Tir, sounds like southern magnolia. I have 3 or4 scattered around the property . My "nice" ones are small fragerant ones that have soft leaves ,including bigleaf types that look soooo tropical .sorry to go off topic
Curse of the (fill in the blank)....
No prob digger on topic :) trees fit the bill. I know I've seen some great looking Magnolia's. But for my space it won't work.
As much as I enjoy the look of my stately old American elm, I curse it nearly year round for the literally thousands of seedlings I have to pull up each year. If it ever bites the dust then I will be replacing it with something other than an elm...
Dennis, I get all those seedlings too. Grrr... They even come up in the cracks between the house and patio pad. But, I have to say no other tree creates the same type of umbrella shade. I have a grouping of 5 and I would be devastated if I lost any of them.
The hackberries send out far fewer seedlings, but they are deeper and much harder to pull up.
I will go ahead and add honey locust. They send out babies up to 30 feet away. Sadly, or luckily I cant decide, all of the honey locust surrounding us have croaked or are on the way out. Not sure if its disease or what.
We get some from the tree that's across the street and down about a house. Grrrr!!!
Just saw this thread and I have to add my most non-favorite invasive, pain-in-the-back-to-get-rid-of plants:
I sooo agree on that black and blue salvia http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54031/. They form very large tubers and spread out underground. Still fighting that one after 3 years. Hopefully, this will be the year. I am going to dig up the plants it is hiding in, remove all of the salvia, and replant the "host" plants. That's what it's come down to.
Salvia lyrata ‘Purple Knockout’. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://www.jelitto.com/images/SA044.x.gif&imgrefurl=https://www.jelitto.com/deutsch/SA044.x.htm&usg=__z1gl7tTZbPTAkYmwduNdhBH8l3Y=&h=550&w=400&sz=195&hl=en&start=7&sig2=CQG86ilEF9FN9yKR5I-SGQ&um=1&tbnid=6ES1w4YuLXT33M:&tbnh=133&tbnw=97&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsalvia%2Blyrata%2Bpurple%2Bknockout%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1&ei=8GXaSYOiKJaktAOxw4isCg Makes an attractive purple-reddish rosette, then sends up narrow stalks with dirty-whitish flowers. And reseeds like the devil!! Fairly easy to pull up, especially when the ground is damp, but they just keep coming. Another several year battle.
Salvia uliginosa (bog sage) http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1152/ Has a beautiful blue flower, and grows in wet and dry, but travels like the wind.
Mirabalis jalapa (four o'clocks) http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/92/ I remembered these from my grandmother's garden and planted them in memory of her. She lived up north and they died each year. They don't die down here and those seeds that look like little cannon balls shoot off like cannon balls, each containing hundreds (thousands?) of seeds. They also form large tubers which are impossible to pull up. It took me several years, but I am finally free of them.
Ficus pumila (Fig ivy). http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2029/ Don't ever plant fig ivy. Ever. I still hate the people who had this house before me - and I've lived here 12 years now. And I'm still fighting their fig ivy.
Now, I like Cosmos (sulphureus). http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/218/ It is very reliable and reseeds freely all summer long. I like how it looks. Whack it back when it starts looking a little ratty, and soon seedlings beneath will be up and blooming - from late spring to freeze. But that is also what makes it a trouble maker. I have to keep pulling it up to uncover the other plants in the bed. Last fall I pulled it all up (well, all is relative to whatever seeds remain) and transplanted a couple of plants to a a more contained bed without plants that it can smother. I know I'll still have seedlings to contend with in other beds and I hope I will be able to handle that.
Mexican sedum (Sedum mexicanum) http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/102209/ Another plant I like, especially now when it is full of yellow flowers. But it reseeds like crazy and shows up everywhere. It is easy to pull up however.
Brazos (gulfcoast) penstemon (http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/55963/) Another love/hate relationship. Love it when it's flowering. Hate it when it reseeds everywhere. I've tried cutting it back at the end of its flowering to control it, but it still seems to end up everywhere.
I know there are those who don't mind all of this reseeding, but I don't have big spaces for these over achievers, and adding their progeny to all of the weeds that grow wonderfully well in this climate makes control a back breaker. (Whine...)
Purple heart (Tradescantia pallida) http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1160/ Roots deep, breaks off when you try to pull it. Have to dig and dig. Excellent ground cover though. It covers and keeps right on, rooting at each node, and sending out roots underground too. It grows in compost piles. Leave a piece anywhere and you will have a plant very soon. AbsoIutely no need to plant it. I get a rash handling this stuff.
An excellent tree is loquat leaved oak (Quercus rhysophylla) http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/169622/. Evergreen with larger leaves. Beautiful and carefree. Ike knocked mine down and I'm still sad about it.
Oh, yes. I have the dwarf mondo grass and I find nothing about it invasive. It is a very slow grower. The only problem I have with it, is that dollar weed gets into it, and it is difficult to impossible to get it out. I'm going to try some "Image" this year and see if that will control it without damaging the grass.
ceejay, excellant list, and THANK YOU for links!!!!!!!!!!!
I love the Apple mint and the Black & Blue plant, you can send me all you have!
Apple Mint makes the best Mohitos! My black & blue did not come back, the brush choked it out! If anyone is coming to the Jacksonville and CS RU, I would love some.
Thanks
Sylvia, I will be there and will bring you one.
I love the American Beautyberry and it never reseeds for me, I wish it would. However there was another bush that resembles the beautyberry that is very invasive. CJ do you know what that one is??
This was a beautyberry at Paul's cousin's in Port Orchard, WA. The pictures I've seen of the ones grown here have much darker berries.
Thanks Sweezel! it will be nice seeing your little self again. :) Which RU are you coming to?
Sheila - Sorry, but I don't know. But the native beautyberry that I had did not cause me any problems.
I would bring you lots of black and blue salvia, Sylvia (oooh, I like that - Salvia Sylvia), but mine is now in the garbage can. Dug it all up like I said I would. And mojito mint makes the best mojitos, IMHO. I drool when I brush up against it and get a whiff of that mojito fragrance.
Ok Ceejay... I will bring a flask to CS RU! lol I bet you can find more of that Black & Blue if you look for it. :) Do you still want to get rid of the Cleyra? If so, I am going to take a picture of mine to see is its the same thing. If so Big Black Bertha will haul it. lol
Hey CeeJay! I have a bunch you can take to her. I need to remove some in a bed I'm re-doing. Let me know.
Oh sorry, I will be in Jacksonville.
Sylvia, I am rooting black and blue for the CS RU if you need some.
Sylvia, you had better take them up on their offers. We dug that bed up and worked our behinds off trying to get every little piece of that black and blue salvia. Yes, it's impossible to get it all, but when I get through with it, it won't be any shape for giving. LOL! Too bad it is so obnoxious, because it sure is pretty - until it flops.
Still wanting to get rid of the cleyera. Do you have a trailer? I'll take a photo of it and post it here...
So you want to have a contest? Your apple mint against my mojito mint? Lordy - I gotta drive, Sylvia!!
CJ, are you coming to CS?
I'm not sure yet. That's why I haven't set up a trade list. If I'm able to, I will bring whatever I can find to give away, and food, of course! I've had to give away most of my divisions already. Just didn't have the time or pots to pot them up. The RU is a little later this year, which is good for people further north for sure. But a teense on the later side of good for me...
Let me put it this way: I WANT to come!!!
This is beyond maddening in my yard and I curse it every time I see it! I have no clue what it is and it's root system is extensive. My goal is to eradicate it from my yard this summer.
Looks like Sumac - maybe Rhus lanceolata. I can't remember what new ones look like to say for sure.
Well, whatever it is is certainly annoying!!
LOL Sumac colonizes underground so you probably have a nice little colony of roots running through the yard.
Oh joy!
I got some of that too Steph and it growing on the side of the House. Linda and i was just looking at it last sunday.
Yes I wil take any and all of the Black and Blue, I am going to plant it on the Neighbors side and I will plant the Rueilla on my side. Someone gave me this huge hunk..thinking i did not know what I am getting. lol
I am realy bad , I thought CS was the 16th... I need to my arse in gear!
Yeah Ceejay Take pictures
C.S , you are my kind of mean.I had trouble with neighbors over them not keeping their vicious dog at home .(She killed my 4# weener dog later ).When we moved, I left kudzu planted in her corn field . I'm not that mean anymore, getting too old ,I'll have to answer to that someday . Digger
You should have planted some next to their house, too!
Cj and CS , I'm a transplanted Texan , having been born in Wichita Falls , and "educated " in the Dallas , Ft Worth area . We may have met each other at one time or another . It's for sure , we would have been tight friends . lol , digger
Sorry I missed you! I lived in Ft Worth in a former life....
You didn't tell me that CJ. I have been in FW off and on my whole life.
But I never met you then.... :-) At least, I don't think so. I was MUCH younger then.
Yes...you are much younger than me I believe. LOL!! I turned 62 yesterday, but now that my back is behaving, I have not felt so good in 10 years.
Sheila, you definitely don't look your age!! :) You look (& act) much younger!
Thanks. That is sort of what my sister said in an email. I sent pictures of her grandson and I playing kick ball my backyard. She said "I know we are getting old, but when I see pictures of you playing like a kid, I feel there is hope for us yet"...LOL!
Kick ball! You are young.
I have to add Oxalis (with the pink flowers) to the list. They spread by seed and bulb multiplication and are everywhere! Even when you think you have pulled out the bulb, it seems another one grows.
Also chives. They were well behaved for many years but I didn't lop off the seed heads last fall and again...everywhere.
I don't have a problem with the onion chives, but the garlic chives are another story.
Sheila - you could be my little sister. LOL!
I am not believing that CJ, you look so much younger than I felt at CS RU that year. I think you are pulling my leg.
I'm big sister to both of you . digger
Believe it, sister.
Digger - you have to give us more than that.