Have u had a tree,shrub or any plant that was just awful? (landscaping, grow)
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Southernnaturelover,
Yikes thanks for the warning. I have ivy,( been trying to get rid of for years). Then a lovely clementis that will eat UR yard and anything in its path in less than three months.
In this zone there are some plants that grow normally . Others that will take over, some r noxious weeds , like clementis and ivy they are downing our forests. Smothering everything on their path.
I have Portuguese Lauryls as a hedge I planted across the front of the property 22 feet tall now ,but in front of a window to block UR view that just planted in the wrong place. They r thick and woody very hard to keep trimmed. Something better for low growth in front of windows would be nicer planted in its place . I have seen them grow into huge trees in this zone.
I planted 2 corkscrew trees close to a widow. In four years they were 50-60 ' tall. No one told me they were in the willow family & they grow worse than weeds. They were cut down and I did the roundup not mixed with water just straight from the container into holes I drilled into the tree stumps.
They died and decayed...no more corkscrew / willow tree ... That was a big Bo boo!
Mtn Laurels do make lovely hedges I have a very nice hedge of Portugese Laurels across the front of my property. They now r 22 ' tall. The constant topping off the hedge is a lot of work. So they grow up and out . Great privacy hedge. Hold their leaves well and drought resistant once established. Little lovely fragrant flowers in spring.
Liquid amber or sweet gum tree. The resinous sap attract sap sucker birds here. The trees get huge. I keep mine trimmed and limbed up. Actually use the tractor to pull of saplings. They are like the Stella Magnolias water shoot up and branches out every year. A huge amount of maintenance, they do have beautiful red leaves in the fall. It's out in the pasture so not close to the house. If not planted in the right place they are a mess..
DONT GET ME STARTED ON ENGLISH IVY.... I hate that stuff it's messes up buildings attaches to anything and grows so fast .
That sounds awful. I had a neighbor poison my 3 popular trees (that were already planted before I moved in) , cause he didn't like the leaves roots in his yard. The 3 trees just all of a sudden died at once. Cost me a fortune to have 3 of them cut down and because in the front in a residential area I have to have the stumps drilled out.
I had no idea they were in my neighbors yard. If they would have talked to me I would have taken care of them from encroaching in their yard. Poplar trees are notorious for taking over the universe. But to be sneaky and just poisioning them without notice ..... The days of living in the city... Never again...
The leaves u deal with are similar to my huge OAK. I use my mower to mulch them as they fall. I stay ahead of it so the whole tree isn't on the ground at once. It works well a little bit at a time and fertilizes the lawn too.
Trumpet vine. I can't believe no one else has mentioned it. Even here in the desert, a non-watered trumpet vine the neighbor planted on a shared back fence has managed to overcome the astroturf-and-black-plastic-and-rocks hellscape installed by a former owner (we're renters) to pop up its offshoots as much as 60' away from the mothership - err, mother plant. We have shoots coming up through the rock-over-plastic constantly, from May through - well, right now, as a matter of fact. The astroturf - a landscaping obscenity in and of itself - is apparently too tough for it to puncture, so it just goes all the way under it before surfacing instead.
In wetter climes, this stuff can and will pull down large trees, sheds, houses - basically anything that gets in its way. Its tendrils will strip the paint off siding and can even dig into the siding and pull off whole chunks when you try to remove it.
Nothing kills it. Putting in an underground "weed barrier" doesn't help, it will just go under or around it. It laughs at Roundup and begs for more. 2-4,D is supposed to kill it - but I can't test that theory because after an extension agent passed this advice on, she then went on to tell me that I'm not allowed to use that on TV shoots coming up right next to my back door because it might kill the mother plant as well.
If only.
You can't dig it up. If you miss a one inch piece of root, it will come right back. Once this stuff is established its a lost cause. Your only hope is to move.
It may SEEM to be well-behaved for years - and then suddenly it is EVERYWHERE and you can't get rid of it. Because all that time, it has been sending out shoots underground, and once they pop up, its not just right there that there is a problem - it is all the way back to the mother plant and for 50" in all directions. It will grow up UNDER your siding and do structural damage if you don't catch it.
No one should be allowed to plant this, anywhere in the world. It is worse than kudzu. And still every hummingbird or butterfly resource suggests planting it. Saying "can be invasive" is nowhere near strong enough language to describe the tenacity with which this vine will hang on and spread.
You described the trumpet vine to the "T". I had made the mistake of planting it and it's taken two years to kill it off. I drilled holes in the trunk yes huge trunk of the mother plant then poured poison in the holes I drilled deep into the root system pouring in poison straight from the container several times over the winter. It finally croaked. It was mis labeled at the nursery. Looks similar to a wisteria. As it turned out was a trumpet vine. Bah- hum-bug...
Then the next season smaller vines started coming up . The attack of the trumpet vine again even with the mother plant gone. It started shoots from every spot imaginable. UR description is quite accurate.
I keep spraying it, & it keeps growing back it cracks right thru the concrete walkway. I manage to keep it confined to a small area. It's incredibly destructive.
I agree it's not a plant it's a noxious weed.. Nurseries should not be allowed to sell them especially in certain areas with no hard freezes to kill them back. I hate them and ready to burn them out.
It takes a woody poison to kill them nothing else works, except maybe a torch...hahaha!
That's how I finally got rid of a 2 story monster Pompous grass plant. Another one to add to my hater list.
I'm not condoning using torches in summer during dry conditions. Considering the horrible forest fires this season. I Only burn when the fire dept oks yard burning in my area.
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