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What was I thinking?

Posted on June 8th, 2007 – 8:00 AM
By Connie Nelson

When I first started gardening, the only kind of plants I wanted were tough-as-nails, spread-like-poison-ivy plants that would grow fast and fill in quickly.

What was I thinking?


For more Zone 4 gardening tips, check out Connie’s weekly podcast Dirt on Gardening

After a few years, of fighting the plants in my garden (the weeds were fine, they didn’t grow that fast) I’d had enough of phlox, evening primrose and gooseneck loosestrife. I banished them from my garden.

Then last year, I decided to rip up the boulevard and plant a garden. My goal was to create a garden entirely of cast-off (read: free) plants. Guess what I got? Tough-as-nails, spread-like-poison-ivy plants like phlox, gooseneck loosestrife, daylilies, coneflower, mallow and some miscanthus.

I gotta say, my boulevard garden looked great by the end of the summer, all filled in and lush. And, so far, the sidewalk and the street have prevented my rather aggressive plants from spreading too far. This summer, of course, I’m gonna have to do some transplanting.

Phlox anyone?

This entry was posted on Friday, June 8th, 2007 at 8:00 am and is filed under Flowers + Grasses. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

13 Responses to "What was I thinking?"

Beth B says:

June 8th, 2007 at 9:23 am

My evening primrose has (thus far) been playing nice in my garden - the mulch seems to help. My big addition of free plants that I regret most now is the Bee Balm. Wow - is that happy in my garden. And yet I consider pulling it all out until it blooms each year, and I remember why I rescued it in the first place.

then again, my neighbors can’t understand why I’m voluntarily planting raspberries in my yeard, either!

Jaime Chismar says:

June 8th, 2007 at 9:48 am

Coneflower had totally taken over our front garden. After digging half of it up (and finding it a good home), I was surprised to discover some sedum, black-eyed susans, bee balm and a rogue tulip!

Sarah says:

June 8th, 2007 at 11:01 am

I’ve found that planting natives is a great way to get a garden that thrives, has many colors, and I’m not worried about them getting loose and destroying wild places. With a small garden you do have to control some plants so you can have diversity but its better for me to have the plants sprout like ‘weeds’ rather than having to baby them!

laura says:

June 8th, 2007 at 11:07 am

my raspberries have grown beyond my fence into the neighbors yard…

Kay says:

June 8th, 2007 at 11:26 am

ACK! Chinese lanterns anyone? - They are so cool in the fall - but they have totally choked out everything else I have with their secret underground network.
Same for the Snow on the Mountain - oh, and I won’t even talk about the Pampas grass - my garden is a mess.

christagirl says:

June 8th, 2007 at 11:33 am

Snow on the Mountain!! Yikes!!! Even the ferns can no longer compete!

Pam H. says:

June 10th, 2007 at 4:56 pm

Help! I just want something that the rabbits won’t eat. My tiger lilys are being eaten one by one by the bunnies and I could cry. I don’t have a lot of time for gardening so I like the idea of growing fast and filling in quickly.
I’m so desperate I’m thinking of turning my indoor cat into an outdoor cat!

debw says:

June 11th, 2007 at 6:03 am

The bunnies won’t eat my snow on the mountain. But I don’t want to wish that Bishop’s Weed on anyone. I can’t get rid of the the stuff, you pull it and it encroaches from another front…
Take citrus peels and put them on the ground around your lilies, bunnies don’t like the smell and will stay away.

Peter Hoh says:

June 11th, 2007 at 9:12 am

I had Bishop’s Weed in a compacted, nasty area of my boulevard. When I dug it up this year, I discovered that the soil beneath it was nice, loose, dark, and loamy.

D.D. says:

June 11th, 2007 at 10:47 am

I ripped out our boulevard and replanted it with natives, and after two years they have really taken off. First in the spring the prairie smoke comes up. Then it’s a savage battle for dominance between the bee balm and the coreopsis. Anybody need bee balm?

Is pasque flower aggressive?

Connie Nelson says:

June 11th, 2007 at 11:00 am

I can’t get snow on the mountain to grow. No kidding. I planted some in a shady side yard (where I rarely venture) and after about 5 years, it’s a straggly mess.
I’m still digging out the raspberries I thought I dug out 5 years ago. Unless I have a concrete border all around them, I won’t plant raspberries again.

christagirl says:

June 11th, 2007 at 11:45 am

My snow on the mountain behaved quite nicely in my shade garden until we lost a very big, very old tree and my shade garden instantly became a sun garden. Now the stuff is out of control. It has filled in every inch of bare space it can find. Now it is growing up! I didn’t, and still don’t, know alot about this plant but it seems to like it’s home in the sun.

Beth says:

June 12th, 2007 at 12:59 pm

I’ll take some bee balm!

I have a well-drained, high sun area that gets scorched every afternoon. I threw some creeping phlox in there last year and it’s just starting to spread. I’m very happy about that. I wish it would grow faster. Any other ideas for good cover in this area? Shorter plants would be better. I’m a newbie gardener, and I’m kind of lazy, so I like the easy-care plants!

Oh, and to keep the bunnies/deer from making your lilies into a garden salad - I spray my hosta and lilies with hot pepper oil spray. It works like a champ. One application per summer has kept the mammals away. No annoying smell, either! I hope I don’t get scolded by the organic gardeners or animal rights activists for using it! :)

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