Hey wait a minute, I love my Tradescantia ohiensis!
Say Karen, If it helps at all, almost all of my iris are tall bearded with most of those being reblooming 'Immortal'. but I do have a few gift iris runners contained in liners. The daylilies are mostly all "whites" with a handful of lilacs. Not that there is such a thing as a true white daylily but I've got 'Gentle Shepherd', 'Joan Senior', 'White Temptation', 'Ice Carnival', 'Lime Frost', 'Snow Cloud', 'Body White', 'Absolute Zero', and another near white that isn't a registered cultivar yet but it will be next year. A friend of mine hybridizes the whites which is why I have them here. I'm pretty careful with all of the daylilies because they're either gifts or have been purchased from kids doing fund raisers at corners. The iris, I'm not so careful with. Those things seem to be bombproof. Not that I'd use RoundUp on mine but they seem to tolerate just about anything else.
What to do with quack grass?
Snapple, I don't know if Fusilade will kill the tradescantia, but Round up probably will. I'm going to try it on that area not because of the tradescantia and daylilies, but because it is also overun with quack grass, and if the Fusilade kills the other plants along with the quack grass, then it won't be a great loss.
Oh, btw, Equil, my tradescantia is the bright purple variety that is very invasive, and though it's very pretty, it just takes over and chokes out everywhere. I also have blue and pale blue varieties that spread by seed only, and are much better behaved. Of those 'white' DL's you listed, I have Ice Carnival and Joan Senior. Other whites I have include Queen Ann's Lace, White Tuxedo, Jolly White Giant and Big Snowbird. Of all of those, I especially like Big Snowbird. Very nice DL!
Karen
Do you know which Tradescantia you have? Tradescantia occidentalis? There are some cultivars out there now. Although none of them fit the bill by the formal definition of invasive, I've seen some planted out of their range that probably will end up being formally classified as invasive sooner or later. They can definitely be a nuisance in a garden setting.
Invasive Species Definition Clarification and Guidance White Paper (PDF | 104 KB)
Submitted by the Definitions Subcommittee of the Invasive Species Advisory Committee (ISAC)
Approved by ISAC Apr 27, 2006
http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/docs/council/isacdef.pdf
Invasive Alien Species Concepts, Terms and Context (IAS-CTC)
CAB International.
http://www.cabi.org/ias_ctc.asp?Heading=Terms
Oh la la, do you have a photo of your 'White White Giant' or the 'Big Snowbird'?
Mine is T. virginiana. It arrived somehow as a volunteer. I let it grow one season. Huge mistake. I've been fighting it ever since. It pops up somewhere every year. I've also had 'Sweet Kate' ( andersoniana group). It is really lovely for the most part, until the foliage flops and browns in mid summer. I gave it to a friend with a woodland garden which is a much better setting.
This should explain your "popping up" somewhere every year-
http://www.se-eppc.org/pubs/ww/birdsSummer2002.pdf
Glyphosate should kill it. I checked for you and found nothing that indicated these were glyphosate resistant. If that doesn't do it for you, try a product that has the active ingredient of triclopyr and should be the end of what ever popped up.
Bad news ladies, doesn't look as if fluazifop will kill any Tradescantia other than fluminensis.
I suspect glyphosate resistance, because the leaves laugh at it.
Well, Equil, that's okay about the fluazifop not killing the trad. I just want it to kill the quack grass. The trad. can be dug out for the most part easier than the quack grass can. I don't know the specific type of trad. I have. My mother planted it years ago and it has take over a very large area. I have been gradually digging it out. The worst problem with it in gardens where it's mixed with other perennials is that until the foliage dies back it really competes with the other plants by shading them out, so that they cannot develop as well as they should. I'm sure the roots are competing for moisture and nutrients as well. Here is a picture of some of that invasive trad. in bloom in with some of the light blue trad., which I don't have a problem with spreading by stolens like the purple one.
Karen
Equil, here is a pic of Jolly White Giant.
And here is Big Snowbird
Here is a DL that my late mother hybridized that she wanted to register. The name she picked was Cranview Fair Time, and I plan to register it one of these days.
Uh oh, laughing leaves... not a good sign ;)
Make them pay for mocking you! You go get em girl. Hit em up at around 11am on a day when the air temps are going to be above 60 for the next week or so but not higher than 80 and that should give you some results. Use something with triclopyr.
I really couldn't find anything out there on glyphosate resistance on these and I specifically looked for any information on mutations. I don't think there's any Tradescantia out there that is... yet.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Love that 'Jolly White Giant'! Very nice! Very nice indeedy. Do you ever notice any moths visiting that particular plant or maybe you aren't outside at that time of night and can't say.
The Tradescantia on the left maybe virginiana like what snapple has and the one on the right maybe 'Karminglut'?
I've not noticed any moths on JWG, Equil, though I dare say they would only be out at night, other than the sphinx moth.
Here is another pic of Big Snowbird, taken in either early morning or late evening.
Karen
That was actually taken in the evening. Still looks good at the end of the day.
Karen
We have some sort of cheap solar lights that line the sidewalk to the front door. They're old and don't give off the light they used to but sometimes on a warm night I sit out on the stoop and watch the night crew at work in the glow of those lights. If there's decent moonlight I can see what's flitting around even better. It's interesting to watch the moths. They truly are a forgotten pollinator.
Very nice shape on your 'Big Snowburd'.
Should mention that I usually have to spray quack grass twice with the fusilade to make it die. It begins to weaken after about 10 days from the first spraying but it really seems to need a second spraying to be sent on its way to plant heaven.
Well, I do see plenty of moths at my window at night, and some of the smaller ones manage to sneak in. On a couple of rare occasions I have seen Luna moths. Those are very beautiful.
Karen
Luna moths! The moths of all moths in my book. I've only seen them twice in my whole life. Lucky you.
Yes, I have only seen them twice as well. The first time was in Fryeburg, ME.
Karen
Been awhile since I've been online, but I must say that the Sedgehammer seems to be working with a few drops of the Dawn detergent. I've got much less than ever had and I am definitely a Lazy Gardener.