Kissing our Nandinas Good By.

We had these Nadinas for over 30 years. I always thought they were great plants, they can take the heat, the cold, the drought, and keep themselves looking good.

On top of that they have no insect enemies, so what more could you want?
Well, about 10 years ago I became fascinated with Texas native plants and started learning about other alternatives to exotic plants.

In the process I found out about invasive plants, meaning that the exotic or non native plants spread to our forests waterways and prairies, and displace the native plants have lived there for hundreds maybe thousands of years, and in the process change the natural landscape.

Changing the native landscape will alter the the food and shelter for many forms of wildlife, lowering their populations and in some cases causing them to disappear altogether.
I thought, Oh nonsense!!! my Nandinas have been in my yard for 30 years and they never moved or spread.

Then one day we went to a forest in this area, and there they were, Nadinas, along with many other invasive trees and vines. It appears that the birds drop the seeds wherever they go.
So we had to do the right thing and they are coming out.
Here is how the bed in the front of the house looked.

This is the center of the Bed.

And the other side.

Here is the bed all cleared of Nandinas.
It took us about six hours of very hard work, Frank used a pick ax and all kinds of tools.
But they are out and I have a brand new canvas to play with. We did this last Winter.

Here is Frank with the results of our labor. The trash bags are full of roots that were too tough to grind, and the mounds of foliage will be shred for the compost.
I did cut all the berries off and sealed them very well, they went in the trash.

Way to go, Josephine! I did the same with Boxwoods around my house (I gave them away via Freecycle, since they don't berry and aren't invasive). I let most of the area go to grass, but in the beds along the back patio I put in Yaupon Hollies and Lantana Horrida. What a difference that made -- an immediate difference, I might add -- to the health, appearance, and diversity of my yard. What does your front bed look like now? I'll bet you had a great time deciding what to plant in that area.

Carla

And here I am proudly showing the results of our labor.
I will post here about the bed reconstruction and the plants that went in it.

For those who might be interested hare is the link to the Texas Invasive Plants site;
http://www.texasinvasives.org/index.html

Thank you Carla, I will be posting pictures as the bed comes along, I had to clean it out some more for broken pieces of roots the add compost and let the soil rest for a while.
Josephine.

Atleast there is some consolation to digging up nandinas...they will return to the earth as compost.
I guess we are some of the few that like nandinas.I like their evergreen soft foliage and it was easy to keep them confined (haven't checked the wild areas though) I am thinking of trying to propogate an oakleaf hygrangea to replace the tall one in the shady area. I also have some dwarfs(with berries) in heavy shade. Any suggestions for a low 2 foot evergreen?

Just read the invasive website... looks like only the tall one is a problem.(Hope so)

Yes, the dwarf hybrids that don't produce flowers or seed, are O.K.
Dwarf Yaupon Holly, Ilex vomitoria is a good evergreen,
and Coralberry, Symphoricarpos orbiculatus is semi evergreen is very good too.
Josephine.

So, if there are no flowers I can keep them. I may be out of luck. I already have coralberry and dwarf holly.BooHoo!I wonder if there is anything else that is suitable.
I will be looking forward to see your new beds. Is it sunny or shade?
Have you propogated shrubs? If so, do you use the same potting mix as perennials. Probably the key is to get the right cutting.

Let me check and see what other native evergreens I can find, right now I am thinking of Dwarf Wax Myrtle, that could be good.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with having more than one of something, the way i see it, if it works, go for it.
Yes, you can propagate shrubs with the same soil mix. It does take a lot longer, but I have propagated hollies, it took yaupon holly 4 months to root, it is very slow.
The trick is to keep them moist, I pot mine in cups and put the cups in individual pop bottle greenhouses, to hold the moisture, it works very well.
I have propagated trees that way too.
My front bed is mostly shade, so I am limited on what I can grow there.
Josephine.

Here is the new bed viewed from the side, it gets about 1 hour of sun when it is overhead, and about 30 minutes in the late afternoon from the west, so I am limited as to what I can put here.

In the back row close to the house I plant Coralberry, Symphoricarpos orbiculatus
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/56481/ I raised these myself.

In the center and at each end I put Frostweed, Verbesina virginica,
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/62734/index.html I raised these too, of course!!!

In the middle, from back to front, I planted a variety of plants, alternating them,including Golden Grounsel, Packera obovata, http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/63577/index.html a lovely evergreen low plant.

Brazos Penstemon, Penstemon tenuis, a lovely spring bloomer.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/55963/index.html

Obedient Plant, Physostigea virginiana http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/23/index.html

Carolina Phlox, Phlox carolina, http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/2081/index.html

In the center od the middle row, in front of the Frostweed,I planted, Yellow Columbine
Aquilegia chrysantha, http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/966/index.html

On either side of that I planted Cedar Sage, Salvia roemeriana.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/1918/index.html another near evergreen.

In the front row close to the stone edging I already had Oxblood Lily,
Rhodophiala bifida http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/1918/index.html
the only non native, but it has a very special meaning for me because it was given to me by a very special lady who has since passed away.

At each end at the front row I added Rain Lily, Zephyranthes drummondii
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/65974/ and that is the story.

So if everything goes well I will have, red, yellow, pink, white, and purple.
It doesn't look like much right now, here is the picture.
Josephine.

That is just lovely!! But aren't you afraid that the Coralberry and Obedient Plant will take over? Or are they more well-behaved in a shady spot? Be that as it may, I can't wait to see the "after" pictures, when the area has filled in with every shade of the rainbow. You are a wonderfully creative visonary, Josephine. :-)

Carla

Thank you Carla.
Maybe they will be more behaved in the shade, but no matter what, they are no match for my trusty clippers.
Josephine.

Oh my Josephine ... i dont have any wild animals over here. You should have called me. ;) just kidding.

I like your thoughtful plan. Thanks for the links aswell. What does your DGnamesake look like in the winter?

Thank you for your comment, I hope those plants will do well, since they will get very little direct sun. Time will tell, but it is fun to try.

Here is a link to a picture with the lovely ice formation, they vary a lot depending on how cold it gets and how much moisture there is.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/62556/
Josephine.

It is hard to tell from the picture (if I can pry my eyes from the ice formation) if there is foliage in the winter.What an interesting plant!
I just noticed I also have cedar sage. I had thought it was coral bells when I bought it many years ago. That was dumb luck!

The Frostwed goes dormant in Winter and comes back in the Spring.
Cedar sage is a very nice plant and also evergreen.

Thanks for this thread Josephine. I have a similar situation, but we haven't dug them up yet. Still recovering from the first batch we dug up.:) But now I have an example to follow for planting atleast. I didn't want to dig them up until I figured out what to replace them with. Great ideas!

Well, I have wanted mine out since I bought my house 3 yrs ago. Do you think Barbados Cherries would look good for the front of my house?

Oh!! I think it would be wonderful !!! I wish they were hardy here. Great idea!!
Josephine.

I hadn't thought of putting those there. Maybe if I could put something taller behind them that would be evergreen. The foundation of the house is quite tall there. It's a very difficult spot to plant.

Mary Lee, maybe you could put some Yaupon Hollies behind them.

That's a good idea for beside the window. The bed is about 16 feet long and there is a double window right in the middle (about 6 feet of window). There is a dward burford holly on the corner. But aren't yaupon hollies deciduous?

No, they are evergreen and very nice, I think they could work great.

I dont understand the ice formation in the pictrure, please tell me whats going on there. :(

Sylvia, in the winter when it freezes the stem on the frostweed explodes and the juices come out and make lovely ice patterns.

Oh my how cool is that! I would love to see it.