Creeping Jenny is my all-time favourite plant. The first time I saw it, it took my breath away! I read that it was invasive, so I've always grown it in pots. It looks so gorgeous trailing down the sides of a container. The plant I've had the hardest time getting rid of is Lemon Balm. I planted it 12 years ago when we first moved into our house. I was clueless about it. Lemon Balm smells heavenly, and makes an herbal tea that is excellent for helping to relax. If wish I had known to only grow it in containers. I can't get rid of it. It's worse than weeds. My 6 foot nephews who is strong and works in construction could not dig it up, the roots were so ridiculously thick. He actually broke one of my shovels trying to dig it out! Anyhow, great video. Thank you! :)
Yuppers! Took me 3 summer to remove some mint! (Of note: LemoBalm is basically a mint ie same family or is it genus? LOL! Anyway always look to a plant's genealogy to tell you more about it, works for most allergies as well - look to the genus and avoid the relatives) The previous owners kiddos planted it in the my mums bushes years before she moved in, it was deeply entrenched and thicke. It took that long because Runners were spreading out into the yard by then and the Texas sun is brutal to work under and the shade is mosquito central! But eventually I got it all and it hasn't popped back up! I planted some at mine in a very tall pot, I also make sure to deadhead it so it doesn't go to seed and spread! Cheers
Against my wishes, my wife planted a two inch pot of lamium, (yellow flowers), 30 years ago when we first moved into our new home. After retiring, I noticed that this plant had literally overtaken our backyard; in addition, it was encroaching into our neighbour's yard. Four years ago, I decided to completely remove this noxious, very invasive plant. I commenced by using a spade and digging it up. Its root system was so dense and massive, it was like trying to put the spade into concrete. During the summer months, I tried to dig one square metre each day. Finally, after 4 summers, I accomplished this mammoth task yesterday. I repeat, DO NOT PLANT LAMIUM nor BISHOP'S WEED in your garden. Bishop's Weed is even much worse than Lamium since it spreads via stolons. Ostrich ferns are another fern cultivar that are terribly invasive with hard, dense, roots and invasive; the fiddleheads from this fern variety are edible, however. These invasive perennials should be banned from local garden shops.
Thank you so much for sharing your story!! This is so compelling. As I covered in the following video, stolon or rhizome plants are very invasive. m.ua-cam.com/video/jalOhpGxv50/v-deo.html
I planted a lamium plant that has yellow flowers about 5 years ago. Don't know if it's the one in the video or not. It was sold in a 5 inch pot. It's never gotten larger than 1 foot in diameter. I bought it because the tag said it was like a ground cover, but that's not how it's acted. It's still there in its 12 inch diameter state.
Violet ground cover has not only ruined the lawn, but also my life. Three summer seasons trying to dig up tuberous roots and two herbicides applied repetitiously have made it thrive.
I have planted snow in summer in my garden which is terraced with stone walls. Love the colour of silver foliage love the beautiful white flowers but don’t love how it runs under the soil and invades my flower beds by creeping upwards then it requires a fork and digging it out or you leave behind roots which regrow. It also spreads by seed and pops up in gravel around base of trees etc. lovely plant but I do regret planting it. Twice a year I have to cut it back and remove unwanted spread. I fill at least six wheelbarrows with it
San Luis Obispo County in California has restricted Ice Plant from being planted. It is considered a weed from South Africa. It thrives in well draining soil and especially by the coastline. The County is pulling out the ice plant to allow for native plants to grow back and reestablish their habitat.
Is it illegal to plank any of these invasive ground covers? I really like the yellow wedelias and recently grew a vine from a cutting and I plan on growing it outside but I am not sure if it’s allow or not. I live in Hawaii
Nasturtium, luckily easy enough to pull out but it self seeds so easily and rapidly, each morning I am pulling a couple of hundred new sprouts that will otherwise consume my back garden, love it when in flower but I am thinking of totally banning it in my yard now.
It is a hard question. For me, persistent management has been the best bet. Constantly stripping the vines. You need to get rid of the vines, not just leaves!
I don’t have deep knowledge about summer cypress but I heard it develops herbicide resistance quickly. And the seeds are not persistent in the soil. Definitely I would pull them. 😀
Thank you! This is important information that isn't mentioned on other sites that suggest plants. I don't recall planting Vinca but maybe I did 24 years ago or my neighbor planted it and perhaps it came under the fence to my yard, but it's taken over and smothering a hydrangea. It's beautiful and I like it but I'm not sure I would have planted it if I knew it was this aggressive. I'm looking for a low ground cover that won't harbor rodents for the sunnier side of the yard or maybe some low Lacey wild flowers that won't be too thick. I want colorful, low and non invasive but maybe I'll have to just put a mulch.
If one of your objectives is to avoid rodents, please consider rock garden. As long as they find somewhere to hide, they will stick around. I successfully removed them through rock garden around my house. Also unfortunately all ground covers are somewhat aggressive. It is really hard to recommend anything especially when I don’t know how much maintenance you could do. 🤷♂️
That type of fern comes up in random places in my yard, but oddly enough it’s always a place that a fern would look lovely and hide something unattractive in the yard, like the brick pile on the side of my shed. Thankfully it’s just single pretty sprays and not a complete takeover like in the picture. My grandma planted the original ones years ago. Mine is Kunth’s maiden fern, native for me in southeast US.
At first it takes some time. But once they settle in, they will show up everywhere and take over the area. Maidenhair fern is absolutely beautiful. They spread but it’s very slow.
@@babochon I love maidenhair fern too - so pretty and delicate. Mawmaw planted that too, probably 30 years ago, and it’s lasted all these years in that bed.
I was going to mention Creeping Charlie as well. I had seen it recommended on another site as a ground cover. I was screaming at the screen - no, you’ll be sorry if you do that! You can’t mulch it. It literally creeps OVER mulch and grows roots into the mulch! I have been trying for years to get rid of it but it always seems to find me again.
Interesting with good information. Ferns are no problem for me since the four or five types I have do not spread. Winter creeper that arrived "naturally" is the worst due to its aggressive, tough nature, but I've been able to get ahead of it in limited areas as I look to see it gone. Creeping Charlie acts like a total yard ground cover, but can be pulled up easily, but just takes commitment of time, as does Ivy.
@@babochon Not any more than any other gardener, and I'm sure not as much as many. But gardening is work, but enjoyable work, right? In my situation, "anything green" was allowed to grow as long as it didn't get in the way of flowers, shrubs, or trees being planted, and then it was only removed in that small area which eventually led to two or three things attempting to "take over".
Houttuynia Cordata Chameleon. Pernicious invasive plant spread by seed and spreads through rhizomes which are very fragile and break apart easily. Any small part of the rhizome or stem left behind in the soil will resprout.
Definitely. Here I covered the Chameleon plant. ua-cam.com/video/jalOhpGxv50/v-deo.html. Unless you have a good plan to contain it, I wouldn't recommend it.
Took me 9 solid months of daily digging to a depth of 2-2.5 feet and sifting every stinking handful of dirt to get rid of roots and nubs in my 8 x 10 front garden to order to rid the area of the a”hootchie” chameleon plant living there. I believe the previous owners used it for medicinal purposes. I pulled out literally hundreds of pounds of roots! Plus it stinks to high heaven and harbors mesquites like crazy. Hard pass!!
Creeping myrtle is really beautiful. They are tough to remove but restraining their boundaries is maintenance I find quite easy. As always I seek out native ground cover before anything else. Not too hard to do in Maine. :)
Mine is going crazy every year. I significantly reduced the area by digging them but, unless you have something blocking the rhizomes, they spread so well.
My experience is that pachysandra sleeps/creeps/then (only sort of) leaps. It did a good job of covering the ground (but also seemed to be home to voles and ticks :( ). English Ivy is too aggressive (here in PA). Calling Lily of the Valley, Periwinkle or Sweet Woodruff invasive or aggressive seems laughable. My periwinkle/vinca minor never choked out much of anything even in places it was happiest. Some varieties of ferns cause their owners to tear them all out. Those varieties are aggressive. Many are native so I wouldn't call them invasive per se. Euonymus Winter Creeper: my new house has that; I'm a bit leery of it. I've seen it spread and climb trees and have been told it's labeled as invasive. Once all my English ivy is ripped out, I'll look at the winter creeper.
Don't let winter creeper grow on your trees- it will completely cover a tree and kill it. I've seen it many times in my neighborhood and my next door neighbors just had a dead tree cut down a few weeks ago that was completely covered by it. Once it gets a well-established hold on the bark it's impossible to get off.
I was very ill and out of commission during and after Covid lockdown. Couldn’t work in yard.. Honeysuckle covered and killed my garden, shrubs and all, reminded me of Kudzu! 😢I just recently had everything removed, including small weeping cherry. Honeysuckle killed it. Time to start over, this time hopefully without honeysuckle! (I never planted it, it just showed up)
Thats what I want. We have so many bare spots where won't grow grass. I think the ground covers are beautiful. Anyone know of how to stop groundhogs from eating my new wild flowers? Im so eager to watch them bloom , but the little bastards keep eating the tops off. 😢😢😢😢😢
A couple of groundhogs dug their nests near the deck. While doing so, it created hideous sights. I had to let them leave the place. It was not easy. I used the bricks 🧱 so that they couldn’t dig and created a little fence so that they couldn’t access there. I will share that video sometime. 😅
I live in a zone 5 area. I've tried English Ivy and Pachysandra both a couple of times (the deer love both) in a garden with morning sun and shaded from the hot afternoon sun. And in another part of my front yard I've tried ferns, with 80% shade cloth and watered daily. The rabbits and deer just eat everything to the ground. And what they don't eat they trample and lay on. The ferns they don't eat but they dig up and eat or nibble the roots. What hardy or "invasive" ground cover can you recommend that will repel deer? I have fences up around my gardens to keep the deer out (they jumped the 6 ft fences and I had to recently add another 2 ft extension) but fences just look so ugly everywhere in the front yard. Looking for very hardy or "invasive" low ground covers like ivy that deer hate but will smother weeds and grow in a zone 5 environment. Suggestions please, anyone?
Usually deer 🦌 leave alone English Ivy and Pachysandra. I have them for more than 5 years and I live on a deer path. Never happened. Try (1) Periwinkle (2) Euonymus Winter Creeper. These are very strong and also evergreen. You could also try (1) Snow on the Mountain (2) Creeping Jenny (3) Yellow Archangel (4) Lily of the Vally and these are deciduous. But again they are invasive. Some of them are toxic to deer and they will definitely leave them alone.
@@babochon Thank you for the suggestions. It gives me something to research. Lamium is another one I found. Some, such as Periwinkle have a lot of varieties so it will take me some time to decide on the proper one. Others sound too aggressive to use in a garden, however they almost all sound great as a lawn substitute. Some perennial plants I've tried that are poisonous, such as Oriental Poppy, the deer will eat just the flower and leave the rest of the plant alone. Any suggestions on what might grow best under or near a Blue Spruce? I had given up on growing anything anywhere near that tree. But I also don't want anything that will harm that tree or its roots. I have pictures from the county courthouse of my house from the 1950's and the Spruce tree was very large then. So I'm guessing it must be 100 plus years old now. I have to say for the benefit of anyone reading this, we have had a couple very hot and dry years. I've seen two large Spruce trees in my city die this past year. I've found that twice a year giving them a good deep watering mid and later summer has really helped the tree. For deep watering I mean turning the hose on full near its base and letting the hose run the entire night. The first time I ever did that I noticed the trunk of my tree noticeably expand in just a couple days. I've got one very healthy, old Blue Spruce tree. The deer population has exploded in my city. And they're not afraid of cars or people. Illegal to chase them away and every block seems to have their own family of deer. Unfortunately it will probably take a child being stomped on before the city agrees to cull the population. Thank you again for your help and suggestions.
Here is another video that recommends shade ground cover plants. m.ua-cam.com/video/mR8x6DeEP_k/v-deo.html They are generally good for under-the-trees. And I definitely hear you about deer. Their appetite is quite different one another. One website may say that they will not eat certain plants but, in reality, they will attack them anyway in some areas just like you described here. The thumbs of rules are that it really depends on how hungry they are. Sometimes they just don’t get picky. For Yew trees, which deer 🦌 frequently attack, I use bird net. m.ua-cam.com/video/Jiz417Bc1Qw/v-deo.html
I'd get some really hot, think: Pepper X 2,693,000 SHU · 2. Carolina Reaper 2,200,000 SHU · 3. Trinidad Moruga Scorpion and make a spray for the plants you want to keep. Soap and oil make a better spray Homemade hot pepper deer repellent spray “needs to be reapplied after a hard rain.” Hot pepper sprays are a traditional deer repellent that has been shown to work. Motion detector sprinklers may help too.
I disagree with you putting Creeping Jenny on the list of invasive plants. Crab Grass is invasive, Creeping Jenny is not. Ajuga is a good non-invasive ground cover as well. You need to deal with it like anything else with boundaries.
Maybe it depends on region or circumstances. I live in Zone 8b, west TN, and in my yard creeping Jenny has been extremely invasive. So has Vinca Major. Whoever lived here before we bought this house let them spill over and cover so much of a vast area that I am probably never going to get rid of either. The problem with all of these invasives is that they are so pretty, so we get lulled into confidence that we can keep them under our control.
Dealing with to many invasive plants…at least 5 of which were mentioned. Had I known before I bought my house 4 years ago. Constantly using weed/brush killer and digging up … I also wish retailers weren’t aloud to sell. I noticed one of the nurseries I go to has an invasive plant list posted for customers to look at. I think all plant places should have those posted.
Hi Tina, I completely hear you. Unfortunately many nurseries don't really post this information at all. Not sure if it is because being invasiveness is associated with some negativity. But as a general rule, if a plant has runner / stolon / rhizome, they are invasive. I am going to release the video sometime in June.
Virginia Creeper is nice for your woods or behind the barns, but not as attractive and rampantly wild and fast spreading. Nearly impossible to kill off completely. I regret mine.
Virginia Creeper climbs up my friends house and keeps the southern facing wall cool during the summer. it dies back in teh winter and can be pulled down with just a tug, and it quickly regrows the next year. Hasn't been a problem.
Invasives are non native plants to an area that pose an economic or environmental threat by crowding out non natives. Agressives can be either native or non native. I suggest wiki'ing the plant to see its native range before planting so you plant something beneficial to the wildlife in your area. 1. Europe 2. North America 3.Madagascar 4.Asia & North America 5.Europe 6.Europe & Western Asia 7.Asia & Europe 8.Europe 9.America & Europe 10. Asia Just to clarify the terms. Thanks for the video.
@@babochon here in the UK there's a clear distinction, you can look up plant lists noted as invasive to your area, obviously a plant can be invasive when it has certain growing conditions when elsewhere it might be entirely timid. It seems like a general list of invasive plants could be very misleading, given our basic understanding of how plants change in different environments. I believe in the US, you also have official list of plants that are noted as being invasive in particular areas.
Not technically a "ground cover" but Joe Pye Weed will not just take over your yard.. but the entire neighborhood. It gets 6-8 ft tall and wide (and deep) ... Yes it's a native so can't be "invasive"... will just call it what it is... an aggressive THUG.
I think that depends on where you live. I am in zone 4b and actually grew some from seed a few years ago. Still just have just the two large clumps in my landscape, exactly where I put them when I planted them there. Where are you located?
Yes, although "Hummingbird vine" or "Trumpet vine" is beautiful, they are invasive. However, I don't know about "Lamb's ear." Their progression is not so invasive, to me, and I am able to eradicate easily.
Please use the word "invasive" more clearly. It's typically used to mean that it goes beyond the garden and takes over woodland areas or meadows. Taking over the yard is "aggressive", I'd say. Most of these don't spread into other properties (but can creep their way broader and broader and get problematic). I also wish authors would specify the WHERE when saying invasive. E.g., Nandina (not a ground cover, just an example) appears to be a big problem in the south (US). Here in PA, I don't see that to be the case (or not to a large degree).
interesting. At least a couple of those "invasive" plants are out competed by wild plantain, dandelions and some sticky thorny thing that look like tiny pea pods. I WISH these invasive plants could actually hold their own against some of the nasty weeds that are mistaken for overgrown grass. I have Creeping jenny for example but it cannot creep very far before it is overrun by terrible weeds I cannot get rid of because of deep tap rooms and wind carried seeds. I have a spot of dirt between the car parking area that would benefit from somethign that spreads by runners because it's not going to run across the concrett, now is it? But the wind carried seeds get over there and take over and look awful and cause pain and irritation to everyone with their seed pods and thorns. I'd love to have some of these plants because I know they aren't going to escape because my neighbors have riding mower lawn service who comes and just mows along the property line. That will keep anything from goin out but doesn't stop the weed seeds from coming in. So I'd love some spreading non seedy ground covers that will compete with my jungle of a front yard. I'ts 2 feet tall now because of rain because it is NOT grass , but people want me to treat it like grass, which you can't with a normal lawn mower. 2 feet tall Little shop of Horrors growing everywhere.
Thanks for sharing the interesting problem you have. It is hard to make a comment without looking at it. However, the context of this video is that you have a garden that you could easily grow anything. What I am suggesting is that you have to understand what kind of plants have potentials to be invasive.
You are right. There are a lot of ground cover plants "NOT INVASIVE." Although it really depends on a few characteristics (height, sun/shade, USDA zones, etc.), Lamb's Ears, Mother of Thyme, Golden Moss Stonecrop (grow well but you can easily remove and transplant), Sedum are "NOT INVASIVE" in general. Let me create a video covering "NOT INVASIVE" ground covers. Do you have specific idea of what kind of contents need to be included?
Yarrow. Mine was a gorgeous cherry red. But it was taking over my yard, so I got rid of it-back breaking. That was four years ago, and just today I pulled out two yarrow seedlings.
@@babochon For baby sunrose I only have 3-4 small pots planted originally - bought from local facebooker - and it fills up 4m2 easily after few months. Few cuttings and put them in water, after rooted in 7 days, I planted them on different area of the house - and it fills up in no time. Note Sydney/Australia? has been raining a lot last 1 year, this has helped. Australian Pigface has this ugly leggy - feels like dying but weirdly alive. Replanted them from cuttings are what I'm trying to do now - Pigface feels a lot less invasive. I have other variety of pigfaces they're also similarly less invasive. From last cleaning up - baby sunrose doesn't seem to less rooting elsewhere than originally planted. Pigface on the other hand easily rooted where it lands to soil.
21 Invasive Runner / Stolon / Rhizome Ground Covers ua-cam.com/video/jalOhpGxv50/v-deo.html
Creeping Jenny is my all-time favourite plant. The first time I saw it, it took my breath away! I read that it was invasive, so I've always grown it in pots. It looks so gorgeous trailing down the sides of a container. The plant I've had the hardest time getting rid of is Lemon Balm. I planted it 12 years ago when we first moved into our house. I was clueless about it. Lemon Balm smells heavenly, and makes an herbal tea that is excellent for helping to relax. If wish I had known to only grow it in containers. I can't get rid of it. It's worse than weeds. My 6 foot nephews who is strong and works in construction could not dig it up, the roots were so ridiculously thick. He actually broke one of my shovels trying to dig it out!
Anyhow, great video. Thank you! :)
Thank you so much for sharing! 😀 Your story is priceless!!
Yuppers! Took me 3 summer to remove some mint! (Of note: LemoBalm is basically a mint ie same family or is it genus? LOL! Anyway always look to a plant's genealogy to tell you more about it, works for most allergies as well - look to the genus and avoid the relatives) The previous owners kiddos planted it in the my mums bushes years before she moved in, it was deeply entrenched and thicke. It took that long because Runners were spreading out into the yard by then and the Texas sun is brutal to work under and the shade is mosquito central! But eventually I got it all and it hasn't popped back up! I planted some at mine in a very tall pot, I also make sure to deadhead it so it doesn't go to seed and spread!
Cheers
We have Creeping Jenny in the front yard flowerbeds, now it’s reappearing in our neighbors’s yard
@@leociresi4292 - Wow, I didn't realize it could creep that far!
Against my wishes, my wife planted a two inch pot of lamium, (yellow flowers), 30 years ago when we first moved into our new home. After retiring, I noticed that this plant had literally overtaken our backyard; in addition, it was encroaching into our neighbour's yard. Four years ago, I decided to completely remove this noxious, very invasive plant. I commenced by using a spade and digging it up. Its root system was so dense and massive, it was like trying to put the spade into concrete. During the summer months, I tried to dig one square metre each day. Finally, after 4 summers, I accomplished this mammoth task yesterday. I repeat, DO NOT PLANT LAMIUM nor BISHOP'S WEED in your garden. Bishop's Weed is even much worse than Lamium since it spreads via stolons. Ostrich ferns are another fern cultivar that are terribly invasive with hard, dense, roots and invasive; the fiddleheads from this fern variety are edible, however. These invasive perennials should be banned from local garden shops.
Thank you so much for sharing your story!! This is so compelling. As I covered in the following video, stolon or rhizome plants are very invasive. m.ua-cam.com/video/jalOhpGxv50/v-deo.html
HOW did you get rid of it? I have a muddy slope my dog won’t stay out of, and I want to plant wildflowers.
I planted a lamium plant that has yellow flowers about 5 years ago. Don't know if it's the one in the video or not. It was sold in a 5 inch pot. It's never gotten larger than 1 foot in diameter. I bought it because the tag said it was like a ground cover, but that's not how it's acted. It's still there in its 12 inch diameter state.
Use thermal nuclear device should do the trick. 😅
Violet ground cover has not only ruined the lawn, but also my life. Three summer seasons trying to dig up tuberous roots and two herbicides applied repetitiously have made it thrive.
Hope you are talking about Wild Violets. They are really tough. Definitely not recommended
I have planted snow in summer in my garden which is terraced with stone walls. Love the colour of silver foliage love the beautiful white flowers but don’t love how it runs under the soil and invades my flower beds by creeping upwards then it requires a fork and digging it out or you leave behind roots which regrow. It also spreads by seed and pops up in gravel around base of trees etc. lovely plant but I do regret planting it. Twice a year I have to cut it back and remove unwanted spread. I fill at least six wheelbarrows with it
👍
Me, who can kill anything without even trying: taking notes for my shopping list 😂
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San Luis Obispo County in California has restricted Ice Plant from being planted. It is considered a weed from South Africa. It thrives in well draining soil and especially by the coastline. The County is pulling out the ice plant to allow for native plants to grow back and reestablish their habitat.
Yes, I heard about its infamous "spreading" capability! Thanks for sharing!!
Mint !
Yes, they are very invasive. I even experimented it in an open garden. They spread wide in no time! 😅
Is it illegal to plank any of these invasive ground covers? I really like the yellow wedelias and recently grew a vine from a cutting and I plan on growing it outside but I am not sure if it’s allow or not. I live in Hawaii
You need to check on your city website. They usually have that kind of information.
they look a lot better than some grasses i have seen and do not require all the chemicals and lawn mowing.
😅
Right! And nobody talks about how Bermuda is an invasive non native grass to the US. 😂
Nasturtium, luckily easy enough to pull out but it self seeds so easily and rapidly, each morning I am pulling a couple of hundred new sprouts that will otherwise consume my back garden, love it when in flower but I am thinking of totally banning it in my yard now.
Thanks for sharing
Any thoughts on creeper charlie please.
It is a hard question. For me, persistent management has been the best bet. Constantly stripping the vines. You need to get rid of the vines, not just leaves!
How do I get rid of summer cypress ground cover i didn’t plant?
I don’t have deep knowledge about summer cypress but I heard it develops herbicide resistance quickly. And the seeds are not persistent in the soil. Definitely I would pull them. 😀
Thank you! This is important information that isn't mentioned on other sites that suggest plants. I don't recall planting Vinca but maybe I did 24 years ago or my neighbor planted it and perhaps it came under the fence to my yard, but it's taken over and smothering a hydrangea. It's beautiful and I like it but I'm not sure I would have planted it if I knew it was this aggressive. I'm looking for a low ground cover that won't harbor rodents for the sunnier side of the yard or maybe some low Lacey wild flowers that won't be too thick. I want colorful, low and non invasive but maybe I'll have to just put a mulch.
If one of your objectives is to avoid rodents, please consider rock garden. As long as they find somewhere to hide, they will stick around. I successfully removed them through rock garden around my house. Also unfortunately all ground covers are somewhat aggressive. It is really hard to recommend anything especially when I don’t know how much maintenance you could do. 🤷♂️
That type of fern comes up in random places in my yard, but oddly enough it’s always a place that a fern would look lovely and hide something unattractive in the yard, like the brick pile on the side of my shed. Thankfully it’s just single pretty sprays and not a complete takeover like in the picture. My grandma planted the original ones years ago. Mine is Kunth’s maiden fern, native for me in southeast US.
At first it takes some time. But once they settle in, they will show up everywhere and take over the area. Maidenhair fern is absolutely beautiful. They spread but it’s very slow.
@@babochon I love maidenhair fern too - so pretty and delicate. Mawmaw planted that too, probably 30 years ago, and it’s lasted all these years in that bed.
Didn’t see creeping Charlie? Maybe, you covered it under a different name, but it is supernaturally tough. Simply won’t go away...
I wouldn't count it as a ground-cover plant. They are surely a tough plant to deal with. No, it never goes away.
I was going to mention Creeping Charlie as well. I had seen it recommended on another site as a ground cover. I was screaming at the screen - no, you’ll be sorry if you do that! You can’t mulch it. It literally creeps OVER mulch and grows roots into the mulch! I have been trying for years to get rid of it but it always seems to find me again.
@@Adogslife54 Rumor has it that, even when you move, it follows, lol.
@@shadyman6346 I believe it!
Eat it.
Interesting with good information. Ferns are no problem for me since the four or five types I have do not spread. Winter creeper that arrived "naturally" is the worst due to its aggressive, tough nature, but I've been able to get ahead of it in limited areas as I look to see it gone. Creeping Charlie acts like a total yard ground cover, but can be pulled up easily, but just takes commitment of time, as does Ivy.
I bet you are one hard-working gardener!! 😀
@@babochon Not any more than any other gardener, and I'm sure not as much as many. But gardening is work, but enjoyable work, right? In my situation, "anything green" was allowed to grow as long as it didn't get in the way of flowers, shrubs, or trees being planted, and then it was only removed in that small area which eventually led to two or three things attempting to "take over".
Well, I think that is a great ethic to share around here!! Thank you so much 👍
Houttuynia Cordata Chameleon. Pernicious invasive plant spread by seed and spreads through rhizomes which are very fragile and break apart easily. Any small part of the rhizome or stem left behind in the soil will resprout.
Definitely. Here I covered the Chameleon plant. ua-cam.com/video/jalOhpGxv50/v-deo.html. Unless you have a good plan to contain it, I wouldn't recommend it.
Took me 9 solid months of daily digging to a depth of 2-2.5 feet and sifting every stinking handful of dirt to get rid of roots and nubs in my 8 x 10 front garden to order to rid the area of the a”hootchie” chameleon plant living there. I believe the previous owners used it for medicinal purposes. I pulled out literally hundreds of pounds of roots! Plus it stinks to high heaven and harbors mesquites like crazy. Hard pass!!
Creeping myrtle is really beautiful. They are tough to remove but restraining their boundaries is maintenance I find quite easy. As always I seek out native ground cover before anything else. Not too hard to do in Maine. :)
Thanks for sharing!!
I love Lily-of-the-Valley lol my grandma grew it at the side of our home for many years and it never spread beyond its little flower bed :)
Mine is going crazy every year. I significantly reduced the area by digging them but, unless you have something blocking the rhizomes, they spread so well.
Same. I now have her house and the lily of the valley sticks to its bed. It has all of my life.
Surround most invasives with concrete and they can be useful fillers. Even hypericum calcynum.
Raspberries took over my backyard with runners everywhere and going into my neighbors' yard.
Yes, some types of raspberries and blackberries are invasive. I had the same ordeal in my backyard with a raspberry.
My experience is that pachysandra sleeps/creeps/then (only sort of) leaps. It did a good job of covering the ground (but also seemed to be home to voles and ticks :( ).
English Ivy is too aggressive (here in PA).
Calling Lily of the Valley, Periwinkle or Sweet Woodruff invasive or aggressive seems laughable. My periwinkle/vinca minor never choked out much of anything even in places it was happiest.
Some varieties of ferns cause their owners to tear them all out. Those varieties are aggressive. Many are native so I wouldn't call them invasive per se.
Euonymus Winter Creeper: my new house has that; I'm a bit leery of it. I've seen it spread and climb trees and have been told it's labeled as invasive. Once all my English ivy is ripped out, I'll look at the winter creeper.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. 😀
Don't let winter creeper grow on your trees- it will completely cover a tree and kill it. I've seen it many times in my neighborhood and my next door neighbors just had a dead tree cut down a few weeks ago that was completely covered by it. Once it gets a well-established hold on the bark it's impossible to get off.
I’d like to add honeysuckle to this list.
Absolutely. I also covered it in this video m.ua-cam.com/video/uInwwMYEZIw/v-deo.html
I was very ill and out of commission during and after Covid lockdown. Couldn’t work in yard.. Honeysuckle covered and killed my garden, shrubs and all, reminded me of Kudzu! 😢I just recently had everything removed, including small weeping cherry. Honeysuckle killed it. Time to start over, this time hopefully without honeysuckle! (I never planted it, it just showed up)
Thats what I want. We have so many bare spots where won't grow grass. I think the ground covers are beautiful. Anyone know of how to stop groundhogs from eating my new wild flowers? Im so eager to watch them bloom , but the little bastards keep eating the tops off. 😢😢😢😢😢
A couple of groundhogs dug their nests near the deck. While doing so, it created hideous sights. I had to let them leave the place. It was not easy. I used the bricks 🧱 so that they couldn’t dig and created a little fence so that they couldn’t access there. I will share that video sometime. 😅
@@babochon thank you and yes ours are living under our shed
Live trap
I live in a zone 5 area. I've tried English Ivy and Pachysandra both a couple of times (the deer love both) in a garden with morning sun and shaded from the hot afternoon sun. And in another part of my front yard I've tried ferns, with 80% shade cloth and watered daily. The rabbits and deer just eat everything to the ground. And what they don't eat they trample and lay on. The ferns they don't eat but they dig up and eat or nibble the roots. What hardy or "invasive" ground cover can you recommend that will repel deer? I have fences up around my gardens to keep the deer out (they jumped the 6 ft fences and I had to recently add another 2 ft extension) but fences just look so ugly everywhere in the front yard. Looking for very hardy or "invasive" low ground covers like ivy that deer hate but will smother weeds and grow in a zone 5 environment. Suggestions please, anyone?
Usually deer 🦌 leave alone English Ivy and Pachysandra. I have them for more than 5 years and I live on a deer path. Never happened. Try (1) Periwinkle (2) Euonymus Winter Creeper. These are very strong and also evergreen. You could also try (1) Snow on the Mountain (2) Creeping Jenny (3) Yellow Archangel (4) Lily of the Vally and these are deciduous. But again they are invasive. Some of them are toxic to deer and they will definitely leave them alone.
@@babochon Thank you for the suggestions. It gives me something to research. Lamium is another one I found. Some, such as Periwinkle have a lot of varieties so it will take me some time to decide on the proper one. Others sound too aggressive to use in a garden, however they almost all sound great as a lawn substitute. Some perennial plants I've tried that are poisonous, such as Oriental Poppy, the deer will eat just the flower and leave the rest of the plant alone.
Any suggestions on what might grow best under or near a Blue Spruce? I had given up on growing anything anywhere near that tree. But I also don't want anything that will harm that tree or its roots. I have pictures from the county courthouse of my house from the 1950's and the Spruce tree was very large then. So I'm guessing it must be 100 plus years old now.
I have to say for the benefit of anyone reading this, we have had a couple very hot and dry years. I've seen two large Spruce trees in my city die this past year. I've found that twice a year giving them a good deep watering mid and later summer has really helped the tree. For deep watering I mean turning the hose on full near its base and letting the hose run the entire night. The first time I ever did that I noticed the trunk of my tree noticeably expand in just a couple days. I've got one very healthy, old Blue Spruce tree.
The deer population has exploded in my city. And they're not afraid of cars or people. Illegal to chase them away and every block seems to have their own family of deer. Unfortunately it will probably take a child being stomped on before the city agrees to cull the population.
Thank you again for your help and suggestions.
Here is another video that recommends shade ground cover plants. m.ua-cam.com/video/mR8x6DeEP_k/v-deo.html They are generally good for under-the-trees. And I definitely hear you about deer. Their appetite is quite different one another. One website may say that they will not eat certain plants but, in reality, they will attack them anyway in some areas just like you described here. The thumbs of rules are that it really depends on how hungry they are. Sometimes they just don’t get picky. For Yew trees, which deer 🦌 frequently attack, I use bird net. m.ua-cam.com/video/Jiz417Bc1Qw/v-deo.html
Yeah, the Deer have been eating almost all my English Ivy the last 2 Winters, but it luckily grew back last year and hopefully will again this year.
I'd get some really hot, think: Pepper X 2,693,000 SHU · 2. Carolina Reaper 2,200,000 SHU · 3. Trinidad Moruga Scorpion and make a spray for the plants you want to keep.
Soap and oil make a better spray Homemade hot pepper deer repellent spray “needs to be reapplied after a hard rain.” Hot pepper sprays are a traditional deer repellent that has been shown to work.
Motion detector sprinklers may help too.
I disagree with you putting Creeping Jenny on the list of invasive plants. Crab Grass is invasive, Creeping Jenny is not. Ajuga is a good non-invasive ground cover as well. You need to deal with it like anything else with boundaries.
Yes, I hear you. Comparing with other kinds, creeping Jenny is not too harsh but you need “some” effort to get rid of them completely.
Maybe it depends on region or circumstances. I live in Zone 8b, west TN, and in my yard creeping Jenny has been extremely invasive. So has Vinca Major. Whoever lived here before we bought this house let them spill over and cover so much of a vast area that I am probably never going to get rid of either. The problem with all of these invasives is that they are so pretty, so we get lulled into confidence that we can keep them under our control.
Dealing with to many invasive plants…at least 5 of which were mentioned. Had I known before I bought my house 4 years ago.
Constantly using weed/brush killer and digging up … I also wish retailers weren’t aloud to sell. I noticed one of the nurseries I go to has an invasive plant list posted for customers to look at. I think all plant places should have those posted.
Hi Tina, I completely hear you. Unfortunately many nurseries don't really post this information at all. Not sure if it is because being invasiveness is associated with some negativity. But as a general rule, if a plant has runner / stolon / rhizome, they are invasive. I am going to release the video sometime in June.
Wish you would add latin names! Snow on the mountain is variegated groud elder here.
Hahahah, sometimes that’s a turnoff for some people. Yes, Snow-on-the-Mountain is pretty much the same as Ground Elder. Just different leave pattern!
Virginia Creeper is nice for your woods or behind the barns, but not as attractive and rampantly wild and fast spreading. Nearly impossible to kill off completely. I regret mine.
100% agreed!
Virginia Creeper climbs up my friends house and keeps the southern facing wall cool during the summer. it dies back in teh winter and can be pulled down with just a tug, and it quickly regrows the next year. Hasn't been a problem.
My husband and I are allergic to it, it gives a rash like poison ivy.
Thank you for this advice!
Glad it was helpful!
Creeping Charlie is the worst around here. Lamium is really bad too. They need to ban invasive ground covers for sale.
Totally agree 👍
Invasives are non native plants to an area that pose an economic or environmental threat by crowding out non natives.
Agressives can be either native or non native. I suggest wiki'ing the plant to see its native range before planting so you plant something beneficial to the wildlife in your area.
1. Europe
2. North America
3.Madagascar
4.Asia & North America
5.Europe
6.Europe & Western Asia
7.Asia & Europe
8.Europe
9.America & Europe
10. Asia
Just to clarify the terms. Thanks for the video.
Thanks for sharing!
although bamboo seems a rather tall choice for a ground cover
I know. I had one bamboo shoot 3 years ago. Can you guess how many are now? I cannot even count. Blessed or cursed?
@@babochon
I’m getting a bamboo forest
Love bamboo
Put ferns underneath with some ground lighting looks neat and creepy at same time
My neighbors bamboo is my nemesis. On the plus side, I get a lot of exercise by digging it out every couple of days.
Bamboo is more of a privacy plant
mint
Yes. They go aggressive. You need to contain it
It's all relative to where you live as to whether it's invasive or not
Yes, I think that’s a good factor!
@@babochon here in the UK there's a clear distinction, you can look up plant lists noted as invasive to your area, obviously a plant can be invasive when it has certain growing conditions when elsewhere it might be entirely timid. It seems like a general list of invasive plants could be very misleading, given our basic understanding of how plants change in different environments. I believe in the US, you also have official list of plants that are noted as being invasive in particular areas.
Not technically a "ground cover" but Joe Pye Weed will not just take over your yard.. but the entire neighborhood. It gets 6-8 ft tall and wide (and deep) ... Yes it's a native so can't be "invasive"... will just call it what it is... an aggressive THUG.
You are so right. Thanks for sharing!
I think that depends on where you live. I am in zone 4b and actually grew some from seed a few years ago. Still just have just the two large clumps in my landscape, exactly where I put them when I planted them there. Where are you located?
You must live somewhere wet. It’s definitely not aggressive around here.
Hummingbird vine, yucca, lambs Ear … impossible to get rid of once established!
Yes, although "Hummingbird vine" or "Trumpet vine" is beautiful, they are invasive. However, I don't know about "Lamb's ear." Their progression is not so invasive, to me, and I am able to eradicate easily.
Please use the word "invasive" more clearly. It's typically used to mean that it goes beyond the garden and takes over woodland areas or meadows. Taking over the yard is "aggressive", I'd say. Most of these don't spread into other properties (but can creep their way broader and broader and get problematic).
I also wish authors would specify the WHERE when saying invasive. E.g., Nandina (not a ground cover, just an example) appears to be a big problem in the south (US). Here in PA, I don't see that to be the case (or not to a large degree).
Yes, it depends how you look at it. That why I use a question mark and say “beyond aggressive” 😜
Japanese Knot Weed commonly mistaken as bamboo
That’s so true!!
interesting. At least a couple of those "invasive" plants are out competed by wild plantain, dandelions and some sticky thorny thing that look like tiny pea pods. I WISH these invasive plants could actually hold their own against some of the nasty weeds that are mistaken for overgrown grass. I have Creeping jenny for example but it cannot creep very far before it is overrun by terrible weeds I cannot get rid of because of deep tap rooms and wind carried seeds. I have a spot of dirt between the car parking area that would benefit from somethign that spreads by runners because it's not going to run across the concrett, now is it? But the wind carried seeds get over there and take over and look awful and cause pain and irritation to everyone with their seed pods and thorns.
I'd love to have some of these plants because I know they aren't going to escape because my neighbors have riding mower lawn service who comes and just mows along the property line. That will keep anything from goin out but doesn't stop the weed seeds from coming in. So I'd love some spreading non seedy ground covers that will compete with my jungle of a front yard. I'ts 2 feet tall now because of rain because it is NOT grass , but people want me to treat it like grass, which you can't with a normal lawn mower. 2 feet tall Little shop of Horrors growing everywhere.
Thanks for sharing the interesting problem you have. It is hard to make a comment without looking at it. However, the context of this video is that you have a garden that you could easily grow anything. What I am suggesting is that you have to understand what kind of plants have potentials to be invasive.
Latin names would be helpful, there are over 20,000 types of ferns all with vastly different characteristics
In general, most ferns spread very quickly. Of course, there are a couple which don't spread but they are rare.
Creeping Virginia!
Yes. Virginia Creeper is, I believe, a native vine but their growth is really vigorous!
Just the name "ground cover plant" should tell us it is invasive. Being invasive is how it covers the ground. What ground cover plant is not invasive?
You are right. There are a lot of ground cover plants "NOT INVASIVE." Although it really depends on a few characteristics (height, sun/shade, USDA zones, etc.), Lamb's Ears, Mother of Thyme, Golden Moss Stonecrop (grow well but you can easily remove and transplant), Sedum are "NOT INVASIVE" in general. Let me create a video covering "NOT INVASIVE" ground covers. Do you have specific idea of what kind of contents need to be included?
Chameleon plant is a pretty aggressive ground cover.
Good to know!! Thanks for sharing!
TERRIBLE.
It's the worst.
😭😭😭😭😭
Houttuynia
mint and bamboo
So true!!
Running Bamboo NOT Clumping Bamboo
Lamium, liriope
Absolutely 👍
Yes, chameleon dont try it !!!
👍😀
Mint, morning glories, creeping fig!
Thank you so much for sharing!
Amen to Morning Glory! Impossible to control and they strangle out every other plant.
Yarrow. Mine was a gorgeous cherry red. But it was taking over my yard, so I got rid of it-back breaking. That was four years ago, and just today I pulled out two yarrow seedlings.
Yes, Yarrow could be invasive!
Blue Star Latrobe
Blue Star Creeper? Yes, it grows fast and choke other perennials. Thanks for sharing
I’ve had to uproot it as it was growing into the vinyl siding of our house!
Very annoying white screen text, just add text on to of video
Thank for your feedback. Will consider it for future videos!
Borage.
They are a prolific self seeder. But you can easily manage it, I think.
Most ground covers are invasive by nature…
Yes. That is true. Especially if they are Runner / Stolon / Rhizome based like in this video. m.ua-cam.com/video/jalOhpGxv50/v-deo.html
Goutweed! Ugh.
I hear you!! Goutweed is one of the bad plants that literally ruin your garden! Covered it here: m.ua-cam.com/video/jalOhpGxv50/v-deo.html
AJUGA OR BUGLEWEED
Agreed!
@@babochon i disagree.
Sperge Laurel
Yes. It is invasive and also toxic. Thanks for sharing!!
I love my baby sunrose and Australian pigface.
Both are succulent, I believe. Also Baby Sunrose is invasive, according to my online search? How is Australian Pigface?
@@babochon For baby sunrose I only have 3-4 small pots planted originally - bought from local facebooker - and it fills up 4m2 easily after few months. Few cuttings and put them in water, after rooted in 7 days, I planted them on different area of the house - and it fills up in no time. Note Sydney/Australia? has been raining a lot last 1 year, this has helped.
Australian Pigface has this ugly leggy - feels like dying but weirdly alive. Replanted them from cuttings are what I'm trying to do now - Pigface feels a lot less invasive. I have other variety of pigfaces they're also similarly less invasive.
From last cleaning up - baby sunrose doesn't seem to less rooting elsewhere than originally planted. Pigface on the other hand easily rooted where it lands to soil.