Worst Plant

What is the most invasive "worst plant" you have ever planted.

I am valiantly trying to remove some Oxalis tetraphylla or "Iron Cross" ,I keep yanking it out by the fistfull ,i have planted up as much as i want in containers, and as i have a grassed area to the side of my drive wall ,i have "berberis" and Mahonia" down the length i have underplanted that with it, and it still keeps coming.

 

Nothing I've planted has really got out of control, but there are a couple things that would be all over the place if I let them.

I few years ago I planted one Lemon Balm (Melissa Officinalis I think its called). Now I keep finding them all over, including one in the patio. I also put some golden rod in, and its appeared in the neighbour's garden this year. It was so funny because his gardening technique is to gather seeds from the wild and randomly throw them on his garden. He came over to me full of glee to tell me about a new plant that he's just found, he showed me it, and I recognised it straight away as golden rod.

 

Comfrey. Never ever again:flag:

 

Lavatera - bought for my parents as a present - it rampaged everywhere and they did nothing but moan about it. There's gratitude for you !!

 

Feverfew self seeds everywhere but it's very easy to recognise and to pull up errant seedlings. I agree with Clueless about Lemon Balm, but the same can be said for it. I've planted Goldenrod this year and hope it does spread - it's in a part of the garden that looks bare and I have difficulty with.

Now...if we are talking worst plant in general - Leylandii!!

 

Years ago I saw a plant advertised, a sort of rose hip, in a newspaper. The ad stated it was great for hedging and made an impenetrable wall that was animal proof and produced edible fruits. What it didn't say was the sheer speed that it would grow. I planted a 20 foot hedge of it and within 2 years it was totaly out of control. I couldn't cut it down fast enough and there were suckers coming up all over the place. It took me weeks to dig it all out and a couple more years to eradicate it completely. Plant in haste, repent at length

 

Greater Periwinkle (Vinca major 'Variegata') without doubt it's a lovely evergreen but the blinking thing is a right old bully it will sneak almost anywhere!

I made the mistake of planting a couple and although I have dug up all the main plants I am still finding little plantlets all over the place! Hel.xxx.

 

Crocosmia, the Montbretia. I thought they looked pretty, now I have 1,000,000 of them
Also, those pesky three-cornered leeks. a 'friend' gave me some and now they are everywhere.

 

FERNS ! I introduced them to my last garden and they appeared everywhere. Growing out of the dry stone dykes, the cracks in the paths, the rockery - everywhere, and they are very difficult to remove. Never again.

 

I'll second your comment about periwinkle. The previous owners of my house had used it as a groundcover plant and it had spread everywhere when I moved in. I've waged war against it for the past couple of years but to my surprise, it still crops up in the lawn!
I dig the little plants out by hand, as carefully as a bomb disposal expert removes a fuse - but it still keeps spreading.....

 

Syringa. I have two, one was an accidental cutting (stuck a stick in the ground to keep the Cats off my Cauliflower and it grew)which behaves and keeps at about 4ft, and it's mother, which, a month after a I cut it from 15ft tall down to 7ft, is now its original height again. Casts way too much shade and dries the soil out so much it makes ideal Cat litter underneath itself.

 

I agree with some here. Feverfew but it is easy to pull out. Cotoneaster is great against our wall but it seeds everywhere even between the block path.

Interesting you say that about Periwinkle Hel. I have some against the back fence but maybe I should get rid of it pretty darn quick!

 

I'm the same as Hels - Greater Periwinkle (Vinca major). When I moved in and was new my friend recommended it to me. Planted one, and within a year it was killing the plants surrounding it. Pulled it out and after only a years growth it still appears in the flowerbed now and again. Evil stuff!

 

Without a doubt (and we never planted either of these) ... BAMBOO and I think it's called Poached Egg Plant .... The bamboo is a nightmare, we have tons and tons of the stuff ... and the other plant, it has spread everywhere, when it dies off we can roll it up like a carpet and it leaves seeds in its wake ....

Glad to hear of the other plants mentioned ... will make a note NOT to buy any!!!