I thought TX star was an annual, shows what I know. Ruella can seed, alot.
C
worst garden mistakes
Oh, my, did I laugh at the jerusalem artichokes, the watermelon vine, etc. One note: Weed-be-Gone is waaaay too weak to work on any woody-stemed plant. Buy Brush-Be-Gone or dilute full-strength Roundup. The secret: cut the stem and immediately (and I do mean immediately) brush or spray with Brush-Be-Gone or your home-made mixture. Repeat. This is what I had to do to get rid of some wisteria, poison ivy, etc. It may take multiple applications over a period of time, but will work. As for Asian Jasmine, too many stems to be practical. I WISH my neighbor didn't have it as I fight it continually (as well as her blasted Chinese Tallow tree - no longer allowed to be sold).
One of my pet peeves is Ardisia . . . . this is a demon plant that will take over. Maypop, oh yes, a monster. I have found a cultivar of passion flower which is not invasive, but heaven help you if you plant 'Incense', etc. Another vine to avoid in the Houston area is Clitoria (Butterfly Pea) which I planted for its blue blooms. That plant seeded everywhere, but was easy to pull up. Fortunately, it was killed last winter, but its seedlings are still appearing.
Another plant that gave me fits was Kimberly Queen fern. I loved it as a house plant. Planted it outside and watched it for over a year. No problem. And, then, it went nuts and spread everywhere. It took me TWO YEARS to get it out of the bed. I then had a brainstorm and planted some under a huge 35' to 50' magnolia with branches all the way to the ground. Nothing grows there, right? Kimberly Queen did and has gradually made a gorgeous ground cover under both trees. I may let it take over the front yard all the way to the curb 'cause three equally large live oaks make it hard to grow grass well. Of course, it may then spread to the street.
Leslie
This thread has me recalling one of the first non-rose plants I bought for my new rose garden up in Illinois almost twenty years ago. It was an echinops variety very romantically described in a very prominent plant nursery's catalog. A hybrid that would not be invasive. Said to look absolutely lovely with red roses and finches would love it in the fall. I had to have it. It did look lovely with my Linda Campbell rose. The first year. Then it started to multiply. Both my seed and root. Echinops were coming up in my yard, the neighbor's yard, and two yards over. We all needed Roundup to get rid of it. I never did see one finch in my yard. I've noticed that this nursery does not list the Scottish variety any longer. Hmmmmm! Wonder why?!?
Just a note about the Honeysuckle it has taken thousand of acres of forest here in SE Oklahoma and was sure a nasty problem here untill the man next door bought hisself some goats ,,They cleaned our fences off in no time ..The nephews down in Louisiana are trying to grow it without any success due to the high Deer population seems the deer eat it up before it can get established... Looks like I may have to get me a couple of goats for the back yard this fall,I have very few perrenials in the back so not much they could damage
Coral honeysuckle is not invasive, that is the other type which grows all over, even in zone 5 where I used to live.
C
how can you have too many roses? too many elephant ears? to much honeysuckle, an over abundance of passion flowers? too many watermelons?
i am not really asking--that is my first thought all the time--every time i hear a pretty plant is invasive i either think "go ahead you pretty thing and invade" or "won't be invasive in MY yard because --it's dry here, i will watch it, etc"
i happen to be one of those people who sometimes have to learn the hard way! so in my silly thinking i have a picture of a yard taken over by beautiful roses everywhere--and i know that is not the case!
I had the honeysuckle growing in a bed below a 5' retaining wall and concrete on the other three sides. It grew through the wall and came up in the lawn 5' above it. And the neighbors' yard too. We could mow it down, but when it started heading for the trees that was enough.
Grits, ruellia seed pods snap and throw their seeds, literally dozens of feet. It's been three years since I pulled it up, and I still find seedlings. It's really pretty, but after a while it doesn't look quite as pretty as it used to. :) The dwarf versions (Katie) are not quite as bad, but eventually they all spread. I bought a Katie's Blue in 2005--just one. Today I have lined my driveway with it instead of liriope.
Let's not forget English Ivy. That stuff is HORRIBLE! My backyard neighbor that lives caddy-corner to us has it growing on their fence and it's creeped into my yard. I'd like to burn it!!
A fellow gardener across the street had it all over the wall of their detached garage and up in a pecan tree. They worked very hard to eradicate it and have put in a lovely butterfly garden in the area. It will really harm siding and roofs of a house not to mention killing any other vegatation.
Which reminds me the Asian Jasmin between my house and my neighbors has to be cut to stay from under my siding.
As I reported earlier I was raised in Louisiana where everything is invasive but at an early age moved to the arid part of the west (high desert) where nothing grows that is not watered and invasives were never really a problem and now I live in an area that normally sees some single digit temps in the winter which really helps with everything but that *&*&^&**%^^** Black Locust,Privet and Honeysuckle ,,I happened to have one of the pink Honeysuckle wish it was just a tad more agressiv LOL
About that Texas Star ==the lady that gave it to me told me it was a hibiscus then a person said no it was a Texas Star ,but he later ammended his statement to write and say it was a Texas Star variety of Hibiscus,next time it has a bloom I will send the pic along to Y'all...
I am sure it is the Texas Star Hibiscus here. Under the right conditions it could be a problem, but I have tried to encourage it in my garden and it doesn't spread for me. I have had them for about 5 years.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1872/
This doesn't look a lot like your pic ===looks to me just another Hibiscus only the foliage is diferent
Never found TX star to be invasive. Mine has made one seedling in 5 years. No underground runners or off shoots, so I don't think of it as invasive. Seedlings are usually not as big a problem to eradicate as underground stems and suckering seems to be. To me, the leaves look a lot like a big pot plant.
C
Grits, your hibiscus flower although very pretty doesn't look like the Texas star, but the foliage is very similar, maybe it is a hybrid seedling, they sometimes cross with others in the area.
Josephine.
As I said it was a gift and I almost never yturn down a gift of a plant...
Well, whatever it is one thing is for sure, it is lovely.
here is a pic of it along with the Ruella
I only got this around Memorial day as a 3 ft sucker and already it is over 8 foot tall
I must say that is a lovely fast growing plant. What did you feed it?
It's got a very bright and pretty flower whatever it is!
Josephine I just gave it some 13-13 - 13 in the initial planting mix and a little alfalfa tea since,it may be that it is where it gets both direct and reflected sunlight
Well, it sure did the trick.
Houston, Louisiana, everything is invasive, yup, chuckl, Ruellia, Mexican Petunia-3 main types low growing, to tall, and Texas ruellia wild, the cold backed them down from this winter, hasn't stopped them, but then, ANY good xeriscaping plant is usually a weed tough enuff to be grateful to keep on living. And since it intends to live, it takes tough conditions to make it fight harder to survive. I love these pics, I really do love these pics, chuckle.
what is TX ruella?
untill this spring I had never even heard of Ruella so let the info flow...
Oh I know ruella, I have pulled up the tall Mex. Petunia and only let the seedlings of the dwarf grow each year then remove the mature plants too. It's invasive.
C
grits,
your purple invasive is perilla, a wild form of coleus
I like it around my ponds where it doesn't hurt anything
Mexican petunia IS ruellia, it is considered a weed by the most mexicans I know, I don't have a picture of my Texas native reullia-the boys have been weed eating, i prefer its flowers to the Mex Petunias. the higher growing ruellia has a pinkish-salmon flower while the lower growing one has the little purple flower, it is used as a xeriscaping plant, but I KNOW they are laughing at us when they SELL the stuff to us. YUP, LAUGHING.
however, that isnt a gardening mistake, let's add Gotu Kola as a mistake. still have no clue why I thot it might be useful in an herb garden, and dont know if I can corral it fast enuff, chuckl
kittriana, that pond is beautiful! I wish all my garden non-mistakes looked as good as that!
mexican petunia........blue and white
trumpet vine
some kind of mint
peach giganteum canna
this is my whole list so far. the trumpet vine had to be the worst though. in the front yard.
gotu kola..........is that that little roundish leafed ground cover?
My invasive garden plant is "root beer plant". I don't know the scientific name. It was given to me and I started it from a leaf I cut off from the mother plant. It has big heart shaped leaves and looks pretty in the garden but boy does it spread. It spreads by underground runners and the stems are woody and it is very difficult to pull up.
Some call it Hoja Santa. Purchased mine from Northhaven Gardens which is one of the hoity toity nurserys in Dallas. My Mexican yard crew says to wrap fish in the leaves and grill or broil. It is another of the many invasives in my garden. That's ok....that much less to plant.
BTW, the "pot" plant referred to above is marijuana. I have had Texas Hibiscus for several years. When I first planted it I got lots of ribbing about it being illegal. Every year the original plant puts out additional "stems" (actually fairly large). Every bloom becomes a seed pod and I cut them and share. Have started 3 other plants directly in the garden. Very easy and beautiful blooms.
Hey, Christi, when we were at your house after your back surgery, you gave me some seeds for a hardy white hibiscus. I only planted one seed (last summer) and it came up right away. Survived the tough winter in a little plastic cup. Now it's about 4 feet tall and is blooming. I love it, and--I'm so thankful it's hardy.
is this your hardy white hibiscus?...This one is hardy for me here on the northern border. It is called Blue River II. If ya"ll have a different one I will exchange seeds with you.
Soon I will have lots of seeds for the white and the Texas Star. The white I have looks exactly like an okra bloom. FYI okra is of the hibiscus family. Just happens that their seed pods are good to eat. Mine are blooming like crazy as they love high heat.
Patti, the grow to over 8 feet, die to the ground in cold weather and come back double the next Spring. You should visit again as I have tons of things that could be shared. Not a good time to mail anything.
Let me add another ,this year I planted some Burgundy okra and it is a pretty plant but DW says no more of that red okra it is tough and dry and flavorless..while I am writing I need to tell Y'all that the Texas Star has now bloomed a bloom that looks just like your pix and yesterday I had a chance to look at the mother plant of mine and it is just the same as Y'alls ...It is a mass of suckers hope mine doesn't sucker that bad ..If it does I can stop that with some old carpeting since it is in a planter ..Hmmm is a barrel a planter or just a big pot ??? LOL
Funny I have been looking for that rootbeer plant everywhere and it sounds like a weed where you live. I think just not finding it under the right name. My Dh's family uses it for cooking and now he wants me to grow and use it too.
Cannas have turned out to be another "mistake" but nothing is as bad as the mexican evening primrose and the blue day flower. I am pulling that stuff out on a daily basis. I also planted that trumpet vine and I can see from every one's posts that is was a mistake!!!
now this is the purple leafed plant I was referring to earlier it is georgeous but you really have to keep it in check but is strickly an annaul let me know if it is the same as around the pond
