Invasive  Plants

Personally, we like invasive plants.  The more enthusiastic they are about growing and taking over the garden the more we like it.  Why try fussing over other, more expensive plants that need constant coaching to grow?  When they don't grow, you're heart broken, or just plain broke.   Invasives will really give you your money's worth, and more.

There's one I've really changed my opinion about lately as I've been researching Colonial gardens like in Williamsburg.  In the county next door to Melrose, we own a house that is said to date back to 1678, and it looks much like the houses in Colonial Williamsburg, too.  The neighbors of this charming historic house think I'm crazy since I'm actually watering what is considered a plague that they pay to have killed in other, more contemporary gardens.  What could be such a gardening faux pas to them?  Dandelion, a European weed that would be an expensive exotic plant if it weren't so invasive. Why, some countries, such as Japan, even have had and maybe still do have, a dandelion society.  Perhaps dandelion is our retaliation for Japanese Beetles!

True, dandelions are everywhere.  Where they volunteer in our gardens, I've tried to apologize for all my killing and maiming of their kind in years past by making an official garden marker for them with their latin name: Taraxacum officinale Weber, Aster family.  The entire plant - from the fussy, round-top, yellow flower heads to the straight, deep tap root and even the jagged-edged, wide green leaves which give them their name of "lion's tooth" - are of great use medicinally and for eating, as well. And if you give dandelions a closer look, you'll see they are an interesting plant.

Another herb I love that's invasive is mint.  At Melrose, we grow some dozen different mints.  They include such odd ones as apple, chocolate, English, pineapple, and orange mints, to more common peppermint and spearmint, and even catnip.  Some people try to contain their growth by planting the mint in an open bottomed container in their garden.  Personally, I prefer a preventative approach such as planting them along side buildings or bricked walkways where they can become the edging.  Where they exist free reign in the garden beds, they can and will take dominate everybody else around them.  They push and shove the other, more reserved plants out of the way.  I guess this would be called a "Type A" leadership personality if plants had to take those profiles like I did at big companies where I used to work.  Invasive plants are what I'd consider party animals of the garden, although they are very nosy in everyone else's business.

Starting about a week ago, the effervescent Mints began celebrating the dog days of summer with their delicate, spikes flowering party hats.  To take advantage of their vigor, I'm thinking of putting some mint, part  of the Menthe family, in two urns that top the back walk in order to have carefree summer blooms there.  Although little beyond man made chemicals can kill mint, mints like ample water and good drainage.  My grandmother always had mint growing under her outdoor faucet where hoses seem to leak.  It was in the sun on the South side of her house, where they could sun bathe all day and get a refreshing, cool drink, especially when the hose was on.  If mint can get the rain run off from the roof or next to a gutter, that's just dandy.  There is some mint growing in the rose garden which works out since roses like lots of sun and water, and neither like to slog around with soggy feet.

Our neighbors are in shock that I encourage and plant mints, which ancient herbalists including Romans used in in everything from invigorating baths to keep milk from curdling.  These neighbors drill their privot and yew hedges into precision military formation using weapons of power hedge trimmers and string guide lines to achieve uniform obedience.  I guess it reflects their personalities since many are retired military or similar service people used to strict discipline and rigid rules.  Our plants are more on their own, not that our plants and animals who call Melrose and our other properties home misbehave or are unruly.  They faithfully obey our primary directive, "Don't leave the property without permission."  Beyond that, the plants and animals are free to express their own creativity and joy in this world, with a little assistance from us, of course, from time to time.

Last year we were told on a tour of "Wakefield," the birthplace of George Washington that's not far from here, that mint was used to shoo flies away.  I usually have some drying in the cottage but it doesn't seem to keep flies away.  Maybe you have use the mint like a fly swatter as these tour guides were doing.  I use the dried stalks in flower arrangements but you can make tea from the dried leaves.  I plan to put some in our dog Winnie's beds to help control pests, but if it just gives her a fresh smell that'll be good enough.

Another anti-pest European and English herb that is invasive is Tansy, Tanacetum vulgare.  It too is in bloom now with golden yellow clusters of small flowers topping the five to six foot plant.  The fern-like leaves were tossed on floors to keep flies and fleas away, while Tansy tea was used to treat many ailments, including fever, in olden days.  Maybe some of that will go into the dog's beds, too, and into some recipes such as what the Colonial homemakers would use.

Who can complain about enthusiastic plants that love your garden as much as you do?  Try invasives where you don't want to cut grass or along side your garage or walkway.  It's better for the environment than mowing and attracts butterflies and bees, too.  I guess we're Victorian in our thinking of gardening as compared to the modern, minimalist philosophy of "less is more."  Personally, I always think "more is more,"  so why not give invasives one more chance?

July 30, 1998

Actually, we should avoid true alien invasives.  At the Master Gardener Symposium "Gardening in the Northern Neck" on March 29, 2006 Edward Munns spoke on Invasive Aliens.  Below is a list of plants he recommends for our area and a list of "aliens" to be avoided.

We should encourage these native shrubs and small trees:
edbud - Cercis canadensis
Sweet Pepperbush - Clethra alnifolia
Dwarf Fothergilla - Fothergilla gardenii
American Beautyberry - Callicarpa americana
Mountain Laurel - Kalmia latifolia
Franklin Tree - Franklinia alatamaha
Witch Hazel - Hamamelis x intermedia
Carolina Silverbell - Halesia carolina
White Fringetree - Chionanthus virginica
Virginia Sweetspire - Itea virginica
Oregon Grapeholly - Mahonia aquifolium

These native grasses are not invasive:
Evergold Sedge - Carex elata
Pink Muhly Grass - Muhlenbergia capillares
Giant Plumegrass - Saccharum giganteum
Tussock Sedge - Carex stricta
Bluestem var. - Andropogon var.

Here are some invaders that should be avoided:
Bugleweed - Ajuga reptans
Purple loostrife - Lythrum salicaria
Princess Tree - Paulownia tomentosa
Norway Maple - Acer platanoides
Mulberry - Broussonetia papyrrifera
Mulberry - orus alba
Heavenly Bamboo - Nandina domestica
 
These ornamental grasses should NOT be planted::
Fountain grass - Pennisetum alopecuroides
Silver grass - Miscanthus sinensis
Exotic Bamboos - Phyllostachys and Pseudosasa
Giant Reed - Arundo donas
Common Reed - Phragmites australis
Japanese Stilt Grass - Microstegium vimineum

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