Thugs - Page 2

I sowed some eryngium gigantum 'miss willmott's ghost' which was lovely and architectural , however i think that Miss willmott may be haunting me for sometime to come.

her offspring appear in cracks in paving, at the foot of walls and a rockery far from the original postion. As it biennial i can spot the ones growing where they shouldn't and pull them out when they in the leafy stage.

A bronze fennel plant that I rescued from the discount area of a garden centre has made me have some regrets. It was touch and go whether it would survive at one point but its offspring are very much full of vigor and hard to see against the soil.

I love fennel so much I'll put up with the seedlings

I like Fennel as well hyppybyker but it seems that every seed that makes it to the ground germinates, i cant cut them down before the seeds set as they are nice in the winter plus as homes for ladybirds etc. So I end up with a little aniseedy forest, I find that they tend to lose their graceful semi see through-ness after a few years so pull them out and leave a seedling to take its place.

That's what I'm planning to do - I've got a lovely big stand on a place that will be 're-assigned' next year so I've left a few seedlings to grow elsewhere to take it's place.

As you say such a beauty in the frost and even now with rain hanging on every frond.  And i'm sure I've got far more ladybirds this year because of it - there were masses in there

Purple ajuga is my thug runs rampant through, over and around every thing, been pulling barrow loads of it out.

also very tall white daises nightmare to dig out once you have them

I know that Himalayan honeysuckle does seed itself all over the place, but it is worth it just to see the blackbirds repeatedly launching/ jumping off the ground and trying to grab a berry before they crash land.Also, as someone else said, the seedlings are easy to remove from where you don't want them.

Hello everyone and Blairs, Tony and Cherie. Well they could be. Just kidding. What a response. I,ve grown them all and what,s worse I nicked a piece of Geranium C. Druce ( no police amongst us i hope, I plead insanity) and it,s still rampaging through borders, paths,neighbours. Crime really doesn,t pay. Oh, and unusually it,s raining here in Cambridgeshire. Snails night out again xx

I'll be out with the torch tonight in the rain - need to find the beggars who have ruined 3 dahlias grrr

What an exciting Friday night!  Maybe a visit to the pub beforehand is in order.....

I used to have opium poppies - Papaver somniferum in one of my beds. I liked them so much I sprinkled the seeds liberally around. They were very pretty for a while but they make a terrible mess when they go over. I probably wouldn't deliberately sow them again but if I had a piece of bare ground that I was desperate to cover quickly, they could be the answer.

Emma

gardenersworld.com team

Wild strawberries! I had visions of being able to edge a flowerbed with them, ha. After one summer I ripped them all up and have now confined them to a few pots where I have underplanted bigger things. They remove the need for weeding and the strawberries may only be the size of a pea but they taste fabulous, so I have now become quite fond of them. But they still send their runners hopefully over the edge of the pot.

years ago an old gentleman gave me a pot of alstroemerias because i had admired them in his garden, i split the little tuber things into two lots and planted them in the garden and although they haven't spread i cant get rid of them, every year i dig them up but every year they come back again, they flop all over the place and are a perfect hiding place for snails will pulling them out of the ground as they appear  weaken them

untill they give up 

Leggi wrote (see)

weejenny wrote (see)

I wish I could get japanese anemones to survive. I have the welsh poppy I love it I know it seeds everywhere but thats the look I want I have a red monarda that seeds everywhere too

Do Monarda's self seed a lot then? I have a really tall one in my garden and I absolutely love it.

Yes they do i was given a plant with a warning that i wasnt to complain about it taking over. Ive let it self seed up till now this is third year but from next year some will be given away and weeded out too

weejenny wrote (see)

Leggi wrote (see)

weejenny wrote (see)

I wish I could get japanese anemones to survive. I have the welsh poppy I love it I know it seeds everywhere but thats the look I want I have a red monarda that seeds everywhere too

Do Monarda's self seed a lot then? I have a really tall one in my garden and I absolutely love it.

Yes they do i was given a plant with a warning that i wasnt to complain about it taking over. Ive let it self seed up till now this is third year but from next year some will be given away and weeded out too

Purely by chance mine happens to be in a pot on a concrete path so I don't think seedlings will be too much of an issue. Wouldn't mind a few babies popping up in spring though, will have to keep an eye on it. Thanks for the info.

Nicandra aka Apple of Peru.

OMG.  My ex next-door-neighbour moved to Norfolk, and kindly (!) supplied me with some seeds.  In a fit of enthusiasm, I planted them, and passed on some seed to some friends (soon to be ex-friends I wouldn't be surprised).

The plant is amazingly large for so small a seed.  The flowers are a pretty pale blue.  The seedheads are reminiscent of "Chinese Lanterns". 

BUT - after a dozen years or so, I am still finding the seedlings springing up.  At least they are recognisable by their spotty leaves - but they are a real nuisance!

I agree with you Shrinking Violet, the Nicandra (shoo-fly) plant is incredible. They suddenly appeared in our garden 2 years ago. We also live in Norfolk, but we were so impressed with this jurasic looking plant, that we took some down to our parents in Berkshire. If all Norfolk people keep doing this, there may be a pandemic. Ours grew last year to about 5'. They do self seed everywhere and take some getting rid of, but we use them to hide the compost bins and have a patch of garden to themselves. They are well worth having, if you keep them controlled. There's nothing else like them.  Thought you might like to see some photo's.

 You can see the size of them compared to the pansies underneath.

 This is the beautiful flower

These are the chinese lantern shape seed pods they produce, which are just as beautiful as the flowers. The purple/black stems are also very striking. I get thousands of seeds from one plant, so don't let the plant seed itself. Apart from picking out the thousands of plants you don't want, your neighbours may not talk to you again.

aaaaargh!  Freebie Queen!  Beautiful yes - but still a nightmare

The plant that irks me isn't so much a thug as something I wish I'd thought more about before buying them.  I fell for the beginner gardener ignorance of what it would become.  Bought 4 pink astilbes 3 years ago.  They were very small at the time in pots and the garden was new and bare so I lapsed into buying whatever looked to be growing well and would fill space.  The flower spikes the first year were few and so didn't look so overwhelmingly large or over-pink.  Last year they really grew with more flower spikes, so many that I kept lopping them off.  This year - they have an alarming number of flower spikes and I'm wondering if I can look at the masses of pink.  This is a small garden and whilst it's great that they've grown so well - it's just too much pink fluffy-ness.  I've offered them to people but there have been no takers and I can't bring myself to get rid.   I'm going to have to think of some imaginative transplanting or incorporate something with them to dilute the effect they're producing. 

Does anyone know what this is?  It arrived in my garden by itself and spreads every where.  It's small, low growing and has a pretty dark blue flower with a yellow centre.  I have dandelions which are less aggressive than this!

Forgot the photo, sorry - and now it doesn't want to show the photo! Back to the plant books, I guess!