Hippeastrum papillio
After eight years of being surprisingly well-behaved, Eriocapitella 'Pretty Lady Emily' turned thug and took over most of a prime garden bed. I've started digging it out with a garden fork, going deeply into the soil to get the roots.
Extensive, deep roots:Spreading everywhere...Late last summer the Eriocapitella flowers were a delight but the plant is taking over.
The plan for the area this year: Dahlias out of pots and growing in the ground. They didn't do well potted last year. Time to try something else. About
halfway finished digging out 'Pretty Thuggish Lady' Or maybe a third. Then there will be hyper
vigilance to ensure the plant doesn't come back and take over again
because I don't want to do all this digging again. At least there are many pretty spring things to admire.
DudleyaAloe speciosa:TB Iris 'Cobra'sEye':Salvia 'Bee's Bliss', a hybrid of two California native species: Helianthemum 'The Bride':Callistemon starting to flower just in time for the Orioles:Sunshine for sleepy Sammies:
Any plant thugs in your garden? Were you able to get rid of them?
I love Japanese anemones but I understand the argument for digging that one up - they put on a relatively brief show for a space that could yield more joy employed differently.
ReplyDeleteYour garden is producing so many beautiful blooms. I was especially surprised to see a bearded Iris blooming so early. The p[ups look very happy basking in the sun too.
Cloudy skies, lots of wind and some thinder here this afternoon but the chance of rain is only 16% :(
P.S. To your question, I spent many days removing a rampant aster (Symyphyotricum chliense) that'd taken over one of my key beds 2 years ago. Yet signs of the aster keep showing up - whatever's left seems to be attempting to move across a major pathway into another bed.
ReplyDeleteSounds thuggy indeed. Good luck, and thanks for the warning about that aster.
DeleteYes, many pretty spring things to admire, indeed! (And the pups are handsome.) Sorry about the thugs...seems we all have various plant thugs in our gardens...I have plans to remove some this growing season, too.
ReplyDeleteIt fooled me, being well-behaved for so long. Sometimes thugs are sneaky, too.
DeleteSome thugs behave well... until they don't. In my garden it's Pachysandra. Half removed last year. I work on planting up in the empty space, while keeping an eye on the remaining Pachysandra. As I gain experience I try to avoid plants that are too exuberant and require a lot of maintenance: I'm not getting any younger :-D You have quite a job removing the Eriocapitella, especially considering your recent knee injury.
ReplyDeleteThe coloring of the Aloe speciosa bloom is so beautiful!
Chavli
I've read Pachysandra can be agressive. Sounds even worse than the Eriocapitella. 8^0 The removal hasn't been too bad--flat ground is much easier to manueuver, and I soaked the area with collected rain water to make it easy to fork up.
DeleteYes for beauty of flower among Aloes, A. speciosa is way up there.
Oh, your pups are so cute. Dang, that is one loooooong root. I don't envy that job. Your blooms are looking picture perfect!
ReplyDeleteLots of roots, crazy amount of roots. I tried last fall but the soil was too hard. With the rainy winter and some extra rain collected and dumped there the soil has been easy to dig.
DeleteIn the fourth photo, there are some clay pots stacked upon each other. What is the thing on top? It appears to be something running through the holes to keep the pots in place. And what size are those pots? I might like to copy this bit of garden art. Thanks. As usual, your posts are wonderful to read and look at.
ReplyDeleteThat was a wrought iron stake that came with a trellis. It has a ball shape welded on the top (came that way) In other places I use a piece of rebar and stick on the top of the rebar the cork cap from a vinegar bottle. I thought it was a good way to keep unused clay pots in easy reach but looking sort of ornamental. Which it has been. Those are just 4" pots but I have some elsewhere that are much larger, 14, 16".
DeleteThanks for the details.
DeleteEriocapitella, whoa. I was admiring a white-flowering variety in a friend's garden last year. Almost asked for a piece.
ReplyDeleteHippeastrum papilio is always a show-stopper. No flowers on mine this year. Maybe not enough sun?
Are the H. papilio getting a goodly amount of irrigation? My big clump is flowering well in a lot of shade--in winter just about 3 hours of sun at most. Summer sun from about 11 - 5pm. The potted ones were kept drier and didn't do so well in about the same amount of shade/sun.
DeleteToo bad about the Eriocapitella as it's quite lovely. Disappointing when something that works takes a bad turn. So many thugs here. I call them 'make work plants' and they are banished. The worst is probably Lamium maculatum, a lovely plant but grows in full shade to sun and has even escaped into our back woods. Next on the list would be some of the Geranium family members that spread and seed a bit too abundantly. Nice to see the pups happy and healthy.
ReplyDeleteYes the Eriocapitella's flowers were really pretty. I enjoyed them while they were here. I grew Lamium maculatum briefly--did not like our climate, which was fine. One reason I adore Geranium 'Rozanne' is that the flowers are sterile.
DeletePups are doing pretty good, thanks! What they need is a bath which will not happen until it warms up some. They are fine with that!
There does seem to be a certain threshold that gets passed when a formerly well-behaved plant suddenly goes aggressively rogue. I've got some sunny slopes where I encourage Epilobium (Zauschneria) cultivars and some of our Oregon native asters (Symphyotrichum). I needed them to hold the soil in place, but now they are definitely pushing boundaries and going where I don't want them. I probably won't try to completely eradicate them though because I needed their tough roots to knit the soil together and prevent erosion. I did just dig up a dwarf fernleaf bamboo (Pleioblastus distichus) that was starting to spread. Glad I got it early as those rhizomes were a nightmare to dig out.
ReplyDeleteThugs? I look at older garden pictures, and wonder if That, is still in there, under there??
ReplyDelete