Pacific Northwest Gardening: PNW Garden Photos of 09, 1 by nutsfordaylily

nutsfordaylily wrote:
Those Ailanthus trees sound a lot like Norway maples, which also pop up all over and crowd out natives. They should all be removed. Even though they are a nice looking tree, especially in the fall, they don't get on well with their native neighbors. Burning bush is just as bad, as well as barberry, and I think all three are now banned in this area or will be soon. Banned as in it is illegal now to import, propagate and sell them here.

Portland1, that's too bad about your neighbors. I have a friend who also has inconsiderate neighbors. Lately they have been raking up all their dog's feces from the winter and putting it in a pile with leaves and sticks along her property line bordering on theirs. They have removed almost all the trees and shrubs on their property. They don't want anything to take care of. She has another neighbor whom she has told about the bittersweet vine growing on his side of the chain link fence. He said he would remove it, but has done nothing about it. she does what she can to remove the ones on her side, but she can't do anything about the ones on his side. He also has a huge Norway maple on his property.

Ugh, Shelly, Japanese knotweed?!!!! Horrible! I have seen very large stands of that stuff. Boy does that take over! Glad I don't have it at my place.

I have seen the Lowe's and HD are very similar, though there are some things I can find at one store but not at the other, so I always check out both places. I have found a lot of nice things there, and prices are reasonable.

Okay, as I'm reading the posts I see that Ailanthus is the Tree of Heaven. I used to live in Nevada and had some on rental property where I did a lot of gardening. I ended up calling it the Tree of Hell. What a horrid thing! And the foliage smells not too good, either. I can smell it just thinking about it. I think it grows in every climate, I swear! I have seen it here, too, in Boston. Keeps sending out runners. My neighbor in NV had no trees on her property when she moved there (it is a desert, after all!). She love the Ailanthus, especially how it grew so fast. She talked me into giving her some offshoots of mine. I told her she would be sorry she did that. She planted a lot in her front yard. In the winter it looked like a forest of sticks, and that's what she called them, 'sticks'. Anyhow, she didn't live there long enough to really see them take over. I pity the poor people who moved in after her.

Oh, Henny, I think you're the prettiest!

Nice pics, BeaHive!

Oh, Willow, I just love all my vinca and columbines! I have way too many violets and have been trying to get rid of them. I don't like the vinca in all areas, but there are a lot of areas it looks great in. And it looks so nice with my daffodils.

A bit of info on violets and why they are so hard to get rid of. They produce seed twice in the year. First from the flowers and then again in summer from the base of the plant, without ever flowering. I had read about this, and then I observed it in my violets here. It's the oddest thing. That's the only plant I know of that will produce seed without a flower.

Karen