Mumsy's Romantic Garden Advice

[midnightroo]

It looks like we have that same kind armor. Here it does spread by seed and I agree, the bees and butterflies love it which is why I've kept it. In the fall or winter I cut back the plant to reduce the number of seeds so it doesn't spread so readily. Plus, one seedling I dug up a few years ago is about 7 foot tall right now, so I cut it back to control height.

 

[MumsyII]

I can understand the ivy. There other I have heard of but some I don't recognize. But I don't understand why butterfly bush is considered invasive ? I have one a I planted probably 6 or 7 years ago and it hasn't spread from where I planted it. I've planted a few more because the bees and butterflies love it.

Is it the same as this
https://www.google.com/search?q=but...RUu6tH8jhyQGq3IGgAw#biv=i|4;d|MTsL8O6oU8-GrM:
I know you said different plants can have the same names so maybe its different from what we call butterfly bushes?

Mumsy how did you make out with the bees? Are they all gone since you sprayed them?

The hive under my barn porch were a small ground dwelling hornet. They are now gone and haven't come back. We have left the Bald Face hornet nest we found in the Rhododrendron shrub alone until the first hard frost comes in October. I want to wait until they are hibernating before dealing with them.

All the plants on the noxious weed list I posted are non native. They are listed because in Washington State they crowd out and kill desirable native plants, are toxic to live stock or cause terrible skin irritation in people. I picked up a booklet at that booth that gives alternatives to the noxious plants.

I have a couple varieties of named Butterfly bush cultivars that are sterile. They have never set seed in my garden after twenty five years. If the State sees Tansy growing on private property here they have the right to come onto your property and remove it. They dig it up roots plant and all, bag it, and leave.
Many of the plants on the list get into hay fields and get baled up with the hay. Livestock becomes poisoned. Some noxious weeds that get in hay cause the animal to not assimilate vitamin B. Some of them can cause the milk produced to become toxic.

Others on the list clog the banks of streams, rivers, or lakes. Erosion can occur. Wild life habitat for spawning fish becomes compromised. The native flora cannot compete and riparian waterways are lost as beneficial habitat.

Plants I have enjoyed but now have started digging up and killing are Yellow Flag Iris. It has seeded all over my garden into massive clumps. My husband has to use a pick ax to chop away at the tangle of roots. One seed or small piece of root can grow a new clump. It was beautiful when in bloom but not worth it now. If it seeds into lakes or ponds, it kills by smothering out all other plants.

Another one I'm battling after planting is the holly. Every berry a bird eats and poops in my garden produces a plant. They are non native and you find them every where in the forest now. There are others.

 

[flitter]

Does anyone grow wild chicory? I love the color. I have dug up a couple to transplant... they have a huge taproot and they never made it. I'm trying to find seeds now. If you have them in your garden, how invasive are they?

 

[MumsyII]

The booklet I picked up is very noteworthy. It gives the invasive variety a picture and description. For instance: Butterfly Bush - Buddlieja davidii In the Pacific Northwest it has escaped cultivation and is coming up in logged clearings or along roadsides in dense thickets. If it establishes itself along streams or rivers, it traps sediment. Though it does attract butterflys, it replaces by crowding out the native willow that is the natural host for native butterflys in the wild.

The booklet suggests these as alternatives. California Lilac, Chaste Tree, and Pacific Nine bark. All of which have beautiful lilac or white colored bloom and attract butterflys. Very interesting.

 

[flitter]

Is the booklet available anywhere? Printed by? Sounds like a good thing to have.

 

[MumsyII]

Is the booklet available anywhere? Printed by? Sounds like a good thing to have.

I found a small booth in the Horticulture barn at the little county fair here. All the literature on the table was free for the taking. No one was there at 7 pm at night when I went through.

Sharing two of the booklets here for educational purposes. No copyright infringement is intended.

These were published for my region but I'm sure every state has something similar.

Front and back covers.

Inside example:


This next booklet is very useful for pasture knowledge.



An example of knowledge within.

I will be studying these books cover to cover.

Edited to add: The mock orange on the cover of the first book grows in my garden. I love it. Smells divine. The plant on the second booklet is Poison Hemlock. It grows in the forests here.

 

[armorfirelady]

I think my butterfly bush must be the sterile version as well. It's never spread or reseeded it self in all the years I have had it. I used to cut it down but its never grown any bigger than it is and I think that's because of cutting it back.

Thanks for sharing your booklet Mumsy. I am going to see if we have one for our region. I know hogweed is the big news here, I have never seen it but if you touch it you can get serious burns from it.

I have an invasive plant I have been trying for years to kill. It has leaves that remind me of a pumpkin. I try hard to get roots and all out because it can spread fast. Even using round up on it won't kill it

 

[BlueMouse]

your invasive is colts foot. good luck.

Hogweed is one thing, it's big news but very uncommmon MUCH more common is wild or poison parsnip, which has the same skin burning propensities if you touch the sap. It makes your skin photosensitive wherever it gets on you and you can get third degree sunburns if you get even moderate sun exposure afterwards. I'm a believer in the truth of this after seeing a friends giant scabbing oozing blistered burns all over his back after he crashed his mountain bike into a patch of it....

https://www.dot.ny.gov/dangerous-plants/wild-parsnip

It looks a bit like common fennel or dill, in fact that was at first what I thought it was, but the leaves are not nearly so fine. The best solution I've found for controlling it is to cut it off at the root with a spade before it flowers. It's a biannual, so if you can prevent it from setting seed you can eventually eradicate it. It also responds well to being sprayed with vinegar/salt/dawn, although I would be careful doing that somewhere you want to grow other things because of the danger of introducing salt into the soil. The one plant we had on our property I cut the flowering stalk off, then sprayed any leaves that came back up with the above mentioned mixture.

 

[MumsyII]

The plants referred to as wild parsnips are easily confused. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heracleum_maximum is a wild plant here that Native Americans have many uses for.

They all belong to the carrot family but have different properties. Some people are sensitive to them but not everyone is. Best to use long pants and sleeves and thick gloves when handling or weeding to be on the safe side. Even the experts get these plants mixed up.
The one I avoid is commonly called Giant Hogweed. Heracleum mantegazzianum
http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/39809.html

People confuse it with Cow Parsnip. There has been a report of blindness and someone that was weeding it in his yard local here was hospitalized. It was introduced to the USA in the twentieth century.

 

[armorfirelady]

your invasive is colts foot. good luck.

The plants referred to as wild parsnips are easily confused. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heracleum_maximum is a wild plant here that Native Americans have many uses for.

They all belong to the carrot family but have different properties. Some people are sensitive to them but not everyone is. Best to use long pants and sleeves and thick gloves when handling or weeding to be on the safe side. Even the experts get these plants mixed up.
The one I avoid is commonly called Giant Hogweed. Heracleum mantegazzianum
http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/39809.html

People confuse it with Cow Parsnip. There has been a report of blindness and someone that was weeding it in his yard local here was hospitalized. It was introduced to the USA in the twentieth century.

I have never seen Hogweed but I know they are around here. They were passing out pamphlets at the fair about it and its on the news from time to time. Im guessing if I saw one as large as the pictures show I would figure it out lol