One Person’s Weed…

September 10th, 2019

   You’ve probably heard the saying that one person’s weed is another’s wildflower (a gardening variation on the better known “One person’s trash is another’s treasure.”)

Morning glory “babies” are coming up in the lawn beneath the mama… and they’ll do that for years on end.

   The point is that we all have different opinions on what plants we like and what we should plant in our yards.

   That’s usually an amiable disagreement, except for those who get really, really upset when people plant something they consider to be invasive.

   I know I’m going to hear from somebody in that camp whenever I mention plants such as barberry or butterfly bush (even if they’re sterile varieties) and sometimes even when I suggest planting anything other than a native plant.

   I usually don’t hear from the far other side, though. But apparently there are some who have no qualms about planting anything, invasive/aggressive or not. If they like it, that’s all that counts.

   I heard from a Philadelphia-area gardener with that viewpoint who took issue with an article I wrote last month for PennLive.com in which I warned people about “pass-along plants” they might come to regret.

   Pass-alongs are plants that friends and neighbors give away.

   Sometimes you can get really nice plants that way, but as I pointed out in the PennLive post, more often than not you get divisions or seedlings of plants that were spreading too aggressively in the giver’s yard.

   People often don’t have the heart to dig up and throw out perfectly healthy plants, so they look to give away the unwanted offspring.

   Anyway, the Philly gardener called me an “alarmist” and said that “you know well that many of the wonderful plants that you have put out as on ‘alert’ are not problematic and can be lovely in a garden.”

   He said he has many of the plants that I mentioned in his gardens, including ajuga, butterfly bush, rose-of-sharon, borage, lily-of-the-valley, creeping jenny, beebalm, and spiderwort.

   “Temper your commentary,” he lectured. “Instead of broad swathes of alarm and wanting people to like you, inform and educate factually.”

   Now, I’m OK with people deciding to plant whatever they want in their own yard (so long as it’s legal and doesn’t cause trouble for others), but I don’t think it’s “alarmist” to warn people about aggressiveness.

   For one thing, I used the phrase “plants that you might want to think twice about” in the post.

   I also suggested, “Before accepting a pass-along plant, you might ask what the plant is, why the person is giving it away, and especially how aggressive it is.”

   That seemed like common-sense, level-minded advice, maybe even meek with the word “might.” But apparently that’s alarmist to some.

Ajuga is just starting its creep out into this lawn.

   These are the plants I mentioned: Japanese honeysuckle, purple loosestrife, ribbon grass, bishop’s weed, chameleon plant (Houttuynia), yellow archangel (Lamiastrum), spearmint/peppermint, bamboo (the running kind), burning bush, sweet annie, crown vetch, gooseneck loosestrife,  bellflowers, hardy ageratum, most barberries, most butterfly bushes, rose-of-sharon, morning glories, snow on the mountain, wild violets, borage, lily-of-the-valley, orange “tawny” daylilies, ajuga (bugleweed), creeping jenny, obedient plant, beebalm, tansy, spiderwort, and English ivy.

   Some of those seed and creep around more than others, and you might not agree with everything on the list. But we all have to decide at some point what crosses our line.

   I’d rate myself as a “moderate” when it comes to that. I’m not a native-plant fanatic who thinks anything non-native is evil, but I’ve also seen and understand the problem of invasive plants.

   I’ve observed the plants I’ve named in literally thousands of yards throughout my gardening travels, and those are the ones I’ve seen out of control the most.

   Gardeners who grow some of these plants argue that they’re not only under control in their yards but beautiful and easy-to-grow choices.

   I’m sure that’s true – so long as the gardener is there to referee.

   From my own experience and the gardens I’ve seen, the plants on my list can quickly grow out of bounds almost as soon as gardeners turn their back.

   The other problem I’ve seen over and over again is gardeners who grow and control aggressive choices, only to have the yard turn into a jungle after they get too old to maintain things or after they move out.

   I’ve talked to plenty of gardeners who rued the day they planted plants such as ribbon grass and houttuynia from the neighbor or feel overwhelmed at ivy growing up their house walls and ajuga creeping over the lawn.

   I’ve seen cases where gardeners swear their barberries and butterfly bushes don’t seed around, but when you look short distances away, those plants have reproduced. Reason: the gardener’s mulching, weeding, and mowing activities are stopping the seeding in that yard, while wind and birds have dispersed seeds into untended areas where the seeds can sprout.

   One of the most eye-opening examples I ran into was the fellow whose yard was being overtaken by a stand of bamboo from the neighboring yard. The neighbor who planted it kept it under control for years. But then that neighbor moved and sold the house to a landlord.

   The bamboo has been on a steady march ever since. It does not know or respect property lines.

   The point is that once the “controller” is gone, that’s when aggressive plants like the ones I mentioned start to rear their heads.

   Unlike the Philly gardener’s other suggestion that I stick to “focusing on the positive and enjoyable features of plants,” I believe I have a responsibility to write about what I’ve found to be the best plants for our yards as well as the worst.

   I’ve done a ton of best-plant recommending over the last 30 years, and I can tell you that my lists of “Bottom 10” plants attract way more readership than the best-plants writings.

   I think it’s helpful to know a plant’s good features along with its not-so-good ones before deciding.

   All plants have pros and cons. Our role is to figure out which profile best suits our tastes, but we can’t do that without someone telling us the cons along with the pros.

   That’s all I was trying to do.

   If that makes me alarmist, then I guess you can call me Mr. Bell.