Some Plants Can Take Over The Yard

I enjoy plants of all kinds. But over the years, I have discovered that some of the more misbehaved plants tend to lessen that level of enjoyment.

One such plant would be the quaking aspen. It’s stunning with its white bark and shimmering leaves. But underground there is a massive root system that thinks nothing of sending up offspring all through the yard. What starts as one aspen usually results in a grove of aspen. There will be little aspen trees growing in the flower garden, through rock walls, and in the lawn. This is the price we have to pay for having this gorgeous specimen in our gardens. Our only hope is that our neighbors love the aspen as much as we do. Aspen roots know no boundaries.

Our neighbors may put up with that massive little tree grove growing in their lawn for only a short period of time. After the weekly ritual of mowing them down becomes irritating, an herbicide spray may become their means of control. The amount of herbicide on the leaves of the offspring may not be enough to kill the tree, but it can damage or weaken it. Stressed and weakened trees become susceptible to a host of diseases and insects - especially the poplar borer. This insect is death to quaking aspens.

Another tree that falls into this same category is the sumac - a gorgeous open tree with fabulous fall color. It, too, has the tendency to send up offspring all through the garden. However, I’ve yet to see a sumac stressed, injured or killed off by a lawn herbicide.

Trees aren’t the only fellows that can be invasive in our gardens. There are a few perennials that fit this mold also.

Money plant (lunaria biennis): Their dried seed pods, shaped like flat silver dollars, are often collected for dried bouquets. If these seed pods are not totally harvested as they ripen, the seeds will drop to the ground or be carried by wind and/or birds to other parts of the garden.

In the spring, hundreds of deep rooted, shrubby plants develop with fragrant blue flowers atop tall stems. They can be a nuisance, but they are interesting to grow.

Chinese lantern (physalis franchetii):

This, too, is a plant grown for its dried seed pods. But these papery seed pods resemble bright orange Chinese lanterns.

The plant will grow two feet tall and two feet wide. Once established, it will be around for many years. However, it, too, is quite prolific by sowing unharvested seeds about the garden.

Brugmansia (Datura):

This interesting fragrant plant should be left out of the garden if there are small children around. It is a member of the nightshade family, so it has toxic qualities. Many of us may be familiar with datura stramonium, also known as thornapple, or jimson weed.

It has upright, white, four-inch tubular flowers and prickly, egg-shaped fruit on three- to six-foot-tall plants. Once established, it is as difficult to eradicate as horseradish. Which brings me to the horseradish discussion.

Horseradish:

For those of you that like fresh horseradish, may I warn you: Once you have horseradish, you will always have horseradish. It is an invasive herb that is extremely difficult to eradicate.

It is the 8- to 9-inch-long root that we harvest. (This should tell you something about the plant.) The plant itself, a member of the mustard family, will grow two to three feet tall.

If you really want to grow fresh horseradish, you may try planting the roots in a bottomless five-gallon container.

When it’s time to get rid of the plant, you must eliminate every single little piece of root and rootlets attached to the main root.

If even the tiniest piece of rootlet is left in the soil, it will produce another plant.

I never want to discourage anyone from planting interesting flora. But we always must take into consideration that plants will be around long after we’ve moved on.

Someone is bound to inherit these gems. Know your plants before introducing them into the garden.

And, enjoy the Lilac Festival and take in the WSU Master Gardener’s free tour of lilacs, Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Finch Arboretum.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Phyllis Stephens Spokesman-Review