11/3/08
It’s possible to have too much of a good thing . . . as what happened to me with garden phlox.
It began as so many of my garden adventures have, with discovering a leftover from previous owners. In this case, tucked in the shadows of an overgrown garden — so overgrown I didn’t recognize it as such — which I now call “the bird thicket” and leave untouched because it’s such perfect habitat — I found five spindly pink garden phlox about 18″ tall. Delighted, I transplanted them to my newly restored perennial garden in the backyard, in almost-full sun.
To say they thrived is an understatement. By the end of the first year, they had exploded into five robust magenta clumps about four feet tall. By the end of the second year, they had fill their allotted space and were starting to jump the boundary. By the end of year three, it was obvious I’d acquired a plant that qualified as “invasive” — and so it has gone, to the point where they’ve overtaken the entire garden!
For several years I transplanted the overflow to areas around the yard, spring and fall, with mixed results. But I’ve used up all my extra space, and still the phlox multiply and conquer. They have achieved the status of pest — or should I say, “pestilence.” I can’t keep up with them. I can’t give enough of them away. This year, I tried dumping Roundup on the rogues when they emerged in the spring, and all summer hand-pulled every one I found outside the border. Still they keep coming. I will need to engage the services of my husband’s backhoe and rip out the entire garden if I want to slow them down.
In late summer, they create a gorgeous mass bloom of the type I adore. If only that were the end of it!
Now I’ve got the same problem with evening primrose, starting from a half-dozen I got from a friend who was thinning her patch. And the same problem again with Jerusalem artichokes. We can’t grow very much in this environment, but what does grow here really loves it!
If anybody has a sunny space they need filled with vigorous pink perennials, let me know. I’ll gladly ship you a boxload!
Carolyn Haley
Author: Open Your Heart with Gardens
Posted by: Opening the heart, gardens, gardening, yard, plants, cultivation — Carolyn Haley
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