Did you ever plant a perennial and then wish you hadn't?

If so, what did you plant, and why did you regret it?

I'll go first... saponaria oficinalis "bouncing bet". I saw it growing along a roadside near the Finger Lakes area of NY... and dug up a bit for my garden. It grows well, but too well; it takes over, and can creep underground for several feet. I should move it all to the "wild fringes of the yard".

yes, about 15 years ago, I put flower beds all around the house and along the driveway

as we are getting older, I can't take care of it, so hubby last fall, tore the ones out along the back of the house, used old push mower to cut to ground level after pulling out some of the old stuff, he sprayed with weed killer for about 2 months, and then he used hoe to loosen the soil and planted grass seed last fall and put straw over it for the winter, this spring he racked off straw and now we have grass

along the back of kitchen window, I had the peppermint herb and was wild and a big mess, now it is just grass and easier to take care of

Good luck!

A trumpet vine. Darn thing just keeps coming back and back and back.

Ohhh yes!!! I planted lady's mantle and it was so happy here, it was just growing everywhere and I couldn't get a grip on it. Ended up selling all the plants to local nurseries, so it was a profitable problem lol.

I didn't plant it, previous owners did...but I fight it every day. vinca vine. I shudder as I type it.

I made the big mistake about 15 years ago and I'm still fighting them...Morning Glory Vines...They are beautiful, but they choke out anything they can wrap around...

Yes, I've planted several things, English Ivy, Vinca vine, wild violets, and some I didn't even know the name of. We have a honeysuckle vine growing on a fence, know we will regret that, if we live long enough, if not it will be someone elses' problem. Right now the Hummingbirds, butterflies and bees are wild about it.

We also have a honeysuckle plant on the north side of our house and it is as big as a car now! Lots of rabbits live in it and everytime I go outside, birds fly out of it. DH just mows around it. We also have a pampas grass that blocks the view from my kitchen window - it is very big.

Black Eyed Susan - my DH wanted something pretty for a fancy iron trellis he bought and thought it would be nice to be able to see it from the dining room window so he positioned the trellis between two huge oleander bushes and the rest was history! We had to hire someone to clear it out and to this day it pops up still in our yard, the neighbor's yard, the school field next door, etc.................

I bought my own mothers day hydrangia it was called lady in red. I was some new hybred. I love how they have such bushy heads. But do you think mine would bloom properly.NO! It is horrible I have cut it to the root and it grows back no matter what I do it does not bloom like it should!

Not really a perennial and I didn't plant it...but two plant species in our garden drive me nuts. The previous owners must have thought Kikuyu Grass would be a good idea (NOT!) it has spread everywhere and sends its huge deep runners into all the garden beds and has even "escaped" onto the verge near the road...they also planted s variety of Tecoma...it suckers everywhere and is a monster to control. My plan is to eradicate the lot, but I don't use chemicals or poisons on our land...so I'm guessing I'll be at it for a while.

I think they need certain kind of soil to bloom in blue or pink. Might have to add something to the soil. Unless I am thinking of something else........

LILLIES! of every color imaginable were planted here when we moved in, I am in the process of removing them and taking them to my husbands grandmothers house. I have heard that it is a NIGHTMARE to get rid of these things.

Oh yes. Many years ago we bought this really cool plant for our desert rock garden. this year it was at an all time glory. Turned out to be a ground cover that started taking over our yard. One day DH decided to thin it out and became very ill. His eyes were burning so badly and they almost were swollen shut. And anywhere on his body where he had touched himself even after a shower (and yes...even there!!) started burning and stinging. This lasted for about 4 days.

One day at work he noticed this flyer posted on the wall about this noxious weed that was invading Utah and lo and behold there was a photo of our wonderful ground cover!! Turns out it is very dangerous and against the law to now have in your yard. It causes blisters, burning and can even cause blindness!

Well, it took several days to purge our yard of this and my DH and SIL had to wear all kinds of protective gear to get rid of this stuff. This stuff is so good at reproducing itself that we will be battling it for a long time as it has dropped seeds everywhere :(

I'm including a photo in case some of you unknowingly have some in your yard. It does well in many of the western states.

It is called Myrtle spurge and sometimes gopher spurge because it repels gophers. I wondered where all our gophers went! I thought our sonic things had finally started working :lol: :lol:

I have a hydrangea and it was gorgeous this year. The blooms were pinkish lavender and it was loaded with flowers. Hydrangeas are a shade plant and if you're pruning it back any time after July you may be cutting off next year's flowers. I read that somewhere so started pruning as soon as the flowers were past peak. Seems to have worked great!

Although not a perennial, have an agave plant the neighbors gave us, now it looks like there are 30, told can cook w/the leaves 3ft + spikey, wouldn't mind trying, but have no clue what to do with it. Needs moved to back of property, bet no one would jump over :) HeHe
Do have somthing called apple, sure is hearty !!

See this is what a hydragia is supposed to look like mine I think they mixed it with some other plant and sold it as a hydrangia mine gets flowers in a ring not in the bushy heads like yours. They are so beautiful when the are true hydrangia plants! I will try to post a pic tomorrow.

snow on the mountain took over the whole flower bed pull it out every spring. Previous owner morning glory vine good grief after 20 yrs still fighting it chokes the life out of everything even my tall grass

Japanese lanterns....the owners before us planted it. We've pulled it out several times, as have our neighbors next door on both sides of us....very annoying.

Lamb's Ears.............I used to LOVE them - 'have given plants to so many people, dug all that I had left out, but noooooooooo - came back with a vengence............I give up

If I have a perennial that's *overtaking*, I'm vicious about pulling the starters out in the spring when the plant is young or about now when they've spent their bloom from summer.

Black-eyed Susans, Lambs Ear, and Japanees Lanterns are spread by seed so even if you pull up ALL the plants more will grow back next year...hence the reason for pulling up young ones in the spring to keep control.

I just tore out a HUGE clump of Lamb's Ear because it looked old. I'm sure new LE will be around somewhere next year.

Lily of the Valley are next in line for major pulling.

It's the NEW Poison Ivy that has me baffled and *on guard*. NEVER had to deal with it before anywhere...didn't really know for sure if it was PI.
A friend and a rash confirmed it.

Remember: Perinneals SLEEP the first year, CREEP the second year and LEAP the third year after planting.

A friend brought me some ivy to plant. it took a few years to get going but now has taken over. I spend a lot of time trying to get rid of it now.

Morning Glory in our neck of the woods is considered a weed LOL.

Growing up my dad owned a nursery - I haven't planted anything that I didn't love but it's probably because of my background.

I have bishop's weed, brought to my garden unintentially in a hosta transplant from my FIL's garden. There must have been a tiny piece of bishop's weed root mixed in with the hosta root - that's all it takes! It has been a major problem in my garden since. I have to be digging it up constantly or it will take over. I have it contained in one area now and can't seem to get rid of it completely.

I had never heard of Kikuyu Grass ... so I lookedit up ... and found this: It is on both the California and the Federal noxious-weed lists. In other words, it is illegal to plant kikuyugrass deliberately.

It's also very hard to get rid of ... I found my information at this website:

http://grounds-mag.com/mag/grounds_m...h_kikuyugrass/

I had tried growing morning glories from seed for years. What a lot of work! Soak the seed, nick the seeds, etc. At a Church rummage sale, I saw morning glory plants. I was also always told you can't transplant them like that. So I bought them to try. YEARS and years later, it had just about taken over the front flowerbed. I pulled it out, I dug out the dirt and replaced the dirt. Took some plant to a nursery and fund out it was the weed morning glory, you can't transplant MorningGlories!! We sprayed, killed and dug out the whole front flowerbed and hubby brought in a load of dirt from the fields. Still some comes up every year and I pull it out. I AM GOING TO WIN THIS ONE!!!

Those orage day lilies that grow along the side of the road. I've been trying to dig them out & kill them for years now.

This is a spider plant idk the real name. My neighbor gave me a few small plants, and they grow EVERYWHERE! gavel driveway the yard and choke out other plants. This year I pulled them all out before seeds. I know I will have to do it again next year too.

Now I see the Cock's comb is going wild, I guess that is another wild plant that takes over ......

The pic is last year

LOL same problem here. I still think they are pretty but in moderation!

Clematis...thats the name...my DH would kill for a spread like that..we have only been able to grow as an annual here

We have Monarda (Bee Balm) which runs everywhere. My neighbors love my front garden... they call it the WILD THING...LOL It has so many perennials that have multiplied and spread to opposite side of the garden and into their yards too..

I bought seeds for a "black" columbine. It came up and grew and reseeded all over. Only problem I hated the flower, nearly black with some white. I keep pulling out plants when I found them but couldn't seem to keep ahead of it. Four our five years ago, some out-of-town friends were visiting and say it and commented on wanting some. I gladly gave them a trowel, come potting soil and plastic bags. They were very diligent and got took all. Yes, I saw it in there garden; they love it. I've managed to finally get rid of it in years since. One person's weed is another person's treasure.

OOPS, double-posted when I meant to edit my first post.

I have that too. The Humming birds love it. But it doesn't stand up it just flops all over and smothers the smaller flowers in front! The roots go all over too!

I have an Ivy type of plant that a neighbor long ago gave to me & I cannot kill it or get rid of it. It has taken over the flowerbed! Two yrs in a row, we even dug up the flowerbed & thought we got rid of all of the roots, but it came back with a vengeance! It spreads like wild fire. When you rub the leaves, it smells like an orange. We've even sprayed it will Roundup trying to kill it & had no luck! Wish to goodness I knew what it is called.