Evil incarnate

Hey - in another posting where I revealed I was a "Lord of the Rings" fan, I was asked which plant would represent the "ring" - which of course is the physical representation of all things evil. So, in your opinions, what represents evil incarnate in your garden, or in gardens in general. :-) lol

Seandor

Bittersweet - and poison ivy! I've pulled out enough of both for a lifetime - and there's plenty more.....

I would vote for poison ivy. It really messes me up. Relatively speaking, I can live with weeds (and I do!)

I don't think I have ever seen poison ivy . . . . is it a north-east native only?

Aegopodium or Houttuynia or Celandine..........

Quackgrass, chickweed, creeping charlie, and the grass that isn't grass. you can rake and rake and have a huge pile, but it's back the next year.

Annual meadow grass! Grrrrrrr. :)

Bronze fennel. Plant one and you will be pulling up babies for years!

Common lawn grass, of any species. I live in the woods and have no use for it, but try to tell the birds that.

Creeping Charlie!!!

Oh no, Harper!

Here's my creeping Charlie! He'll be a year old next month.

I have a surfeit of a briar plant in the woods next to our house where I would like to put a woodland garden. It has leathery green leaves, prickers, and spreads by underground runners. It laughs at weedkillers applied to the leaves and engenders much swearing in foreign languages when I try to pull it out. Grrr.

Awww Pirl, look at the hair on that cherub! Send me a start of that Creeping Charlie!

How I wish I could.

Creeping charlie or ground ivy. I don't know how it got here, but I sure can't get rid of it!

Ivy growing up trees. It goes so fast and clings with so much tenacity!

I hate those prickly weeds - I don't know what they are called but they grow big enough and really hurt when you grab them by accident...ugh! NOW THOSE ARE EVIL!!!

Thistle may be the culprit. They are so prickly!

Pirl, I couldn't resist sending a photo of my "creeping Charlie," who has colonized MY heart, at least (I'm a grandma, if it wasn't obvious.)
I try not to hate any plant, since I have so little luck with eradicating them, but those prickly twining vines that catch at my legs when I hike in our NE forest are SO irritating! Wish I knew the correct botanical name so I could identify them.

He is soooooo cute! Just adorable and huggy looking. Is he a Charlie also?

I think the ones you find in the woods that grab onto your clothes is the plant that led to the development of Velcro. I don't like it either! Yes for Velcro, no for the plant.

Velcro LOL That was good!

Awww what a darling boy! I could kiss those kissable cheeks!!!!

Dawn - did you ever look at the wallpapers - even picket fence borders that are tall and can be used exactly as you want it?

Yes, my grandson has been known as Charlie since birth, and he is still creeping, though probably not for long--he stands and teeters, before collapsing back onto all fours.

As I look out over my austere and February-frozen garden, it's hard to believe that, come summer, I will be waging a fierce war against various weeds. I'm almost looking forward to it. Right now the ground is rock-hard, my hardy (I hope!) evergreens are looking dessicated, and even the oak-leaf mulch looks uncomfortably cold. That's the thing about living in a seasonal climate; whatever season you are in feels like a permanent state. . . and then it changes. So different from coastal California.

--Emily

To me four seasons means four times the joy. So much to celebrate when spring comes 'round.

Japanese beatles...

Here they arrive July 4th - Freedom to invade.

Gooey, slimey, slugs. The little buggers survive everything and multiply like there's no tomorrow. I could probably even forgive them a little if they were cute and furry like deer.

Ducks - ducks love to eat slugs. They aren't furry - but they are cute and they lay eggs.

Have you ever tried to clean duck beaks that were glued together from eating too many slugs? ERK!

mulch, no I haven't, and I sincerely hope I never do (eww....gross)

Grampapa, I hope you don't either, it was indeed gross! And the ducks are less than grateful for the help.

Evil incarnate for my garden: Rabbits in the winter and Japanese Honeysuckle & Multiflora rose bushes the rest of the year....

Kathleen,
Slugs are necessary food (only in their small young form) for fireflys.

The biggest evil in my garden has to be one of my neighbors who has done everything from removing plants, mulch, edging, fencing to turning me in regularly to the lawn police. We have an uneasy truce at this time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Your neighbour sounds like a troll, sempervirens.

LOL you guys are too funny!

sempervirens,
Now that you mention it I was going to say poison ivy and bittersweet but my neighbor is far more destructive. After clear cutting his 3 acre lot he ran his driveway up the property line and was so irate that I had in one area planted screening of 15 leyland cypress that are now 15' tall that last winter he dug a trench 2-3' deep one foot from the trunk the entire length of the 15 cypress and left the roots exposed all winter. I hired tree guys who shrugged their shoulders and took a wait and see approach. All 15 made it through the winter and showed little stress then in the heat of last summer when I thought there was nothing more he could do he sheared all of the branches on his side. Of course the trees are sparse and disfigured but appear to be still surviving. Now did I mention that for seven years his large dog has come over every morning to empty his bowels at in my garden. Oh my I could go on and on. kt

kt and semp, people can always be far worse than any plant. it's a shame because it's purposeful.

I wish I had fireflies. I was reading that you need a place, like a brushpile, for them to hide. I haven't seen any since I was a kid. My grandparents always had them. They had lots of vegetation, groundcovers, etc around their home. We used to fill a jar and take them in the root cellar where it was pitch dark. but we always let them go after.

Seandor, if you find a plant to represent the Ring, you aren't going to plant it, are you?

kt - try poison ivy - on your neighbor's side.

Absolutely NOT! The whole point of LOTR is to get rid of the ring . . . In fact, a true plant "ring" would be incredibly beautiful - extremely difficult for most "mere mortals" to resist, but would be inheritantly evil. Say, something very beautiful, with an inticing fragrance, but slowly poisons you until you die. :-)

What most people are describing would more accurately reflect orcs and trolls.

I am looking for a plant to represent Arwin and Galadriel (the two most beautiful women (both elves)) Any suggestions?

Purple loosestrife for the ring?
Seandor, are you looking for short beauties for your elves?