Greetings! I’m a bit slow moving today because of all of the yard work I did yesterday. I planted my small tomato and jalapeño plants in one of my flower beds and pulled tons of weeds. And while I was at it I pulled up a few things that I planted years ago and it made me think about what NOT to plant. Ever. Again.
When we bought our Pennsylvania house almost 15 years ago, the yard was a blank slate. Other than the cheap landscaping installed by the builder, everything else was left to us. And I love to work in the yard so it was exciting to start from scratch! Over the years I’ve ended up making some big mistakes. Some that I”m still paying for! I figure the only way to fix the problem in this yard is to move.
1-Never plant periwinkle. It spreads like wild fire and has roots down to China. Several years ago I planted it in the front flower bed thinking how natural and pretty it would be among the other shrubs and flowers. I love the deep green of the leaves and the pretty purplish-blue flowers. Very quickly the periwinkle overtook everything in that bed! It climbed up into the shrubs and choked them out. It took massive amounts of Round-Up, digging etc. to get rid of it. And somehow it STILL comes back. Another bad thing? Snakes seem to love it. Double yuck.
2-Shasta Daisies. The picture below is why you don’t plant them in a flower bed. They want to be the ONLY flower, so they spread fast and furiously. One year my husband dug them all up. They came back the next year with renewed vigor. He sprayed them with Round-Up too and they still came back this year. I moved a few shasta daisies around to the back yard and so far these have been spared from my husband. This is from last July. If you have an enormous yard and don’t mind their encroachment tendencies, they really are sweet flowers. But planter beware!
This is one of three groups of Shasta Daisies I moved out back a few years ago. In about two more years they will be one very large group of daisies and over take this bed. See the periwinkle in front of the daisies? It might be a competition as to which plant can take over this bed first.
3-Monkey Grass (Liriope) Same thing. These spread and multiply like crazy. I’ve tried killing them but they send out runners. (Why can’t they make grass this hardy?) This picture perfectly illustrates two of my points. Monkey grass AND periwinkle. They are growing underneath a big azalea that I would like not to kill with weed killer. (Next home owner problems-From this point forward referred to as NHOP)
4-Mint- I planted one mint plant in my herb garden a few years ago. I read that it should be planted in a separate container but I didn’t understand the will power of this plant. So, this is what happened. The mint took over the entire herb garden that year. I had to toss out all of the soil and plants and start over. Little did I know but the mint somehow jumped out of the herb box and into the surrounding bed. Now it’s on each side of the herb garden and behind. So here we are. Mint Julep anyone?
At least it smells good! And the greenery looks pretty against our new Hardie Plank siding.
5-Ivy- We did not plant any ivy at our lake house, but apparently someone did. It was everywhere! In shrubs, trees, ALL over the property. I wish we owned stock in Round-Up. We have used gallons of it over the years. And while I didn’t plant ivy on purpose in Pennsylvania, I must have thrown out some in a pot. But here it is and growing rapidly underneath our large spruce trees out back. I guess I need to haul the weed killer back here too. Soon. (Or, NHOP)
When we retire (in the near future, hopefully) we would love to sell the Pennsylvania house and move permanently to North Carolina. We could live at Happy Hill until we figure out where we want our main residence to be. We’ve toyed with the Inter-coastal waterway near the beaches of North Carolina. Or move to a golf course community where my husband could play golf with his buddies at a moments notice. Either way, we would love to build our dream house. And have our dream yard. And from my own experience I now know what not to plant at the new place! Lacey looks as pretty as a flower! My sweet girl and yard helper. <3
I have planted lots of things that I truly love. More on that later. Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a lovely day! xoxo Dell
