Subject: Re: I want invasive plants

From: [email-masked] (Boyd Zenner)
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 1995 22:03:20 GMT

[email-masked]  writes:
> I try to garden on my leach field and would like to 
> plant perennials that are agressive and annuals that
> freely self sow. Also, I don't want to water the garden
> except to start the seeds. Oh, and I live where there
> is no rain all summer and the soil is clayey (CA, Sierra
> foothills). So far I've had luck with yarrow (millefolium?),
> Shasta daisy, California poppy, and lychnis. Any other 
> suggestions? I do not mind invasive plants like pearl yarrow. 

I don't know much about arid-zone gardening, but here are some
plants I've found invasive:

anemone japonica (once it gets going) (p)
lemon balm (p)
four o'clocks (a)
nigella (a)

Boyd
Zone 7 (central VA)

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From: [email-masked] (Fellwalker)
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 1995 06:20:30 GMT

Pat Dietz ([email-masked]) wrote:
: I try to garden on my leach field and would like to 
: plant perennials that are agressive and annuals that
: freely self sow. Also, I don't want to water the garden
: except to start the seeds. Oh, and I live where there
: is no rain all summer and the soil is clayey (CA, Sierra
: foothills). 

     Is that all? I mean, it's not like your asking for alot...  ;-)

: So far I've had luck with yarrow (millefolium?),
: Shasta daisy, California poppy, and lychnis. Any other 
: suggestions? I do not mind invasive plants like pearl yarrow. 

    Have you tried the varieties of California Poppy in pastel shades and 
red-orange? If poppies grow well there you could add the other colors for 
variety. 
     You might also try peppermint, which invaded one whole corner of 
my garden for three years. Once it's established I've found it fairly 
drought tolerant. 
   Also Vinca...I got some from under a house trailer in the Santa Cruz
mountains 13 years ago and it's followed me to three homes (so far). My
brother tried killing it by withholding water, pulling it up, digging it
up, poisoning it, BURNING it, ...nothing worked, and it's now happily
taking over my front yard. (The cultivated Vinca in nurseries might be
less hardy, tho)

--Max
-- 
--  ...with rings on her fingers and bells on her toes... <[email-masked]>

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From: [email-masked] (TIGIBSON)
Date: 8 Mar 1995 10:01:42 -0500

forget me not (mystosis) is very invasive in my zone 5 garden. and it's
beautiful as well. tiny blue/purple flowers april-june and later in
august-october. a definite winner.
tigibson

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From: [email-masked] (Charles Herrick)
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 1995 14:53:57 GMT

>suggestions? I do not mind invasive plants like pearl yarrow. 

Wisteria. You'll never be able to kill the stuff.

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From: Susan Sanders <[email-masked]>
Date: 8 Mar 1995 16:09:42 GMT

>freely self sow. Also, I don't want to water the garden

I know a plant that should be ideal, but I'm having trouble remembering
its name.  There's a pink variety of, I think, Oenothera (sp?) (evening
primrose?) that's only been available the last couple of years that
everybody keeps saying is gorgeous, long blooming, but too invasive.  It
needs sun and is drought tolerant.  I planted the variety 'Siskiyou' last
year, which is supposed to be not quite as hard to control, and it did
bloom most of the summer--and it did spread quite a bit.  It's a
low-growing plant that gets large, flat, upfacing flowers.  Mileagers and
Siskiyou Rare Plant Nursery have the 'Siskiyou' variety, though lots of
catalogs seem to have the species.  (I just hope I got the name right!) 
Oh, and the orange roadside daylilies, which are stoliniferous (i.e.,
they spread), should also work well.           -Sue Sanders

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From: Steve Roys <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 1995 12:58:56 -0500

On 8 Mar 1995, Susan Sanders wrote:

> primrose?)

I think you mean Oenethera speciosa (showy primrose).  It grows 8"-12" 
and has beautiful pink flowers 1"-2" across in early summer.  It does 
spread by underground stolons and also is supposed to seed itself 
around.  I have a few patches that have grown from a few plants to cover 
about 4' by 4' in a couple of years.  There are also named varieties 
available.

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From: [email-masked] (Nancy Roatcap)
Date: 9 Mar 1995 01:47:34 GMT

>: is no rain all summer and the soil is clayey (CA, Sierra

Try the Oenothera Mexican primrose. There is no stopping that
one. The Nurseries carry it in hanging baskets. It makes gorgeous pink
poppy-like flowers and blankets the ground in the spring with leafy
rosettes. Cut the flowering stems back in the fall. You can even mow it.

Nancy Roatcap
Hacienda Stupenda <%)

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From: [email-masked] (B GOOGLE)
Date: 8 Mar 1995 21:37:18 -0500

I second the vote for Forget Me Not.  They are EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!  But
pretty wonderful

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From: [email-masked] (Pat Dietz)
Date: 7 Mar 1995 20:00:13 GMT