Plants that go wild

Our Japanese anemones have spread from a plant or two to masses, encroaching well into the lawn.
Japanese anemone. I'd be ok if it was the white one but it's the pink one

Oh dear, I bought a pink one a couple of years ago, it's in a pot on the patio

Monbretia - pull it up and it appears further along!
Ivy - I think we might have got rid of it all at last as it was growing over the wall and strangling a neighbour's plants despite regular chopping back.
Grape hyacinths.

Agapsnthus - I found some at last at the garden centre, they can take over if they like!

I planted cyclamen and they seem to spring up everywhere, including in gravel but they're delicate and pretty so I leave them.

It's odd that some plants which were prolific suddenly disappear, I've just realised that all my aquilegia had disappeared.

Oregano is a thug and will spread everywhere, all the green patches in the lawn are oregano. In the flowerbeds, everywhere!

BlueBelle! I must believe you are talking flowers and not naughty boys.

Plants that go wild are the good ones- the ones suited to your soil and to your climate. What is a weed in one part of the world, is a prize possession elsewhere where conditions are not suited, and great care is required.

I have learnt to love the plants which are suited to my climate and conditions, and to enjoy them. And to use some control over them, if they really decide to grow in the wrong place.

Why do we want to fight all the time, why do we always want what is not suited?

I have a very old house with a wonderful cottage garden- and those plants are all my friends. If really in the wrong place- I move them, or pot them- and every year, I give lots and lots and share them around. And in the autumn, after flowering, any I don't want to seed, like golden rod for instance- I cut their heads off and bin them (not compost).

Pulmonaria, aqueligia, wild geraniums, veronicas, 6 different types of mint, and so many more. A joy.

I do too Caleo love them
I can imagine them at night dancing by the moonlight and joyously spreading their little seeds far and wide
love them all

I love these defiant things that won't give in to being regimented.

Spanish bluebells, aquilegia, the white version of what I call agrostemma (think a kind of campion now) when I'm trying to encourage the magenta.

Grape hyacinths
Japanese anemone. I'd be ok if it was the white one but it's the pink one
Erigeron/Mexican daisy, but I like it
Aquilegia, they seed everywhere and hard to remove with roots like parsnips if they get too big/old.

Our Japanese anemones have spread from a plant or two to masses, encroaching well into the lawn. I’m half inclined to let them get on with it, but the season of prettiness is relatively short, so I suppose we should dig them up, but restoring the grass feels like too much faff. (Where’s the lazy baggage emoji?)

Vinca and woodruff are my nemeses.

Other stuff like climbers are really only a pain because I don’t prune them when I should.

It is feeling quite springlike out there today, so I’m sat planning.

First thing is to weed and tidy all beds and mulch like mad to combat another drought.

I’ll start hopefully next week when it is due to warm up a bit.

It’s Welsh Poppy that takes over my garden.

I've got forget-me-not coming up in the middle of the path and along its edges and large white daisies by the edge of the lawn, as well as in the border. I must say, as a 'natural garden' (and a lazy gardener) it doesn't look too bad.

Vinca has spread fairly nicely thus far in a couple of corners so I'm happy to say it suppresses proper weeds. It depends on your style of garden, I guess.

Hypericum or St. John's Wort is the bane of my life. I inherited it with the garden.
Love my forget-me-nots though: the Alzheimer's emblem flower 😊

Arum italicum went wild in our last garden. We had to use black plastic and bark mulch over the entire border, to try to kill it. I don’t know if it worked - we moved!
And Vinca! That should come with a free bottle of weedkiller.

Aquilegia arrived here about 15 years ago (self seeded) and took over the borders. I’ve found that cutting off the long stems after the flowers are finished helps prevent it getting worse. It’s very pretty in flower, but unsightly afterwards. I’ve found it growing in pots and tubs, in the cracks between paving slabs and it’s even taken root in the lawn.

I love nigella Avalon, it’s so pretty, has lovely seed heads and (crucially) is easy to pull up if it appears where you don’t want it. I couldn’t bring myself to call it a thug!

I will never again grow Love-in-a-Mist Nigella. It seeds everywhere.

Still trying to get rid of a pretty pink and white Vinca called Jenny that turned into a thug.

Lemon Balm Melissa and Marjoram or Oregano also growing everywhere it’s not wanted. Why don’t they stay in the herb garden?

Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it is actually illegal to plant Montbretia in the wild as it is classified as a non native invasive species. The wild orange one seems to be the worst but other cultivated Crocosmia as it is renamed such as Lucifer aren’t so prolific and I don’t mind a few extra.

The other pain in my garden is Spurge - Wilamena I think, a dwarf variety which has invaded and captured huge parts of my rockery.

The worst is you can pay a plot of money for one specimen at the garden centre then find it is not only easily propagated but becomes a problem. There should be warning labels!

Lily of the valley gets rampant and invasive
If only mine would survive! I’m hoping my grape hyacinths will become invasive!!

I love things that grow profusely as I don’t like or have a manicured garden so as well as all the bulbs and plants I plant and move around, I also have dozens of forgetmenots montbretia, nerrines, Spanish bluebells , lily of the valley and wild garlic just coming up wherever they want to and I love it

Spanish Bluebells, Montbretia, Crocosmia, Periwinkle, and Alstroemeria - I've have an abundance of all these in my garden at one time or another and have never knowingly planted any of them.

my aus sister told me about agapanthus and that it took days of hard work for them to pull them out. I have agapanthus in pots and always make sure to cut the seed heads off

I second that about passionflower. My neighbour grew it up my wall and fence and I have had to put a strong impregnated bamboo barrier down into the soil as the passionflower roots were firing through under the wall into my garden. I pour copper sulphate solution down between the barrier and stone wall, it supports the membrane and stops roots developing in that area. The roots were appearing yards away in my garden, not any more

Lily of the valley gets rampant and invasive

do = don’t

Is passionflower the same as a passion fruit vine or is it the wild version? We have a passion fruit vine and get a few passion fruit every year. I’d love the grape hyacinths,though- swap you some mint ? I don’t have much success with them, probably we do get enough rain.

Montbretia is a problem in the UK too, and it’s such hard work to dig out because of the bulbs clumping.
I’ve also got an issue with Spanish bluebells, I’m constantly digging them up from random places in my garden.

I agree about lemon balm - it pops up everywhere. Valerian is another - pretty but if you’re not quick to cut the flowers off when they go over it seeds everywhere.