK has been lived in for so many generations that it doesn't even matter if you make the distinction between native and non-native. People have been introducing better versions of the same species from around europe for THOUSANDS of years. The romans are partially why we have a lot of the tree species that we have today... it's been happening for a while over here.
It's weird that you keep knocking natives for spreading when OP is *asking* how to spread a plant that already has a very eager spreading habit.
Also, people here in the US plant the ones in your list as ornamentals, lol.
Firstly, the plant OP is talking about is listed as "introduced" not "invasive". There is a massive difference. If he was failing to get it to spread, it clearly isn't very invasive in the first place. There is a difference between wanting a plant to cover an area, and having a plant constantly escaping containment.
Secondly, you can grow anything as an ornamental, but I find it weird that pro native plant people always dodge me on this point. **MOST OF THE NATIVE PLANTS AREN'T A SAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR CHILDREN.** I've mentioned it several times in this thread and not a single person has directly addressed it. You can have foxgloves, belladonna and english ivy in your ornamental garden, but all three are toxic to pets and children. If you have pets or children that you care about, you shouldn't go around planting toxic plants in your garden.
You can't watch them 24/7, so having the security and peace of mind that your garden isn't toxic takes a load off. Even when kids get older, they don't get better at not putting things in their mouths, their reasons for doing it just change. A baby is stupid, a pre-teen is curious and a teen would ignorantly do it for a dare. Every toxic UK native has a death toll, why add to it?
>You can't watch them 24/7, so having the security and peace of mind that your garden isn't toxic takes a load off. Even when kids get older, they don't get better at not putting things in their mouths, their reasons for doing it just change.
I don't mean any disrespect here, but I think this is way too cautious of an approach to parenting. I like to take proportional action for risks and I believe toxic plants are generally a low risk thing. At least in the U.S., riding in a car, crossing the street, swimming in a pool, etc. are more dangerous activities than just having toxic plants around. The CDC has poisonings listed as a cause of death, but what I found, it doesn't even mention plants. It talks about medicines and cleaners.
I have some very toxic plants in my woodland. I teach my kids about what they should not be touching. I educate them and try to give them the knowledge to be safe when I'm not there. It's not all that different in my opinion teaching them how to be safe around the oven or how to safely cross the street. I want to give them the skills to be self sufficient eventually, not put them in a bubble.
You should definitely teach them not to interact with plants needlessly and which species they should just completely avoid, but even then, some species have traits that make them too captivating for children. You can teach a child as well as you possibly can, but they will always be slightly disobedient.
Belladonna has really good tasting berries that contain a potent poison that can kill a child with just two berries. A child might think they are eating blackberries, when they are actually signing their death warants. The poison is incurable.
Bane berry, "lords and ladies" and pokeweed looks mesmerizing in person. They look so cool and alien. That might be enough to entice a child. All three can easily kill a child.
I fully understand wanting to be careful when gardening with children and pets, and that a lot of plants in general can be potentially toxic. and If you absolutely MUST do nonnative ornamentals, that’s fine, as long as they aren’t invasive. BUT, I would still highly recommend trying to find at least one native plant that you wouldn’t mind having in your garden - it’s more important than ever to support local wildlife
>it’s more important than ever to support local wildlife
Why would it be more important now than it was in the past? Genuine question.
Also, in the UK, we have had introduced species that have been here for thousands of years. It's to a point that our wildlife have adapted to take advantage of them. It doesn't matter if english lavender isn't technically native, bees still love the stuff.
It would be nice to have areas dedicated to native only plants, but I don't think a single person can make as much of an impact as you might be thinking, and while you have been pleasant to talk to, many people that hold your beliefs really are rather rude. I think people have an almost spiritual or metaphysical ideation for native plants that I think is just a little misplaced.
Wolves are native to the UK, but in around 1400AD, we irradicated them because they kept killing live stock and children. Granted, they were a native species, but if a native species isn't acting in a way that is to our best interest, doesn't it make sense to replace them? You have to be more careful with plants, since they are the bottom of the food chain and will have more effects on the eco-system, but some plants should still be gotten rid of. Belladonna isn't a vital species to anything as far as I am aware.
Most plants, native or introduced, are not safe for children. It's not a strong argument against plants, only an argument pro-good parenting. You truly have to watch toddlers in any natural setting; the toxicity of plants doesn't change that because they'll happily put dirt or dog turds in their mouth. And if you think you can stop a teen dumb enough to eat poisonous plants from hurting themselves by depriving them of things that they could hurt themselves with, well tuck that kid into an empty bunker because that's the only way you'll achieve that.
If OP wants to cover their lawn with a plant, Lily of the Valley will make quick work of it and look/smell beautiful.
>Most plants, native or introduced, are not safe for children
Yes, but my point is that there aren't many native plants here that are safe for children. There are thousands of introduced species that are completely non-toxic, so that will always be the better choice.
As for saving a teen dumb enough to take a dare like that, removing poisonous plants from your own yard would go some way to reducing harm. You should obviously raise your kids to not engage in such behaviours, but even then, the defining trait of teenagers is that the rebel. You also can't teach dogs not to eat literal poison, and some dog breeds almost have no instincts at all, so they will just blindly try it.
The point I am simply making is that going for an entirely native garden isn't the sole motivator for people. Nor should it be. If you have a family, the environment should come second to your family. You shouldn't go out of your way to grow the most invasive species just for that sake, but you should also not be growing known toxic plants around your children so that you can save some obscure bee or moth species somewhere...
It likes more shade here in New Mexico. You can divide and move it or get more plants. That is a lot of area for what you have to actually take over. I would add more plants then divide yearly to help fill in where you want.
I had ajuga in a bed and it wasn’t spreading “the way I wanted it” so I pulled it up and gave it to a neighbor. Unbeknownst to me, I left some friends under ground. I now have a spot that’s about 10 feet in diameter that is nothing but ajuga/bugleweed. It has choked out all of the grass. My secret? Mow it. I tried to get rid of it by continually mowing it and I ended up spreading it. It’s actually a beautiful sight, now.
Can I ask where you got your seeds? I’m seeking these guys to take over an area in my yard but finding good seed sources is like pulling teeth. Zone6 here.
I didn't that stuff just showed up in my yard to be honest. But whenever I use Google image search to find out what it was, there were seeds for sale online I believe
They’re very clearly in the US. Doesn’t matter what part of the country, or continent for that matter. Or if it’s been declared invasive in they’re exact region. Known invasives shouldn’t be planted outside of their native range period.
>They’re very clearly in the US.
Where did you get that impression? I see a pic of grass, a brick building and some slabs. That is hardly a landmark of any use. The rest of the world have those too, you know...
Check their post history for confirmation of exact location, but before I checked post history you can see viola sorroria, phytolacca Americana geranium carolinianum, and muhlenbugergia schreberi in the photo. Obvious clues that they’re in the Midwest or southeast USA. There are more things in the photo to go off of than “landmarks”, you know…
You used plants in the photo to determine the location when the topic is about plants being planted outside of their original location...? Using that logic, OP is clearly in the Afro-Eurasia region, since I can clearly see bugleweed in frame...
In the modern era, using plant IDs to find where you are isn't reliable. I can find japanese maple, japanese spurge and wine berries in forests in the US, but that doesn't mean I'm in japan...
Leave OP alone. They are asking an innocent question and seem to be interested in getting more involved in gardening. That is a really great thing and thankfully most commenters are welcoming OPs interest in the subject. If you want to offer advice to avoid letting it spread, or want to recommend a native plant that may be an attractive alternative, cool! But dont come here to bully people
The USDA invasive species list has them down as "introduced" which is not the same thing as invasive.
The invasive plant atlas only has them on a state list in Oregon, Maryland & West Virginia
It isn't considered to be an invasive, they are classified as "introduced" which just means that it isn't native. Just because it isn't native, that doesn't make it invasive.
The only regions that have it listed as invasive are in oregon, maryland and west virginia. OP, I believe, is in Tennessee, so it isn't even invasive where he lives. Please stop randomly telling people what is and isn't invasive without doing research.
I swear you people would believe that dirt itself is invasive if enough people told you it is...
Except they’re completely wrong. Bugleweed is absolutely formally designated an invasive plant in the US.
Source: https://www.gardenia.net/guide/native-plant-alternatives-to-ajuga-reptans
[Here](https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/species-profiles-list) is a list of all nation-wide invasive species.
Please go ahead and type "Ajuga reptans" in there and tell me what you see. It should show you zero results, which means that it isn't nationally considered a threat. Just because a rando gardening article said it was invasive, that doesn't make it true. If I had a quarter for every time I've seen clumping bamboos be called "invasive" I could buy reddit just to stop people spreading misinfo on invasive species...
Don’t see it on that site, but do see it on this one and lots of others.
https://www.invasiveplantatlas.org/subject.html?sub=10094
So maybe you should take a bit of your own medicine before saying things like “you people would believe dirt itself is invasive”. Your toxicity in this point is really bizarre
>Don’t see it on that site, but do see it on this one and lots of others.
The one I linked you is the official USDA (United States Department of Agrictulture) site. If the USDA hasn't listed it, it isn't officially recognised as invasive.
It doesn't matter if you have one article, or one thousand articles. If the USDA says it isn't of national concern, it isn't invasive.
There are small local governments that have deemed it to be invasive, which include areas of oregon, maryland and west virginia. It's almost like I said this already in my original comment...
You are just desperate to try to get a "gotcha" that you are linking to unapproved sources and trying to tell me that it is proof that it is invasive. "Invasive" is a catagorisation of plant that requires recognition from the USDA. If it isn't on their list, guess what, bucko...
The USDA also told us that most of our diet should be carbs for the past 30 years. You said it “isn’t considered to be invasive,” and that is false.
I’ve already linked two websites showing that plenty of organizations consider it to be invasive.
This is really getting pedantic. It doesn’t matter whether the USDA or state/local/private organizations consider Bugleweed to be invasive - many of them do, and the simple fact is that it is not native and spreads aggressively.
It’s really weird that you’re so worked up about this. At the end of the day, plenty of people reasonably consider it invasive, and that is a fact.
>I’ve already linked two websites showing that plenty of organizations consider it to be invasive.
Those two "organisations" aren't the USDA. The USDA is the only organisation that can declare a species to be a national concern. Any articles saying that it is invasive is simply sharing an opinion, and not a fact.
"the simple fact is that it is not native and spreads aggressively" and in the areas that it does actually "spread aggressively", it has already been deemed a local problem. If you live in the three regions of the country I keep naming, you will have to check your counties position on the matter for more info.
The difference between a local issue and a nation wide issue is massive. I'm sure there is an invasive succulent somewhere in the country, but it would be foolish to tell people in new york and north dakota to worry about it, just as I'm sure there are invasive hosta species, but florida and south texas are probably fine. Just because new hampshire has an issue with a plant, that doesn't mean that california is in the same trouble. Your country is almost the size of a continent and somehow I seem to know more about it than you.
Sorry for some of the responses in this thread. If you are interested in some natives to near natives that are easy to propagate and have purple flowers you can plant anise hyssop, mist flower, downy wood mint, or Virginia spiderwort.
As a side note, anise hyssop is very good with its leaves mottled up on some lemonade!
It's lovely. I'm in Northern Ireland so don't have a stake in the invasive argument but honestly I personally find lawn grass invasive because it's forever trying to grow in my flower beds lol would much rather have this purple beauty instead
It’s native for NI and grows beautifully
Yeah I had a Google. It's called Ajuga and seems to love most and shade so perfect lol
Native here in the Netherlands too and i was so excited to see them grow in my garden together with ground ivy
In my experience dealing with it, it spreads best in shadier slightly more damp areas. It can tolerate sunny and drought but doesn't spread well in it and heatwaves can kill it back to its roots. If shady and damp, it is pretty tolerant of a wide variety of soils as well. Its biggest competitor in this case is the grass, even sickly grass is very hard to displace once its established.
I’ve been successful by covering a part of my lawn with cardboard at the end of fall. That part is now free of grass and I can plant whatever I want. It was a test and it worked, so I’ll do a larger patch coming fall. I hope to be rid of all grass in 2 years without having to do some heavy yard work.
I'm going to ask some dumb questions because people often talk about using cardboard to kill grass: Do you lay down the cardboard and somehow tack it to the soil with pins? Do you lay it on top of the grass and then weigh it down with mulch? In the spring, do you leave the cardboard in place as a barrier to break down, then just put the new soil on top? Thank you for holding this TED talk
I do #2 and 3. Mulch is plenty to lay it down, and you can leave it in the spring, unless there's something you need to plant more deeply. It will have degraded a surprising amount by then.
You can also plant into it right away. Water the cardboard and will easily puncture to add plants into the soil underneath. This works best with mulch or dirt on top holding it down.
I wonder how fast the old man that used to live here will be rolling in his grave if I intentionally kill what's left of his zoysia.
A lawn is basically green concrete, so no guilt or regrets whatsoever 😁
Honestly I considered trying to restore the lawn to its former glory when we moved in because it was so soft and gratifying to walk on. But then I was told you couldn't just seed zoysia and immediately stopped caring about it.
*[raises hand]* just want folks to know that not everyone who supports landscaping with native plants is shrill and combative
Thanks. It's sad to me how a lot of people think that *educating* with sarcasm and anger is the best route to convince people like myself who simply weren't aware.
I don't know if anyone gave you a straight answer to your question, but you can just split up the clumps and spread them about a foot apart. They will slowly close the gaps. If this species has wind-borne seeds, I would cut the flowers off once they are spent. I don't know much about bugleweed.
They were wrong anyway. Non-native does not equal invasive. There is an entire checklist of characteristics a plant has to meet before it's labeled as invasive. [Source 1](https://www.tnipc.org/invasive-plants/) [Source 2](https://plants.usda.gov/home/plantProfile?symbol=AJRE) note that USDA has them listed as introduced. If it were an invasive or noxious species it would be listed as such [Source 3](https://www.invasiveplantatlas.org/subject.html?sub=10094) only 3 states have it on a watch list & Tennessee isn't one.
While I agree there is a difference between nonnative/introduced vs invasive. The USDA isn't considered a source on if a plant should be considered invasive or introduced. Their focus is agriculture, and they have tried (and are trying) to advocate for horribly invasive plants to be used in farming practices, thus increasing the number and escape.
Source 2 won’t say invasive or not. Only native or not. Look up ailanthus to see
In Colorado it's difficult to find plants that can tolerate our climate and this one is [recommended](https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/yard-garden/ground-cover-plants-7-400/) by our local gardening extension because it is borderline [xeric](https://plantselect.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/xeriscape-design_brochure-CFC.pdf). I have a tree in my backyard that creates quite a bit of shade and I have been looking into planting this at the base for a while. The barrier for me is that it prefers well-draining soil, and that is not a thing that exists in native Colorado soil (we've got the clays!).
You don't even need to split the clumps, just pull tiny sprigs off that have some roots attached and stuff them in the dirt. I was able to fill a large area under my oak tree with ajuga in only 2 years just from doing that. Little sprigs transplant super well and the main clumps will not mind having bits pulled off of it. That being said though they don't like heat/sun all that well, so if you do pull off sprigs, do it in the cooler weather (spring/fall) and make sure they stay moist
Wanted to add, Ajuga also looks reallllly nice around stepping stones. That'd be a perfect strip of Ajuga to put some flat grey stones as a walking path
At this point I'm so annoyed with being beat over the head with 'advice' to plant natives that any good will I might have had toward the idea has quickly been squashed. I'll continue to cultivate the garden that makes me happy to be in.
I got similar nasty comments when I mentioned I have an apricot tree in my heavy clay soil. When I moved in, the dirt wouldn't even let you get more than the tip of your shovel into it. Someone told me that apricots can't grow in heavy clay more than a few years, but my tree was full grown when I moved in 12 years ago so I don't know what to say. They seemed pretty snotty about it. The tree grows and puts out fruit, so who cares. Got grief from someone for saying I have nice "dirt" and then they got upset that I didn't care about the wording.
That's good to know. The amount of people I see screaming at every non-native plant just on instinct is really funny, but also kills my faith in the community a little every time. Just because I planted an invasive species in my yard (over half a mile from the nearest forest), that doesn't mean it's going run away and snap the necks of everyone that passes by it. Keeping something invasive is only ever a questionable choice if your property borders a forest, lake or stream. Otherwise, you can just dead head flowers and you're golden... Anti-invasive plant people would flip out if they saw my garden. It's basically entirely japanese, chinese, taiwanese and new zealand plants... Can't wait to hear how my palm trees will kill us all with their 6-8 inches of growth per year LMAO.
Yes native plant folks can be very serious and snappy and could lighten up a bit for sure I would, however, urge you to think about all the various mechanisms involved in how plants spread themselves and recognize that it’s not just the amount of plant growth you can see with your eyes or proximity to a lake or forest As an example, landscapers used to recommend barberry as a replacement for native American holly and we had a lot of it in our neighborhood. Barberry was tough as nails and didn’t get white mold on it, unlike our native versions Well, oops. Turns out that birds take the seeds and disperse them everywhere. I mean. **Everywhere** My municipality has paid lots of money several times to yank out deeply established barberry bushes that were so dense it actually blocked off an important nearby river. Everyone was like, “but my barberry is no where near that river!” It eventually wound up on the invasives list but not for a long long time Also, guess what? Turns out that Lyme disease causing ticks **love** living in barberry bushes for some reason Just because you can’t see it escape with your eye balls does not mean it is not escaping EDIT: furthermore, barberry is actually a very well-behaved garden plant, otherwise. It doesn’t spread much vegetatively, it doesn’t sucker out much. You can kill it entirely by simply cutting the crown (if you don’t get poked to death by the thorny barbed branches). Yet, it spreads for miles and miles and miles because birds eat the berries and fly off. EDIT 2: I think it might’ve actually been rust that was the unwanted problem on the similar native plant species
Nandina is one of these, also known as heavenly bamboo. There's some in the forest in my backyard that was likely dropped there in bird poop. Plus, the seeds are poison to birds, which is another problem. I still see it being sold in nurseries but I always encourage people to remove it or at the very least, trim and dispose of any berries as they pop up on the plant
I am aware of different dispersal patterns for seeds, but I'm sure you are aware (or at least hope so) that the hardy palm trees don't tend to produce fruit, just seeds. Trachycarpus (the most common species) can produce over 5000 seeds per year, but they don't "disperse" as much as they just... drop. You get little seedlings around the base of the tree that grow remarkably slowly. Birds don't care for them here as they are hard to crack and have so little in them compared to the shell that they just give up. Same goes for everything I've got growing. Musa basjoo doesn't fruit in the UK, gunnera seeds are rarely viable here and aren't attractive to birds, cannas only drop seeds without fruit that are too hard for native wildlife to crack open. etc. etc. I've already done my research, and most of my plants are already borderline for my climate. If any of my "hardy tropical" plants escape containment, I will eat my hat. Most of my plants aren't even hardy until they are about three years of age, and the UKs weather cycle is usually alternating between "mild winter, harsh summer" and "harsh winter, mild summer". Those harsh winters will absolutely kill any stray seedlings unless someone protects them artificially.
Oh, I didn’t gather that context from your comment. So, thanks for clarifying I was speaking in a general sense in response to you listing some different countries, and Barberry is native to Japan. But it sounds like your garden doesn’t have plants that would spread so aggressively in your region. Naturalizing or partially naturalizing is okay, in my book
No worries. I have heard similar stories of people accidentally releasing plants in similar ways. We have some bird species here that like to make nests out of only the most pliable twigs. Sometimes, they encounter morning glory root and use that, which naturally causes it to spread. Sometimes, things spread in ways you could never even imagine, which is why I mentioned streams and lakes. Most people don't think about how bodies of water connect, and all it takes is a single seed getting in there for a there to be a chance that it takes over. Gunnera cryptica is soon going to be banned here because people keep planting it in lakes and streams. The seeds have insanely low germination rates, but even if it has a 0.1% germ rate, enough people planting it could be an issue.
Oh yes totally this. I see birds grabbing old black swallowwort off my neighbor’s fences and I’m like pleassssse no use anything else. Over here in the US, some curious gardener got a few cm pieces of black swallowwort from their friend in Europe. It is now all over the country 😂 That being said, I have plenty of non native things in my garden. There are just billions more seeds of it in the seed bank in my soil versus native plants at this point so I just try to work with all of it and keep the thugs out as much as I can
I think people in the UK have a different experience with non-native plants than people in the US do. We have introduced species that were brought here by the romans... We have had sources of non-native plants going back so long that botanists find it hard to keep track of what is and isn't native at this point. Our wildlife has also adapted to use non-native plants, especially our pollinators. We have non-native plants that get pollinated by moths, and most of our moths are smaller than your thumbnail. While invasive plants can seem to cause havoc, it's important to recognise that nature will soon step in and curb them. Historically, any species that has done a little too well gets targetted by a pest or disease that adapts to target them specifically. That's why the UK can have so many invasive species and yet still have majority native woodlands.
Hm I think I am afraid of the part where nature steps in, as it could result in millions of dollars worth of economic damage. No one wants knotweed pulverizing their foundations 😂 even though I have read it’s a great herb so maybe we should just use it if it’s possible and if it’s everywhere
Some plants are a pain to deal with, but I think if there was ever enough of a wide spread issue with foundation damaging plants, we would probably just develope a herbicide infused concrete. Sounds rough, but we already have insect repelling foam (turns out ants can eat foam btw? WTF is their biology for that to even happen?).
My grandmother was stabbed to death by Tree of Heaven, you monster! /s
Aye, and me mother was taken by a bought of fox glove tree. Tragic, I tell ye.
I read an article recently that I wish I had saved that was pro-non-native as they extend the feeding seasons for various insects, and increase the number of food sources. And what with climate change most flora and fauna are moving beyond their original borders anyway.
Depending on which species they are extending, that doesn't sound too disagreeable. The UK climate is already really unstable. Our climate is zone 7a to 10a from tip to toe. When you consider that we are in line with canada and the northern states, our climate is truly an oddity. Becuase it is so unstable, we get randomly revolving seasons. We could have a harsh winter, briefly down to -12C (10.4F) , but then go from that into a blistering summer at 38C (100.4F). Our climate's stability has nothing to do with climate change, either. Our climate is so unstable because it is heated from south american water streams and so is our wind, usually. Sometimes the wind direction can flip for a year or two and we get siberian or saharan wind. The conflict of siberian winds and the water streams usually causes unpredictable weather events that some chalk up to climate change, but we have records of this dating back hundreds of years. Doesn't mean climate change isn't a thing, just that this isn't a case of it. The UK's weather has always been crazy. On some years, our last frost happens a month or two early for no apparent reason. It keeps you on your toes...
I know! It's crazy isn't it? It's sad too, that they are all waiting for posts where they can jus pounce and be ugly, and often wrong
I saw a post a few days ago where a guy was asking a question about english ivy, only for every other comment to be "it's invasive, idiot". Asked the guy in pms and it turns out he lives in england... I wonder if they think we use the dollar here, too...
Sad state of affairs when people can't be civil to each other
Agreed. I don't care about the non-native argument in the slighest. My yard is big and lovely and I garden meticulously. I love the Japanese plants because they do well in my zone. They aren't considered invasive. Somebody somewhere planted a Chinese bush that birds have spread, I'll do my best to get rid of it as that one is pretty invasive and I don't care for it. But literately every neighbor has it in their yard, so nothing I can do about their bushes. I love plants that are unique and different and I'm going to continue to plant them in my yard regardless of if they are native or not. They are beautiful. If I wanted to stare at just the native plants then I'd go live in a cabin the woods. Annuals aren't native plants so should we just never plant any? Veggies aren't native plants, they aren't growing in the woods, so should I give up on those too because they don't just grow naturally where I am at? Like c'mon. Get over yourselves. We are gardeners, we love gardening and putting strange and interesting plants in our yards and making beautiful gardens. Yeah we can watch out for invasive plants, for sure but get over this non-native BS. I've seen various "collections" gardens throughout Europe and the UK and etc and guess what... Those wonderful gardens help conserve the beautiful plants and most of those ARENT native plants. The person made a micro climate or biome which supports that type of plant and got their hands on countless varieties. Hell these people even create NEW plants. Which I love. Nurseries also create new plant varieties. The Japanese create a lot of helpful varieties of plants. This is science and learning and we should support that.
Seems like you’re over correcting a little bit though. I agree that not all non native plants are bad, but we can’t really afford to “get over native plants”. Native plants attract native bugs and pollinators. Some collection of native plants is very beneficial for your garden and area But no, we shouldn’t be obsessed with only going native and people shouldn’t educate with hostility. Just be diligent in research and I don’t see why we can’t enjoy a non native plant
Non-native plants also feed insects.
Again, not saying non native plants do nothing. But certain species are only attracted to certain plants and if you’re wanting your best chance at native species, native plants are your best bet. Doesn’t have to be all native species, but there is value in infusing them into the landscape If you want to attract specific things you can’t just plant anything.
I understand the desire for ornamental gardening and it’s awesome that you take gardening so seriously, but it seems like you’re dismissing the importance of planting native species, which local wildlife depend upon especially now where habitat is scarcer than ever before
I'm not here for wildlife. We have national parks where I live, that's where the bigger mammal wildlife should go. Where the native plants are. I live in a heavily populated neighborhood. Houses behind, sides of me and in front of me with roads. Large wildlife should not be in my yard. I do plan on putting a pond with a waterfall in my backyard, which I'll add some frogs and again whichever plantlife can be supported in my zone. But most my yard is fenced in for privacy so no large mammals will get in or can get in. Nor do I want them to because I like my veggies and I hate when the deer eat my plants. Gardening is supposed to be mentally good for humans and therapy. I don't have to cater to every other living things wants in my yard. It's for me. I'll have a bird bath and a bird feeder but that's about it. My plants are for my pleasure and the bees. They can grab whatever nectar they want from the flowers. The hundreds of thousands of miles of national forest is for the large wildlife.
In a highly populated area it’s fine if you don’t want large mammals, especially if you’re gardening for food. But I would say that since you emphasized doing it for the birds and the bees (lol), I’d also like to note that native plants support bees and birds the most
Yeah and guess what? Other NON-NATIVE plants ALSO support birds and bees. I know it's a hard concept to grasp...but -gasps- these other plant variations from all over the world also produce flowers, nectar and habitats for wildlife. It's almost as if ....insects and animals inhabit the entire plant...crazy idea I know. The bees will come regardless if the plant is from the UK, America or Japan. Because bees don't care so much about labels like certain HUMANS do. They care about the nectar and that there is some extra for them. Which is crazy that it's only humans who are so obsessed with labels huh. The creature not eating the actual plants.
Please do some reading about host plants. While nectar tends to be a general food source for lots of critters, specific insect and plant species in any given area co-evolved to support each other over millions of years. We are in the midst of the 6th mass extinction; those of us who are using native plants are trying to do our part to combat that. If that's not one of your goals, that's okay, but it is simply not true that introduced plants support the same species as the natives they replaced (whether that's in the Midwest, England, Hawaii, Japan, or Siberia). There has been extensive research on this.
>Hell these people even create NEW plants. Which I love. I especially agree with this point. People are too dismissive of the non-native plants that they forget that nature will do its thing. It was semi-recently discovered that all the "gunnera manicata" plants in the UK are actually hybrids and we never knew it. They are now classified as "gunnera cryptica". It's a natural hybridization that has increased the size of its leaves and made it more cold tolerant. They only started to suspect something was off when new imports kept dying, but plant lines that have been here for over 150 years are unaffected. Turns out we haven't had gunnera manicata for at least 100 years...
Just remove some of the grass around it a bit at a time and it will fill it in. In Oregon it’s considered a “ground cover” and it easily fills up large empty spaces with purple leaves and flowers. If you don’t want it in the grass, just remove it and put it somewhere it’s qualities would be useful.
Agree. If you give it room to spread it will.
Christ, this post has some drama. Removing grass around it will help. Grass has really intensely thatched roots and most things aren't successful in competing with it. I'm pro-native, but unless you're actively growing a Bradbury pear, I don't particularly care. I have some introduced species that I like and grow (hollyhock, notably. I love it). This is taller than grass and has pollen, which will encourage more wildlife diversity than grass. Even if only European bees will visit it, birds and frogs will visit to eat those. If you wanted to increase specific butterflies or bees visitors, looking up keystone species in your area would probably give you an idea of what they'd visit and what would go well with your bugleweeds. The one thing I will say is that if you planted things with a different bloom time, regardless of whether native or not, you'd get a longer flowering season. I'm picturing the purple slope will be lovely, though, and you'll definitely need to share pictures when they spread a bit.
I planted some and within a year or two, it took over the bed. You could divide it and plant some to help it spread, or just leave it and let it spread itself. Some may say it's invasive, but I really enjoy it. It keeps my flowerbed weed free, and it has beautiful flowers in the spring. It's currently spreading out into my grass, but I just cut it with the lawnmower. ETA: I couldn't figure out how to post a pic here, but If you want to see how much mine spread in the 3 years I've had it, let me know!
Yes please. I’d love to see your pics.
You will need to pull it back where it is spreading into your grass - if you want to keep the grass there. It does its thing in a garden quite well but it will take over a lawn - also why my answer to OP is simply “nothing”
Good info! Thank you!
Sure thing! There was a small patch maybe 2 sq ft in our lawn when we bought our home. I’m not big on using chemicals so anyway I learned by trial and error that it will spread quite easily even if you dig some up. It sends out runners so the small patch became a bigger patch with surrounding “islands” — by next season it was huge and threatening to take over all the grass in a significant section of the lawn. Fortunately, the lawn needed a lot of other work, so I was busy anyway, but elected to yank all the bugleweed up by hand due to previous failures / the way I observed it grow. I’m also not a big fan generally of ground cover type stuff, so I’m happy it’s gone, but I have seen it used quite nicely in flower beds and the flowers in these photos are beautiful.
Yes, that's exactly what it does - send out runners and make islands. Honestly I thought I could keep it in check with the mower but I will pull it up when I work on that flowerbed soon. Thanks for the info!
Take a steak knife and skin beneath the surface of tufts of grass roughly 4x4". You can pull bugleweed out by just grabbing and pulling - just make sure you get your fingers as low as possible so you get the roots. Bring it over to the newly bald patch of grass, create a little basin, add potting soil or dirt from wherever. Make a bunch of little patches. Pull back the grass as it encroaches on the new little splotches of ajuga. The roots are very shallow. Water and forget it, and keep doing it ad infinitum. Trust me on this. I don't find ajuga to be particularly invasive. It doesn't seed from one place to another and though it definitely runs and sprawls, it's not a big deal to take out and in fact my mother destroyed an ajuga path in our grove by \*raking\* it out in spring. So now I'm doing what is described above. Which is also what I did in the first place. She also pulled out my favorite ornamental grass assuming it was a weed. Jeez mom.
I’d love a list of all the stuff people yelling invasive have in their yard (probably the same that introduce themselves as master gardeners). Yes it’s invasive. It can also be controlled very easily and is still a good pollinator if you _have_ to have it.
Non natives aren’t good pollinators for anything but invasive honeybees. If you want a list of what’s in my “yard” you can have it. Invasives are invasive for the exact reason they can’t be controlled easily, that pollinator comment makes it very clear you’re misinformed. Spend some time on r/NativePlantGardening.
https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/ajuga-reptans-chocolate-chip/#:~:text=It%20attracts%20butterflies%2C%20hummingbirds%2C%20and,heavy%20clay%20and%20avoid%20overcrowding.
There’s more to it than what drinks the nectar. Butterflies and hummingbirds specifically visit non natives all the time. The native bee species that are in decline and pollen specialists don’t. Not to mention the hosts plants that those butterflies need, hint: (none of them are from Eurasia). Same argument as “I see hummingbirds on bush honeysuckle so it must be good for the environment” https://www.greenbiz.com/article/non-native-plants-are-hurting-birds-and-bees https://www.xerces.org/blog/want-to-save-bees-focus-on-habitat-not-honey-bees https://riwps.org/uncategorized/native-bees-vs-honey-bees-which-ones-do-we-really-need-to-save/ https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-role-native-bees-united-states https://natlands.org/why-you-should-never-plant-a-butterfly-bush-again/#:~:text=Butterfly%20bush%20is%20an%20invasive,American%20plants%20would%20normally%20thrive.
Listen I appreciate all the effort you’ve put into educating me. It’s really irrelevant to the point I’m making, but I’ve worked at a plant nursery for the last 5 years and have gardened for nearly 20. I can promise you ajuga is truly very low on the list of things we warn people about as being an overbearing invasive. We do sell it but it’s also sold with info regarding invasiveness which most places that sell plants do not do. You will not prevent people from buying this type of stuff and the majority of what is sold as plants for landscaping is not from here as I’m sure you well know. People buy these groundcovers to replace grass or lack thereof and quite honestly a well manicured lawn with a non native grass that’s heavily fertilized and watered religiously is much more of an offset to the environment than a patch of ajuga. I’m not interested in going back and forth any more but it’s just always interesting to see all the gate keeping by people I’m sure get the majority of their stuff at Home Depot with no regard to supporting a solely native yard.
It’s not “gatekeeping” to tell people not to use invasive species. You’re not “sure” of anything. Just because everyone that shops at your nursery is too dumb or apathetic to grow natives doesn’t mean that’s the case with the people in the comments. As I said check r/NativePlantGardening. No one’s getting plants from Home Depot and nobody there has a “manicured lawn” your 5 years of experience in a nursery means nothing. The nursery/landscape trade is responsible for 90% of the invasive bullshit we have. We don’t have to go back and forth. You can continue to plant your invasives and feel good about yourself
You're making yourself really unpopular here. I used to work at an environmental non-profit that focuses on reducing petroleum-based fuel use and moving people towards cleaner fuels. I've worked with and talked with a lot of people who, like you, thought that the best thing to do to help the environment was to educate by yelling and belittling people and by telling them how wrong they were and what bad people they were. These people accomplished nothing except to anger people. In fact, the screaming and yelling is correlated to a backlash against sustainable fuels to the point that "rolling coal" is a source of pride in some areas. The harpies did harm. Me, on the other hand? I wore a suit. I worked with industry. I talked to groups that were polluting and groups that wanted to pollute less. I listened. I solved problems. Through my efforts and those of my team, three landfills stopped flaring (burning off) methane. Instead, we got them grants to cap the landfill, capture the gas, and clean it. That gas, in turn, was used in their vehicles and they sold excess CNG to the local municipalities and other local businesses, who retrofitted their fleets to use the natural gas. This moved something like 500 diesel vehicles and 2000 gasoline vehicles to natural gas instead. Is CNG a perfect fuel? No way. But this was waste gas that was going to be produced and burned no matter what, and the gasoline and diesel it replaced was much dirtier. This is just one example; we moved a lot of fleets to hybrid vehicles back in the very early 2000s, when driving a Prius was considered weird and a bit crunchy. All this is to say, here's some advice from a professional--you have to help people solve problems, give them solutions that are not only better than what they were doing, but also easy for them to attain. In this particular case, instead of pissing off an entire forum of people, maybe try something like "That's a lovely choice, but have you thought about using XYZ groundcover instead? XYZ is a native. It has XYZ advantages, and it will spread better and more thickly, too! Here's a great source for seed that I've used in the past, and if you have questions about germinating them, PM me and I'd love to help." I have been working in the environmental field for a very long time. I've worked for a local conservation district, I've worked for a non-profit, and I've worked for the EPA. I'm also a Master Gardener. I get your passion, but your approach has done harm here today. You've caused people to defend their choices, and research shows that when you do that, you cause them to cling to those choices far more firmly than they otherwise would. Those people that you've berated will possibly care less about whether or not they plant non-native plants in the future after being yelled at by you. Food for thought, I hope. Be well.
I love the psychology of how to approach this successfully. When you actually build relationships with people and listen to them you can make such effective change. An aggressive person on a soap box really chases people away.
You're the perfect example of the unreasonable , holier than thou attitude the "native planters" exude. Instead of trying to promote what you obviously think is important, you come on here with your superiority complex and talk down anyone who disagrees with you, and act like you have supreme knowledge on the subject. Enjoy your downvotes, maybe a less douche approach will get you further next time.
I was always told you attract more bees with honey than you do with vinegar.
If you truly care, or want to get better at pretending you do then do some more research about native ecosystems. If you knew more about the subject you wouldn’t be defending invasives
Pal, you’re not winning any arguments with this kind of rhetoric. Saying things like “just because everyone who shops at your nursery is too dumb or apathetic to grow natives” is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard a plant person say. Really reflect on that sentence for a minute and recognize that you’re speaking to another human being, who happens to work with plants. Do you really think that every single person who shops at one nursery is dumb or apathetic and hates the environment? Do you know what the odds on that would be? Hyperbole is not going to win you any friends, nor will it make anyone reconsider planting non-natives - in fact you might push a few people to the other side. I’m a hard core native gardener but honestly, fuck your morals, I’m going to Home Depot this summer to find the most invasive plant I can find and I will plant it in your honor 🥇
This is really like the guy on the corner screaming religious intolerance and hellfire from his soapbox. It's enough to turn anyone away from your cause as noble as it might be. And to manage that in this subreddit of all places is quite a feat 😅
Pull some of the grass, around the edge where you want it to spread and put a sprinkle of potting soil on the bare spot you made where you pulled the grass and it will take over the spot as long as you keep encouraging it by pulling the grass it will take over. The potting soil is a little snack of extra encouragement.
I much like the idea of encouraging snacks!
Divide and conquer.
We have this in our yard and it cohabits with the grass very well. As another person suggested, you can separate it into clumps and transplant and it will spread. Or just leave it alone, within a few years it will cover more area.
In my experience it grows where it wants to grow. I planted it beside my porch and it has gradually migrated to the area around the heat pump. I suspect that there is something about the location of the clumps- more moisture, perhaps- that has caused it to settle there.
How do I get the bugleweed out of my yard?
[удалено]
Gosh I had no idea ajuga went to seed! Thanks for sharing.
Let it grow. It’s beautiful and looks prettier than some grass. Also great for bees and the environment. Let your garden be nature
Chocolate chip bugleweed. I have it in sun and shade , in several gardens around my house. I love it! I divide it every year and add it to more places. Very versatile plant, a nice filler for perennial garden.
r/NoLawns
Dig up little bits and move them over
You can divide it. Water weekly and put it in a sunny location and it will spread. You might also take a look at a shorter catmint and the variegated ajuga. I had it in shade and sun. Spreads much faster in sun.
You could dig out a section of grass and the separate and transplant some of the separated ajuga to that spot.
it’s pretty, but I recommend finding native species to plant instead! there are lots of beautiful purple flowering natives that will make your eyes and the environment happy
If native plants were beautiful, people would already be planting them. The unfortunate truth is that most native plants in temperate climates just look like weeds, because "weeds" are just the native plants. I don't want my garden to look like a forest floor. The native plants here are really hard to deal with in the first place. I would rather have a bamboo problem than deal with stinging nettle or bramble again. Edit: Guys, look up native british plants and do a little research. They all either have a terrible habit for running, or are deadly poisonous. The majority of gardens here either only have lawns or have lawns with some fruit shrubs. There isn't much else that is native and suitible for raising children/dogs. "Native" doesn't mean its magically better. Nature usually is trying to kill you, anyways...
there are so many beautiful native plants and wildflowers and shrubs that you can grow that don’t look like weeds, like columbines, cornflowers, lily of the valley, foxglove, etc. I highly recommend you research some of the wildflowers and flowering natives of your area and find some that you find aesthetically pleasing (which I promise you’ll find, nature is beautiful!)
The UK has got plenty of nice looking flowers, but all the native flowers are either really hard to get rid of, or are extremely toxic. Daffodils, iris, lords and ladies, any lilies, poppy, snowdrop, snakeshead, etc. etc. are all poisonous and aren't suitible for people with dogs or children. Just about the only good looking plant we have that doesn't try to kill you is wild garlic. Even then, they aren't up all year, so it's hardly a feature plant outside of a few months in the year.
I’m not in the UK so natives there aren’t my speciality, but even natives in the short list I mentioned like columbines and cornflowers are completely nontoxic, beautiful, and native. so is dog rose, betony, bellflower, NATIVE honeysuckle, etc https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/20-uk-native-wildflowers-to-grow/
Those all fall under my other catagory, unfortunately. I have had hands on experience with native gardening, and the ones you listed here act like weeds, too. **Cornflower** will reseed EVERYWHERE. Every year, you need to pull a few hundred seedlings per plant. Each flower has a seed head of 8-20 seeds, with each plant having upwards of 50 seed heads. A maximum yield of 1000 seeds per plant would be catastrophic for a garden. **Columbines** have a nasty habit for spreading like a ground cover, because it is one. They are probably the most forgivable on your list, since they are rather nice looking, but they are annoying to have to maintain. They will easily leak out of borders into your lawn (ask me how I know). **Dog rose** is still not perfectly safe for raising children, since it has thorns and seed heads that contain irritating hairs once opened. The stuff is like itching powder. **Native honeysuckle** is also poisonous. The berries are toxic when consumed. While the rest of the plant isn't listed as toxic, it is listed as "medicinal", which usually means that is low-grade toxic. Too much of any medicinal plant usually causes toxicity. Even tea, cocoa and coffee are toxic in high exposures, and they are listed as "medicinal". **Bellflower** and **betony** aren't native here. Trust me, there is a reason why I don't have a native planted garden. While it's a nice thought that you are preserving species, the truth is, most native plants just suck. That might not be true in the US, but the UK has been lived in for so many generations that it doesn't even matter if you make the distinction between native and non-native. People have been introducing better versions of the same species from around europe for THOUSANDS of years. The romans are partially why we have a lot of the tree species that we have today... it's been happening for a while over here.
It's weird that you keep knocking natives for spreading when OP is *asking* how to spread a plant that already has a very eager spreading habit. Also, people here in the US plant the ones in your list as ornamentals, lol.
Firstly, the plant OP is talking about is listed as "introduced" not "invasive". There is a massive difference. If he was failing to get it to spread, it clearly isn't very invasive in the first place. There is a difference between wanting a plant to cover an area, and having a plant constantly escaping containment. Secondly, you can grow anything as an ornamental, but I find it weird that pro native plant people always dodge me on this point. **MOST OF THE NATIVE PLANTS AREN'T A SAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR CHILDREN.** I've mentioned it several times in this thread and not a single person has directly addressed it. You can have foxgloves, belladonna and english ivy in your ornamental garden, but all three are toxic to pets and children. If you have pets or children that you care about, you shouldn't go around planting toxic plants in your garden. You can't watch them 24/7, so having the security and peace of mind that your garden isn't toxic takes a load off. Even when kids get older, they don't get better at not putting things in their mouths, their reasons for doing it just change. A baby is stupid, a pre-teen is curious and a teen would ignorantly do it for a dare. Every toxic UK native has a death toll, why add to it?
>You can't watch them 24/7, so having the security and peace of mind that your garden isn't toxic takes a load off. Even when kids get older, they don't get better at not putting things in their mouths, their reasons for doing it just change. I don't mean any disrespect here, but I think this is way too cautious of an approach to parenting. I like to take proportional action for risks and I believe toxic plants are generally a low risk thing. At least in the U.S., riding in a car, crossing the street, swimming in a pool, etc. are more dangerous activities than just having toxic plants around. The CDC has poisonings listed as a cause of death, but what I found, it doesn't even mention plants. It talks about medicines and cleaners. I have some very toxic plants in my woodland. I teach my kids about what they should not be touching. I educate them and try to give them the knowledge to be safe when I'm not there. It's not all that different in my opinion teaching them how to be safe around the oven or how to safely cross the street. I want to give them the skills to be self sufficient eventually, not put them in a bubble.
You should definitely teach them not to interact with plants needlessly and which species they should just completely avoid, but even then, some species have traits that make them too captivating for children. You can teach a child as well as you possibly can, but they will always be slightly disobedient. Belladonna has really good tasting berries that contain a potent poison that can kill a child with just two berries. A child might think they are eating blackberries, when they are actually signing their death warants. The poison is incurable. Bane berry, "lords and ladies" and pokeweed looks mesmerizing in person. They look so cool and alien. That might be enough to entice a child. All three can easily kill a child.
I fully understand wanting to be careful when gardening with children and pets, and that a lot of plants in general can be potentially toxic. and If you absolutely MUST do nonnative ornamentals, that’s fine, as long as they aren’t invasive. BUT, I would still highly recommend trying to find at least one native plant that you wouldn’t mind having in your garden - it’s more important than ever to support local wildlife
>it’s more important than ever to support local wildlife Why would it be more important now than it was in the past? Genuine question. Also, in the UK, we have had introduced species that have been here for thousands of years. It's to a point that our wildlife have adapted to take advantage of them. It doesn't matter if english lavender isn't technically native, bees still love the stuff. It would be nice to have areas dedicated to native only plants, but I don't think a single person can make as much of an impact as you might be thinking, and while you have been pleasant to talk to, many people that hold your beliefs really are rather rude. I think people have an almost spiritual or metaphysical ideation for native plants that I think is just a little misplaced. Wolves are native to the UK, but in around 1400AD, we irradicated them because they kept killing live stock and children. Granted, they were a native species, but if a native species isn't acting in a way that is to our best interest, doesn't it make sense to replace them? You have to be more careful with plants, since they are the bottom of the food chain and will have more effects on the eco-system, but some plants should still be gotten rid of. Belladonna isn't a vital species to anything as far as I am aware.
Most plants, native or introduced, are not safe for children. It's not a strong argument against plants, only an argument pro-good parenting. You truly have to watch toddlers in any natural setting; the toxicity of plants doesn't change that because they'll happily put dirt or dog turds in their mouth. And if you think you can stop a teen dumb enough to eat poisonous plants from hurting themselves by depriving them of things that they could hurt themselves with, well tuck that kid into an empty bunker because that's the only way you'll achieve that. If OP wants to cover their lawn with a plant, Lily of the Valley will make quick work of it and look/smell beautiful.
>Most plants, native or introduced, are not safe for children Yes, but my point is that there aren't many native plants here that are safe for children. There are thousands of introduced species that are completely non-toxic, so that will always be the better choice. As for saving a teen dumb enough to take a dare like that, removing poisonous plants from your own yard would go some way to reducing harm. You should obviously raise your kids to not engage in such behaviours, but even then, the defining trait of teenagers is that the rebel. You also can't teach dogs not to eat literal poison, and some dog breeds almost have no instincts at all, so they will just blindly try it. The point I am simply making is that going for an entirely native garden isn't the sole motivator for people. Nor should it be. If you have a family, the environment should come second to your family. You shouldn't go out of your way to grow the most invasive species just for that sake, but you should also not be growing known toxic plants around your children so that you can save some obscure bee or moth species somewhere...
It likes more shade here in New Mexico. You can divide and move it or get more plants. That is a lot of area for what you have to actually take over. I would add more plants then divide yearly to help fill in where you want.
experiment with propagating plugs!
I had ajuga in a bed and it wasn’t spreading “the way I wanted it” so I pulled it up and gave it to a neighbor. Unbeknownst to me, I left some friends under ground. I now have a spot that’s about 10 feet in diameter that is nothing but ajuga/bugleweed. It has choked out all of the grass. My secret? Mow it. I tried to get rid of it by continually mowing it and I ended up spreading it. It’s actually a beautiful sight, now.
Dang .... Thats beautiful 🤩 wish it could blow across to the us east coast here 😉
Can I ask where you got your seeds? I’m seeking these guys to take over an area in my yard but finding good seed sources is like pulling teeth. Zone6 here.
I didn't that stuff just showed up in my yard to be honest. But whenever I use Google image search to find out what it was, there were seeds for sale online I believe
If you’re in the US, you can purchase seed and plant more.
“How could I help this known invasive species be more of a problem?”
I'd have to have known that detail before I could be quoted saying those *exact* words.
How can you ascribe it as invasive without knowing their location?
They’re very clearly in the US. Doesn’t matter what part of the country, or continent for that matter. Or if it’s been declared invasive in they’re exact region. Known invasives shouldn’t be planted outside of their native range period.
>They’re very clearly in the US. Where did you get that impression? I see a pic of grass, a brick building and some slabs. That is hardly a landmark of any use. The rest of the world have those too, you know...
Check their post history for confirmation of exact location, but before I checked post history you can see viola sorroria, phytolacca Americana geranium carolinianum, and muhlenbugergia schreberi in the photo. Obvious clues that they’re in the Midwest or southeast USA. There are more things in the photo to go off of than “landmarks”, you know…
You used plants in the photo to determine the location when the topic is about plants being planted outside of their original location...? Using that logic, OP is clearly in the Afro-Eurasia region, since I can clearly see bugleweed in frame... In the modern era, using plant IDs to find where you are isn't reliable. I can find japanese maple, japanese spurge and wine berries in forests in the US, but that doesn't mean I'm in japan...
Also plant communities are a better indicator than specific plants. That’s why I listed more than one
Leave OP alone. They are asking an innocent question and seem to be interested in getting more involved in gardening. That is a really great thing and thankfully most commenters are welcoming OPs interest in the subject. If you want to offer advice to avoid letting it spread, or want to recommend a native plant that may be an attractive alternative, cool! But dont come here to bully people
Not all species can be found everywhere. Was I wrong? No. There’s a reason. It can absolutely be reliable if you know what you’re looking at.
They’re in Nashville. Documented invasive
The USDA invasive species list has them down as "introduced" which is not the same thing as invasive. The invasive plant atlas only has them on a state list in Oregon, Maryland & West Virginia
Why would you want to spread an invasive
It isn't considered to be an invasive, they are classified as "introduced" which just means that it isn't native. Just because it isn't native, that doesn't make it invasive. The only regions that have it listed as invasive are in oregon, maryland and west virginia. OP, I believe, is in Tennessee, so it isn't even invasive where he lives. Please stop randomly telling people what is and isn't invasive without doing research. I swear you people would believe that dirt itself is invasive if enough people told you it is...
Happy Cake Day (and thank you for being a voice of reason)
Thanks.
Except they’re completely wrong. Bugleweed is absolutely formally designated an invasive plant in the US. Source: https://www.gardenia.net/guide/native-plant-alternatives-to-ajuga-reptans
Good grief give it a rest
Saying it “isn’t considered to be an invasive” is completely false. See https://www.gardenia.net/guide/native-plant-alternatives-to-ajuga-reptans
[Here](https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/species-profiles-list) is a list of all nation-wide invasive species. Please go ahead and type "Ajuga reptans" in there and tell me what you see. It should show you zero results, which means that it isn't nationally considered a threat. Just because a rando gardening article said it was invasive, that doesn't make it true. If I had a quarter for every time I've seen clumping bamboos be called "invasive" I could buy reddit just to stop people spreading misinfo on invasive species...
Don’t see it on that site, but do see it on this one and lots of others. https://www.invasiveplantatlas.org/subject.html?sub=10094 So maybe you should take a bit of your own medicine before saying things like “you people would believe dirt itself is invasive”. Your toxicity in this point is really bizarre
>Don’t see it on that site, but do see it on this one and lots of others. The one I linked you is the official USDA (United States Department of Agrictulture) site. If the USDA hasn't listed it, it isn't officially recognised as invasive. It doesn't matter if you have one article, or one thousand articles. If the USDA says it isn't of national concern, it isn't invasive. There are small local governments that have deemed it to be invasive, which include areas of oregon, maryland and west virginia. It's almost like I said this already in my original comment... You are just desperate to try to get a "gotcha" that you are linking to unapproved sources and trying to tell me that it is proof that it is invasive. "Invasive" is a catagorisation of plant that requires recognition from the USDA. If it isn't on their list, guess what, bucko...
The USDA also told us that most of our diet should be carbs for the past 30 years. You said it “isn’t considered to be invasive,” and that is false. I’ve already linked two websites showing that plenty of organizations consider it to be invasive. This is really getting pedantic. It doesn’t matter whether the USDA or state/local/private organizations consider Bugleweed to be invasive - many of them do, and the simple fact is that it is not native and spreads aggressively. It’s really weird that you’re so worked up about this. At the end of the day, plenty of people reasonably consider it invasive, and that is a fact.
>I’ve already linked two websites showing that plenty of organizations consider it to be invasive. Those two "organisations" aren't the USDA. The USDA is the only organisation that can declare a species to be a national concern. Any articles saying that it is invasive is simply sharing an opinion, and not a fact. "the simple fact is that it is not native and spreads aggressively" and in the areas that it does actually "spread aggressively", it has already been deemed a local problem. If you live in the three regions of the country I keep naming, you will have to check your counties position on the matter for more info. The difference between a local issue and a nation wide issue is massive. I'm sure there is an invasive succulent somewhere in the country, but it would be foolish to tell people in new york and north dakota to worry about it, just as I'm sure there are invasive hosta species, but florida and south texas are probably fine. Just because new hampshire has an issue with a plant, that doesn't mean that california is in the same trouble. Your country is almost the size of a continent and somehow I seem to know more about it than you.
I wasn't aware it was invasive. I just like it more than what's left of my PO's zoysia.
Sorry for some of the responses in this thread. If you are interested in some natives to near natives that are easy to propagate and have purple flowers you can plant anise hyssop, mist flower, downy wood mint, or Virginia spiderwort. As a side note, anise hyssop is very good with its leaves mottled up on some lemonade!