Garden thugs "throw down"

I posted earlier about Perilla and it's reseeding ability and got to thinking that compared to my Star of Yelta morning glory, Perilla did not seem so bad. I started out with just a few seeds two seasons ago and now am battling the Yelta all over the place! I had thought it would be nice to wind a single plant up a shepherds hook and by the end of the summer my hook looked like cousin it. It looked like a monster ready to start shuffling across my lawn. Not to mention the privacy fence that they reached over and under. I had to throw down a few times to reclaim the sidewalk on the other side of the fence. I thought it would be fun for everyone to post what was the seasons thug in their garden and their experiences with it. If you look at this pic closely you can see the Yelta establishing dominance. Let's get ready to rumble....

I had a huge problem with Lady Bells (Adenophora). No matter how much you pull it up, the little pieces of root just keep multiplying. It is too bad, because it is a pretty plant. Looks like campanula.
I have native morning glory that came in with a load of dirt that I have been pulling up for 4 years. It multiplies with underground runners just the the Lady Bells.
Are there any morning glories that are not invasive? I could put up with pruning but only put the MG's in a pot until I hear from someone that they don't spread underground.
Very pretty garden, BTW.

Thank you, that is just the side garden but I always like the view out of the sunroom. We also have bindweed here that is wild and it's like the kudzu of the midwest. You just cannot get rid of those roots easily. At least Yelta only spreads by seeds.

Just looked up lady bells and at least it IS a very pretty thug!

That's good to know that not all MG's spread. I have been too afraid to plant them based on my previous experience. LOL
What part of Nebraska do you live in? My daughter lives in Plattmouth when she is home.

Plattsmouth is pretty close I live in a teeny town called Otoe near Nebraska City.

To add my two cents worth. Wild morning glory is a whole different animal from the tame varieties. Wild morning is well-known as a weed which is very difficult to erradicate for the reasons mentioned here. Don't let your experience with that keep your from tame morning glories.

My "thug" is a merremia. I had one at the house where I used to live and it was covering tree after tree in my orchard. When I moved to my permanet home five years ago I selected the location for my one remaining merremia carefully. It now provides shade for my house and patio and is headed for the trees but can be kept in check, sort of. (It did pull down my phone wire when I turned my back on it.) I wrote to JLHudson as I'd gotten the seeds from them. Got back an email saying they had never heard of one that big. I think it's the Jack and the Beanstalk bean.

I think the moral is that if you live in a subtropical climate you must be very careful where you plant this. (also, because it doens't like to be transplanted.)

katiebear

Oh very pretty plant though! I had to look it up :)

The annual type of morning glory is delightful, and although it will reseed itself in my climate it's controllable. The one that lives year round here is invasive in the extreme. It was well behaved for the first two years, and then after a rainy winter I found it everywhere and it became my garden enemy. Sadly, it's much stronger than I am, so it's going to be a long hard fight. Got to admit that it's pretty sometimes.

Mary

I agree, I love my morning glories. In my yard their ability to reseed is amazing. The seed survives our bitterly cold winters.

One of my beautiful thugs has been larkspur. When in full bloom, the garden is pretty, love the bunny-head flowers. But... it's every where! So i have been working on getting rid of them, will miss the positive aspects of them tho.

lol I just bought some larkspur! Figures I have an uncanny ability to find the thugs!

I made the mistake of never trying to keep them in one area, they were so pretty you know. I was also in the cottage garden mode. I don't know if i'll ever have the colorful garden i used to have anymore. Too much time weeding the flowers out, therefore my garden owned me! Going through some changes where (in two or three years), i hope for a more easily contained garden.