@@aarononeal9830 not all the "we plant trees" are actually accomplishing their objective. We must do our due diligence. Putting tiny "whips" into the ground without adequate spacing or care is just window dressing.
I always feel sad when I see trees with ivy smothering them. Even though that was a wild mess you showed on this video I also kept thinking there must be a ton of bunnies and other wildlife that call it home.
SO glad you're educating folks about these threats to our beautiful natives! I've been on this soapbox for many years when I worked in the industry. The big box stores have really hurt small, local garden centers but you get what you pay for & we professionals know natives don't get the advertising dollars. I sure wish folks would spend as much time researching plants that they do appliances. Natives just do better with less intervention but hey, that hurts too many industries that want the homeowner's money. One place I frequent had Euonymus, Nandina & bamboo planted 15 years ago. It's really ruined a beautiful area of N. Georgia.
The good news is that I have been reading lately that native plants have been selling out like crazy and I for one order them online because they are hard to find in my area. it is so worth it because you get so many pollinators and beneficial insects - nature knows what's right!
Thanks Jim. Rose of Sharon is invasive, I'm in zone 6 and many Rose of Sharon volunteers from my neighbors. They are beautiful but I spend alot of time pulling seedlings.
I really appreciate this video! My mother-in-law, whom I adore, refuses to believe that some of these plants are invasive, and I'm sure because she loves them. We both agree that Kudzu is the worst, but she loves photinias, nandina, ivy, and althea. She's moving in with us shortly, and I have put my foot down: she cannot bring these with her!
Love your videos. After gardening for 50+ years there are still new things to learn. I lost three tree to the English ivy I planted as a ground cover many years ago. Mahonia's are an invasive plant where I live in central Alabama. Every years I have to cut out the blooms on new growth before berries appear. If I don't, I would have Mahonias everywhere in my yard. I didn't plant the original one, it just came up one year. Unfortunately, it took several new "volunteer" plants appearing in other areas before I figured out how to cure the problem. If you don't get them out when they are really small too bad because once established they are invincible. Pruning is a painful process because of the thorns on the leaves.
Thank you for another informative video on invasives! A potential follow-up video could be landscape alternatives to invasives, although I do agree/understand that they are here to stay and it is all about management now. I hope that local gardeners can start to feel like natives are "heirloom cultivars" and add them to their gardens.
I'd love to hear more about how invasives spread (not just from one yard to another but potentially great distances by birds) and how these invasive plants may be choking out the plants that wildlife rely on for food and habitat. Harm to wildlife is what really breaks my heart.
Haven’t watched part 1 yet, but one of the most invasive plants I’ve seen in my 7b is a passion vine 😡 it came up in my flower bed and there is just no way to get rid of that thing! I tried my best to dig up those deep roots but I’ve about killed some of my plants doing so 😭
Very interesting Jim. Could you address Japanese Bittersweet and Kudzu? Both of which proliferate in Maryland. Also, could you do a vid on abatement? Thx k
Luckily kudzu doesn’t seem to grow in colder climates, but I can totally understand why bamboo would be planted for it’s beautiful zen or tropical effect. Bamboo can be controlled by rhizome pruning 2x/ year, once after shoots leaf out in summer and again before winter. But yeah, privet and these shrubs & trees which produce hundreds or thousands of seeds are tough to control.
The biggest problems here in Northern New England IMHO are bittersweet and garlic mustard. We have been able to control both of them by staying on top of the weeding --- but purslane, which also seems to run rampant locally is a lot more difficult to eradicate due to its succulent nature.
Great job Jim, really appreciate your informative videos. Did anyone mention Black Cherry? I am just south of you, Jim, in the Fayetteville area 8a I believe. For me, it has always been Chinaberry and Black Cherry trees. Both will take over the landscape if given the opportunity. Thanks for the informative videos, I plan to watch them all!
I am enjoying this series! Virginia Creeper and trailing vinca are two things that I have to fight in my yard. I’m guessing the previous owner planted them. They grow so fast!!
Briars will definitely take over and stick and scratch. The worst is the potato vine. We have them everywhere. We live on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay and have kudzu as well, however it does keep erosion down on the bluffs by the bay so not so bothered by it.
I have had several beautiful nandina domestica in my yard-zone 6, western Maryland-for many years with absolutely no sign of spreading. Could it be that plants can be invasive in warmer areas, but not colder ones?
Eeeee! Invasives, wish the garden centers would label them so. Have some from neighbors yard, have planted some of my own. Bought black bamboo, got real deal. Thought most beautiful, til 5 years later. All the leaves, turned it into fire starter. Cut it all down, but need to get the roots. They are tenacious, to say the least. Great video, learned of a few more plants!
In the northeast our biggest problem tends to be Japanese knotweed, Oriental bittersweet, honeysuckle, multiflora rose and Phragmites, though there are countless others.
Some of these invasives are real love/hate relationships for me. I love nandina domestica because of its berries--they are so good in wreaths, garlands and bouquets--but I know they are a problem. Gooseneck loosestrife is another invasive flower I love--it does spread but the flowers are wonderful in bouquets and so whimsical in the garden.I adore the smell of lemon balm, but it too likes to wonder. Luckily the loosestrife and lemon balm are easy to pull out if it overwhelms its space. I also like wild violets and actually use them as ground covers under roses to choke out the weeds--I understand the irony in that since everyone else considers violets to be weeds.
There is horsetail reed on neighboring property, grows near the easement and spreads like creasy into the forrest, needs moist conditions though to thrive
Would you consider doing a video on the Mimosa Tree...I did buy a 4 foot stick and it has grown huge in 3 years. I've heard you can keep it in bush form. It is gorgeous, but I may have to take down, for y small lot. I think the seed heads are so pretty in the fall landscape. How do you propagate seedlings if they come up?
I live on a part sun/ dappled sun bluff in North Raleigh and unfortunately right now the Mondo grass is the only thing holding a lot of erosion back; I need to find a good substitute. But the Japanese stilt grass is definitely the worst invasive in my opinion, it covers the forest floor. A couple others he didn’t mention were Japanese honeysuckle and oriental bittersweet which like Eleagnus can choke anything in its path.
Pretty sure elaeagnus is what I've been fighting in my yard for over a year. It's a weird Vining tree shrub that was a shrub about 20x20 wide when I removed it. The branches were like a tree but they had hooks on them attaching to everything. I pulled one and it was about 20 ft long. I've been killing suckers ever since. Nasty stuff.
My main invasive plants this year have been Bindweed, Camphor weed, and Chamberbitter. Also have a lot of Virginia Creeper popping up everywhere. The neighbor has Privet that drops seeds over the fence, but it isn't as bad as it used to be, thank goodness. ETA: I did leave a small patch of the Camphor weed as the pollinators seem to love it.
Raleighite here... boy that looks familiar. There is a ton of mimosa off Falls at 540 that annoys me when I sit there stuck in traffic, haha. I have and am battling much of this in my yard (along with rocky topsoil with clay beneath, a weedy lawn, tons of moss- trying to get a lot under control before investing in plants!) English Ivy, liriope, virginia creeper, those ugly scrubby pines (one literally fell on my deck in the middle of a calm sunny day!), rose of Sharon babies, etc. I can't understand how all these invasives grow so well but anything I plant seems to go "meh". I'm guessing soil/water/not enough light. Question: English Ivy erradication? I have literally handpulled loads and loads and have made progress... new neighbors moved in and opted to spray in our adjoining yard area, and had extra so sprayed mine, though I am skeptical it will do anything and don't want to do chemicals year after year. The concern is copperheads--- they killed one in their yard already. We now have a dog so I am really trying to deal with places snakes like to live. Would you say hand pull (we mow down and I pull vines) or chemicals? Or something else?
Asparagus fern... it took over my entire yard (except lawn) over the years (yard used to be poorly maintained until a couple years ago, when I got into gardening)... front, back, sides, especially growing in corners of walls and foundation. Engulfed/strangled every plant and shrub. It was tons of work, literally. But it’s all gone now.
Star jasmine or sometimes called confederate jasmine is my nemesis. It smells beautiful in the spring but the rest of the year it grows and wraps itself around any and everything. Plus when I cut it back it oozes a white sap that is very irritating if it gets on your skin.
I had to cut down a Mimosa tree last summer, it was a nice springboard for the squirrels to get on the house. It was planted in a garden 4' wide 20' long along my pond. I pulled up over 500 seedlings all summer from that space. More this yr, but not a crazy amount.
@@cherylgreenfarb8044 We had those trees when I was a kid and I loved them. Had no idea what I was in for when I cut the huge down. They are expensive to buy too.
Enjoying this series! Will you cover Japanese anenomes? It's got to be considered an invasive! I've been trying to help my friend get it out of a garden bed, but it keeps coming back despite repeatedly pulling it by the roots. She is going to have to resort to chemicals. I can promise I will never plant that stuff!
We're in Chatham county and japanese silverberry (Eleagnus umbellata) was all over our "wooded lot" and been hard to contain. Thorns, nitrogen fixing and plain hardy. It takes years to keep a clump dead. Also battling chamberbitter aka gripe weed. Like mini mimosa trees all over my Bermuda.
Are you sure that’s Ligustrum japinicum and not Ligustrum lucidum? Japinicum normally isn’t invasive in areas cooler than zone 8, but lucidum into zone 6.
My former neighbor actually planted English ivy under some trees before they sold the house.... you know where it’s moving to..... ugh. Also I had eleagnus removed from my back yard 2 years ago, and that was money well spent. When they developed my neighborhood, they planted them in abundance! TERRIBLE! I live in Birmingham.
I loved Lucy - until I realized that it needed to be deadheaded, all 8-10 ft of it... Still holding out hope a sterile Rose of Sharon will be introduced that is just as floriferous and vigorous...
They are super shallow rooted, so they’re easy to control,but do spread aggressively, if you have a large area sun or shade, then sure. ajuga is a decent “steppable” groundcover too.
Bindweed is awful if that is what I have been trying to combat over the last 2-3 yrs. Hard to pull up the orange tap root. They have intertwined themselves in my fence. Trying spraying 2 weeks ago with a broad spectrum weed killer to no avail. They have made bushes out of themselves that I am cutting branches off and trying to get to the roots. This wasn’t an issue when I bought this house in 2013. Not even sure where it came from. Could have come from the ivy which also encroached about the same time. If I’m not mowing the new sprouts over I am attempting to pull them up.
Wow, I had no idea how bad invasive plants get in warmer zones. Buckthorn prolific in the northeast, Pyrus calleryana is freakin awful on so many levels, barberry is also bad, and Japanese Knotweed, to name a few. I was surprised that Mimosa is invasive. I have to respectfully disagree about bamboo. It’s only able to spread vegetatively, and therefore rhizome control 2x/ year is totally worth the work, especially given how good it is for carbon sequestration. I have a Phyllostachys aureosulcata and other species planted and kept under control for years. But left to its own devices, yes, it does spread quite a lot.
Planted by the former owner of my home, bamboo is running into the woods without a real way to stop it. It is coming up through my deck, running into the lawn, trying to make its way into my garden. It out competes and kills everything. It can run 25 feet underground before popping up, so then you hand-dig 25 feet of rhizome just to get it back to where it was. I could spend the rest of my life battling it. I would never ever buy another property with any bamboo on it. And yes, I hate it with a white hot passion!
Honeysuckle and Chinese privet. Trumpet Creeper Vine is even worse, but I don't know if it is native or not. It comes up everywhere and I haven't been able to get rid of it. Is it considered invasive if it is native? I hate trumpet creeper vine.
Thanks Mr Putnam 🙏🏼 for the information very educational!!! Talking about Nandina how can I get it in control?? Have a space in my little from yard take it over by this and I prune it and just grow back. Do you have any recommendations??
In Michigan we have a native Virginia Creeper that’s pretty bad. However I don’t see sweet autumn clematis listed as invasive here, such a pretty vine and it rarely reseeds for me.
That is one nasty area! So many invasives in one area, looks almost impossible to clear them out. I wonder if some were planted there and if so what happened that it just went wild? If they are all "volunteers", the impact is pretty scary. I live in a rural area with a drainage ditch along two sides of my yard. I constantly battle wild grapevine, honeysuckle, poison ivy, some kind of thorny vine, and something that looks like wisteria but never blooms. Unfortunately, the people on the other side of the ditch don't try to eliminate the problem plants so the grow across to my side. 😝
I like these videos. Did not realize some of these were invasive. Our area in Northeast Tennessee is loaded with Kudzu and I've read a lot about it and how quickly it grows and can kill anything it takes over. I've read you can cut it at the base and continue to do that for as many years as needed until it will finally die. I am so disgusted because there are some beautiful dogwood trees that are becoming covered with Kudzu. No one seems to think anything of it either. They say it dies in the winter, but I have been watching it for two years now and can see how much it grows back and gets larger and larger. Do you have any suggestions? We live next to a wild area and I just want to make sure it doesn't get into our yard. Thank you.
@@songbirdforjesus2381 Hi. I had heard that from other people. Our subdivision has so many stupid restrictions and I know having farm animals is not allowed. I have tried and tried by contacting people in the city and in our subdivision to no avail. I guess we'll just have to make sure it doesn't invade our property and if we see it nearby, my husband will cut it down to keep it from spreading. It's really sad to see. And it's pretty obvious to me no one seems to care about it. Thank you so much for your suggestion. I think it is a great idea. Have a wonderful week.
I live in Washington state now 7 year's. I moved here from Louisiana state. There in Louisiana in parts of it Bermuda grass is just that. Here in Washington state, it's an invasive weed. I have some Bermuda grass from my East side neighbor invading my lawn in a couple of areas. What and how....do I kill and get rid of this invasive grass?
I hate ivy and vinca. Sad to see them invading wooded areas by "landscapers" who dumped their clippings in the woods where no one will witness you do so. You don't or can't even find Partridge berry vines, dogwood ground cover or wintergreen anymore because of ivy and vinca
It always makes me scratch my head when I see people buy Lithriope , we call it monkey grass. In my 67 years I have dug up and burned I bet acres of it.
Hi Jim! I propagated a rose of sharon from cuttings and just planted 2 of them in my garden. I did not know they were invasive! So sad. Should I not plant them? I have been searching for them for awhile? What about the other hibiscus plants?
They're beautiful and really easy to dig up if you get too many "volunteers". I would enjoy them and not worry about it. I have these plants too and they are beautiful and easily maintained. The main problem is with vining plants and shrubs, things like morning glory and wisteria, they choke everything else to death.
@@gardeningjunkie2267 thank you so much for the info. I will definitely implement your recommendations! I got the cuttings from my nice local garden center which didn't sell any(or any other garden centers in my area) but they did have one growing on the property and the cuttings came from that. The flower color was bluish purple. So it may be the blue chiffon type. I researched some more after watching this video, and it's possible that the kind I have is the sterile kind...let's hope it is😁
We just moved. And there are hundreds literally, hundreds of rose of Sharon bushes coming up everywhere here. I thought they were spreading by root. So they also spread by seed? Oh! I will never win this battle!
Yes. Rose of Sharon/Althea spreads very easily. My husband loves this small tree and we planted some at a previous house where we learned this. A grove of them developed over time. I thought we had learned this lesson. But he also wanted some at our current home, and what can I say? Luckily, for some reason, I haven't seen seedlings yet here. We do keep it very well mulched in the area where they are. Maybe that helps. Don't know for sure.
@@amyp8833 I thought maybe if they spread by root, there are things you can do to maintain it. But if it spreads by seed, there is nothing you can do to prevent it spreading. It will spread on the wind! Just last fall, I was on the empty plot of land, next to ours. It is two acres. It was not cut at all last summer. There are hundreds of rose of Sharon growing over there. I am surprised we don’t see these bushes, growing down the sides of highways and in parks, if it can so easily spread. If I could find buyers for them, I could make a small fortune, just digging these up, and selling them. I am not sure how they got there, unless they do spread by seed. In which case, there is no way to stop them, because of the way they so freely bloom. Good luck with yours! Hopefully you are lucky, and they stay put!
I’m doomed! I think all of that is growing on my 20 acres over in Clemson. Are you going to discuss how to get rid of it...without killing the good stuff? Great video
Good to know. I think I've been pulling up small mimosa trees around my yard and bindweed just showed up this year. Do birds eat the seeds and spread them around?
Glad to see rose of Sharon on this list. It one of the most popular landscape plants in my area and I always say “when you buy a rose of Sharon, you’re buying a lifetime of weeding”
Wonderful series. Now that you've identified some invasive plants, what do we do? I'm in north Raleigh and spent all summer pulling up English Ivy and other invasives that you (understandably) didn't include in your video. I'm a 74 yo and can't do this much longer. Help.
Anything that can beat out poison ivy is not all bad in my book. Bermuda grass is as invasive as anything you talked about. Hate it. It is all relative.
out of all the plants on earth, if i could delete asian bittersweet, i'd do it. luckily the greenbrier can compete with it, relatively, but even trying to pull the entire roots out is such a task. lots of honeysuckle here in new england as well, and norway maples, as much as i wish there were natives instead of those and buckthorns too honestly, they dont outcompete the way bittersweet does.
Thanks for watching these videos. I will have more of them as I find good examples.
Yall need to do a video about ecosia they are a search engine that plants trees with their profits
@@aarononeal9830 not all the "we plant trees" are actually accomplishing their objective. We must do our due diligence. Putting tiny "whips" into the ground without adequate spacing or care is just window dressing.
@@katiekane5247 I have looked into them and they seem legit
@@aarononeal9830 awesome!
I love the rose of sharon
Jewel Weed is cool. It is the one native that outcompetes and smothers garlic mustard. Great nectar plant for hummingbirds.
I always feel sad when I see trees with ivy smothering them. Even though that was a wild mess you showed on this video I also kept thinking there must be a ton of bunnies and other wildlife that call it home.
Ivy is horrible no matter what! I'd rather see a ground covering of native mahonias
All of those invasive plants fighting each other looks like a setting from a Stephen King movie! Yikes!
SO glad you're educating folks about these threats to our beautiful natives! I've been on this soapbox for many years when I worked in the industry. The big box stores have really hurt small, local garden centers but you get what you pay for & we professionals know natives don't get the advertising dollars. I sure wish folks would spend as much time researching plants that they do appliances. Natives just do better with less intervention but hey, that hurts too many industries that want the homeowner's money. One place I frequent had Euonymus, Nandina & bamboo planted 15 years ago. It's really ruined a beautiful area of N. Georgia.
The good news is that I have been reading lately that native plants have been selling out like crazy and I for one order them online because they are hard to find in my area. it is so worth it because you get so many pollinators and beneficial insects - nature knows what's right!
Wow, sad to think they’re all invasive because just looking onto the roads edge everything looks so lush and beautiful. Thanks for sharing 👍❤️😊
Jim- the yard is popping and looks great! All that hard work this spring and summer has paid off.
Thanks Jim. Rose of Sharon is invasive, I'm in zone 6 and many Rose of Sharon volunteers from my neighbors. They are beautiful but I spend alot of time pulling seedlings.
Good morning!
Great set of videos.I have found once i learn to recognize an invasive, i really do see it everywhere. It can be so depressing.
I’d sleep with eyes wide open, living next to those tall creeping vines. A good setup for a scary Halloween movie.
I also love the morning glories!
I really appreciate this video! My mother-in-law, whom I adore, refuses to believe that some of these plants are invasive, and I'm sure because she loves them. We both agree that Kudzu is the worst, but she loves photinias, nandina, ivy, and althea. She's moving in with us shortly, and I have put my foot down: she cannot bring these with her!
Chinaberry trees for me. They grow on the edge of our our fields and form thickets that block our oaks, pecans and dogwoods.
That Chinese Wisteria is really awful... after plowing my lot it was still deeply rooted, spent months digging it out from the ground
Rototilling groundcover is generally not a good idea because you essentially divide the plant, instead of removing one larger plant.
Love your videos. After gardening for 50+ years there are still new things to learn. I lost three tree to the English ivy I planted as a ground cover many years ago. Mahonia's are an invasive plant where I live in central Alabama. Every years I have to cut out the blooms on new growth before berries appear. If I don't, I would have Mahonias everywhere in my yard. I didn't plant the original one, it just came up one year. Unfortunately, it took several new "volunteer" plants appearing in other areas before I figured out how to cure the problem. If you don't get them out when they are really small too bad because once established they are invincible. Pruning is a painful process because of the thorns on the leaves.
My one thornless blackberry plant has been popping up everywhere throughout the garden. The berries are delicious and I’ll be sad when I say goodbye.
This is actually sad to see all of the natives being choked out.
I’m in 7b, near Richmond. My biggest problem is chameleon weed, I can barely keep it from taking over.
Thank you for another informative video on invasives! A potential follow-up video could be landscape alternatives to invasives, although I do agree/understand that they are here to stay and it is all about management now. I hope that local gardeners can start to feel like natives are "heirloom cultivars" and add them to their gardens.
Sketchy stuff. Great info to keep in mind when I am at the nursery! Thanks.
I'd love to hear more about how invasives spread (not just from one yard to another but potentially great distances by birds) and how these invasive plants may be choking out the plants that wildlife rely on for food and habitat. Harm to wildlife is what really breaks my heart.
Haven’t watched part 1 yet, but one of the most invasive plants I’ve seen in my 7b is a passion vine 😡 it came up in my flower bed and there is just no way to get rid of that thing! I tried my best to dig up those deep roots but I’ve about killed some of my plants doing so 😭
Trumpet vine here in Arizona. Fighting it since I move into this house.
Very interesting Jim. Could you address Japanese Bittersweet and Kudzu? Both of which proliferate in Maryland.
Also, could you do a vid on abatement?
Thx
k
Bamboo and privet is the worst by far to me, can’t forget kudzu also.
Luckily kudzu doesn’t seem to grow in colder climates, but I can totally understand why bamboo would be planted for it’s beautiful zen or tropical effect. Bamboo can be controlled by rhizome pruning 2x/ year, once after shoots leaf out in summer and again before winter. But yeah, privet and these shrubs & trees which produce hundreds or thousands of seeds are tough to control.
The biggest problems here in Northern New England IMHO are bittersweet and garlic mustard. We have been able to control both of them by staying on top of the weeding --- but purslane, which also seems to run rampant locally is a lot more difficult to eradicate due to its succulent nature.
For me it's grape vines, English ivy and stilt grass. Suffolk VA.
Great job Jim, really appreciate your informative videos.
Did anyone mention Black Cherry?
I am just south of you, Jim, in the Fayetteville area 8a I believe.
For me, it has always been Chinaberry and Black Cherry trees. Both will take over the landscape if given the opportunity.
Thanks for the informative videos, I plan to watch them all!
I am enjoying this series! Virginia Creeper and trailing vinca are two things that I have to fight in my yard. I’m guessing the previous owner planted them. They grow so fast!!
Briars will definitely take over and stick and scratch. The worst is the potato vine. We have them everywhere. We live on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay and have kudzu as well, however it does keep erosion down on the bluffs by the bay so not so bothered by it.
So interesting to see what's invasive in different places, most of those wouldn't even survive here
I have had several beautiful nandina domestica in my yard-zone 6, western Maryland-for many years with absolutely no sign of spreading. Could it be that plants can be invasive in warmer areas, but not colder ones?
Eeeee! Invasives, wish the garden centers would label them so. Have some from neighbors yard, have planted some of my own. Bought black bamboo, got real deal. Thought most beautiful, til 5 years later. All the leaves, turned it into fire starter. Cut it all down, but need to get the roots. They are tenacious, to say the least. Great video, learned of a few more plants!
In the northeast our biggest problem tends to be Japanese knotweed, Oriental bittersweet, honeysuckle, multiflora rose and Phragmites, though there are countless others.
Some of these invasives are real love/hate relationships for me. I love nandina domestica because of its berries--they are so good in wreaths, garlands and bouquets--but I know they are a problem. Gooseneck loosestrife is another invasive flower I love--it does spread but the flowers are wonderful in bouquets and so whimsical in the garden.I adore the smell of lemon balm, but it too likes to wonder. Luckily the loosestrife and lemon balm are easy to pull out if it overwhelms its space. I also like wild violets and actually use them as ground covers under roses to choke out the weeds--I understand the irony in that since everyone else considers violets to be weeds.
There is horsetail reed on neighboring property, grows near the easement and spreads like creasy into the forrest, needs moist conditions though to thrive
Thank you for the education!
China berry tree, privet, mondo grass, mimosa tree, bamboo, etc
Would you consider doing a video on the Mimosa Tree...I did buy a 4 foot stick and it has grown huge in 3 years. I've heard you can keep it in bush form. It is gorgeous, but I may have to take down, for y small lot. I think the seed heads are so pretty in the fall landscape. How do you propagate seedlings if they come up?
For me it's Bronze Fennel; it reseeded all over the yard, never again! Nice video, the area looks like a temperate rainforest!
I live on a part sun/ dappled sun bluff in North Raleigh and unfortunately right now the Mondo grass is the only thing holding a lot of erosion back; I need to find a good substitute. But the Japanese stilt grass is definitely the worst invasive in my opinion, it covers the forest floor. A couple others he didn’t mention were Japanese honeysuckle and oriental bittersweet which like Eleagnus can choke anything in its path.
Pretty sure elaeagnus is what I've been fighting in my yard for over a year. It's a weird Vining tree shrub that was a shrub about 20x20 wide when I removed it. The branches were like a tree but they had hooks on them attaching to everything. I pulled one and it was about 20 ft long. I've been killing suckers ever since. Nasty stuff.
My main invasive plants this year have been Bindweed, Camphor weed, and Chamberbitter. Also have a lot of Virginia Creeper popping up everywhere. The neighbor has Privet that drops seeds over the fence, but it isn't as bad as it used to be, thank goodness. ETA: I did leave a small patch of the Camphor weed as the pollinators seem to love it.
Raleighite here... boy that looks familiar. There is a ton of mimosa off Falls at 540 that annoys me when I sit there stuck in traffic, haha. I have and am battling much of this in my yard (along with rocky topsoil with clay beneath, a weedy lawn, tons of moss- trying to get a lot under control before investing in plants!) English Ivy, liriope, virginia creeper, those ugly scrubby pines (one literally fell on my deck in the middle of a calm sunny day!), rose of Sharon babies, etc. I can't understand how all these invasives grow so well but anything I plant seems to go "meh". I'm guessing soil/water/not enough light.
Question: English Ivy erradication? I have literally handpulled loads and loads and have made progress... new neighbors moved in and opted to spray in our adjoining yard area, and had extra so sprayed mine, though I am skeptical it will do anything and don't want to do chemicals year after year. The concern is copperheads--- they killed one in their yard already. We now have a dog so I am really trying to deal with places snakes like to live. Would you say hand pull (we mow down and I pull vines) or chemicals? Or something else?
Asparagus fern... it took over my entire yard (except lawn) over the years (yard used to be poorly maintained until a couple years ago, when I got into gardening)... front, back, sides, especially growing in corners of walls and foundation. Engulfed/strangled every plant and shrub.
It was tons of work, literally. But it’s all gone now.
Star jasmine or sometimes called confederate jasmine is my nemesis. It smells beautiful in the spring but the rest of the year it grows and wraps itself around any and everything. Plus when I cut it back it oozes a white sap that is very irritating if it gets on your skin.
I had to cut down a Mimosa tree last summer, it was a nice springboard for the squirrels to get on the house. It was planted in a garden 4' wide 20' long along my pond. I pulled up over 500 seedlings all summer from that space. More this yr, but not a crazy amount.
My neighbor has a mimosa tree and the tiny seedlings are horrendous because there are so many.
@@cherylgreenfarb8044 We had those trees when I was a kid and I loved them. Had no idea what I was in for when I cut the huge down. They are expensive to buy too.
Enjoying this series! Will you cover Japanese anenomes? It's got to be considered an invasive! I've been trying to help my friend get it out of a garden bed, but it keeps coming back despite repeatedly pulling it by the roots. She is going to have to resort to chemicals. I can promise I will never plant that stuff!
Great information! I agree with you on all these plants.
Right now bishop's weed is my arch nemesis !!
We're in Chatham county and japanese silverberry (Eleagnus umbellata) was all over our "wooded lot" and been hard to contain. Thorns, nitrogen fixing and plain hardy. It takes years to keep a clump dead. Also battling chamberbitter aka gripe weed. Like mini mimosa trees all over my Bermuda.
Are you sure that’s Ligustrum japinicum and not Ligustrum lucidum? Japinicum normally isn’t invasive in areas cooler than zone 8, but lucidum into zone 6.
My former neighbor actually planted English ivy under some trees before they sold the house.... you know where it’s moving to..... ugh. Also I had eleagnus removed from my back yard 2 years ago, and that was money well spent. When they developed my neighborhood, they planted them in abundance! TERRIBLE! I live in Birmingham.
I have everything in both videos except ivy and Althea. I also have grape vines, mahonia and countless other weeds.
Would Pokeweed be one of those plants that could stand up to invasives? Its roots are huge
Chinese privet
Comes up everywhere but easy to pull if u catch it early.....oh and red tip photinia, hate those plants
Very interesting!
Are all varieties of Rose of Sharon invasive? I just bought one called Pink Chiffon:(
I loved Lucy - until I realized that it needed to be deadheaded, all 8-10 ft of it... Still holding out hope a sterile Rose of Sharon will be introduced that is just as floriferous and vigorous...
Jim, do you consider ajuga invasive? I'm on the edge of plant or not to plant it?
I never dealt with this plant myself but read many comments from other people on RUclips that they regard it as highly invasive.
They are super shallow rooted, so they’re easy to control,but do spread aggressively, if you have a large area sun or shade, then sure. ajuga is a decent “steppable” groundcover too.
Bindweed is awful if that is what I have been trying to combat over the last 2-3 yrs. Hard to pull up the orange tap root. They have intertwined themselves in my fence. Trying spraying 2 weeks ago with a broad spectrum weed killer to no avail. They have made bushes out of themselves that I am cutting branches off and trying to get to the roots. This wasn’t an issue when I bought this house in 2013. Not even sure where it came from. Could have come from the ivy which also encroached about the same time. If I’m not mowing the new sprouts over I am attempting to pull them up.
Wow, I had no idea how bad invasive plants get in warmer zones. Buckthorn prolific in the northeast, Pyrus calleryana is freakin awful on so many levels, barberry is also bad, and Japanese Knotweed, to name a few.
I was surprised that Mimosa is invasive.
I have to respectfully disagree about bamboo. It’s only able to spread vegetatively, and therefore rhizome control 2x/ year is totally worth the work, especially given how good it is for carbon sequestration. I have a Phyllostachys aureosulcata and other species planted and kept under control for years. But left to its own devices, yes, it does spread quite a lot.
Planted by the former owner of my home, bamboo is running into the woods without a real way to stop it. It is coming up through my deck, running into the lawn, trying to make its way into my garden. It out competes and kills everything. It can run 25 feet underground before popping up, so then you hand-dig 25 feet of rhizome just to get it back to where it was. I could spend the rest of my life battling it. I would never ever buy another property with any bamboo on it. And yes, I hate it with a white hot passion!
Honeysuckle and Chinese privet. Trumpet Creeper Vine is even worse, but I don't know if it is native or not. It comes up everywhere and I haven't been able to get rid of it. Is it considered invasive if it is native? I hate trumpet creeper vine.
I have those Nandina, ivy mulberry also
I got Bush honeysuckle you know what’s the best part of it the smell when you burn it, it smells amazing whatever oils that are in it
I have to admit...I’d love to have some honeysuckle for the hummingbirds. I’m sure it’s something you would have to stay on top of though. 😁
Virginia Williams you would have to cut it back every year after it flowers to stop the red fruit from forming
@@dylan8285 Thank you very much! So if I do this, I can keep it under control? :)
Thanks Mr Putnam 🙏🏼 for the information very educational!!!
Talking about Nandina how can I get it in control?? Have a space in my little from yard take it over by this and I prune it and just grow back.
Do you have any recommendations??
Commercial grade herbicide every time you see a suckered. That's how I've been dealing with what i assume is elaeagnus.
Brooks Sebright thanks for the advice.
They became a real problem so I’m trying to get on top of it
In Michigan we have a native Virginia Creeper that’s pretty bad. However I don’t see sweet autumn clematis listed as invasive here, such a pretty vine and it rarely reseeds for me.
Peggy Krantz. I believe he covered that clematis in the part one video he did on invasives.
Bind weed.. ugh!!!
Japanese knot weed.
How to rid our yards and parks of these plants?
That is one nasty area! So many invasives in one area, looks almost impossible to clear them out. I wonder if some were planted there and if so what happened that it just went wild? If they are all "volunteers", the impact is pretty scary. I live in a rural area with a drainage ditch along two sides of my yard. I constantly battle wild grapevine, honeysuckle, poison ivy, some kind of thorny vine, and something that looks like wisteria but never blooms. Unfortunately, the people on the other side of the ditch don't try to eliminate the problem plants so the grow across to my side. 😝
I like these videos. Did not realize some of these were invasive. Our area in Northeast Tennessee is loaded with Kudzu and I've read a lot about it and how quickly it grows and can kill anything it takes over. I've read you can cut it at the base and continue to do that for as many years as needed until it will finally die. I am so disgusted because there are some beautiful dogwood trees that are becoming covered with Kudzu. No one seems to think anything of it either. They say it dies in the winter, but I have been watching it for two years now and can see how much it grows back and gets larger and larger. Do you have any suggestions? We live next to a wild area and I just want to make sure it doesn't get into our yard. Thank you.
GA got goats for a certain area downtown 2 get rid of it. I think that's the only thing that does it?
@@songbirdforjesus2381 Hi. I had heard that from other people. Our subdivision has so many stupid restrictions and I know having farm animals is not allowed. I have tried and tried by contacting people in the city and in our subdivision to no avail. I guess we'll just have to make sure it doesn't invade our property and if we see it nearby, my husband will cut it down to keep it from spreading. It's really sad to see. And it's pretty obvious to me no one seems to care about it. Thank you so much for your suggestion. I think it is a great idea. Have a wonderful week.
Nutsedge!
I live in Washington state now 7 year's. I moved here from Louisiana state. There in Louisiana in parts of it Bermuda grass is just that. Here in Washington state, it's an invasive weed. I have some Bermuda grass from my East side neighbor invading my lawn in a couple of areas. What and how....do I kill and get rid of this invasive grass?
What about Christmas ferns? Could they be classified as invasive.
I believe Christmas ferns are actually native to much of the eastern US.
I hate ivy and vinca. Sad to see them invading wooded areas by "landscapers" who dumped their clippings in the woods where no one will witness you do so. You don't or can't even find Partridge berry vines, dogwood ground cover or wintergreen anymore because of ivy and vinca
It always makes me scratch my head when I see people buy Lithriope , we call it monkey grass. In my 67 years I have dug up and burned I bet acres of it.
Hi Jim! I propagated a rose of sharon from cuttings and just planted 2 of them in my garden. I did not know they were invasive! So sad. Should I not plant them? I have been searching for them for awhile? What about the other hibiscus plants?
They're beautiful and really easy to dig up if you get too many "volunteers". I would enjoy them and not worry about it. I have these plants too and they are beautiful and easily maintained. The main problem is with vining plants and shrubs, things like morning glory and wisteria, they choke everything else to death.
@@gardeningjunkie2267 thank you so much for the info. I will definitely implement your recommendations! I got the cuttings from my nice local garden center which didn't sell any(or any other garden centers in my area) but they did have one growing on the property and the cuttings came from that. The flower color was bluish purple. So it may be the blue chiffon type. I researched some more after watching this video, and it's possible that the kind I have is the sterile kind...let's hope it is😁
We just moved. And there are hundreds literally, hundreds of rose of Sharon bushes coming up everywhere here. I thought they were spreading by root. So they also spread by seed? Oh! I will never win this battle!
Yes. Rose of Sharon/Althea spreads very easily. My husband loves this small tree and we planted some at a previous house where we learned this. A grove of them developed over time. I thought we had learned this lesson. But he also wanted some at our current home, and what can I say? Luckily, for some reason, I haven't seen seedlings yet here. We do keep it very well mulched in the area where they are. Maybe that helps. Don't know for sure.
@@amyp8833 I thought maybe if they spread by root, there are things you can do to maintain it. But if it spreads by seed, there is nothing you can do to prevent it spreading. It will spread on the wind! Just last fall, I was on the empty plot of land, next to ours. It is two acres. It was not cut at all last summer. There are hundreds of rose of Sharon growing over there. I am surprised we don’t see these bushes, growing down the sides of highways and in parks, if it can so easily spread. If I could find buyers for them, I could make a small fortune, just digging these up, and selling them. I am not sure how they got there, unless they do spread by seed. In which case, there is no way to stop them, because of the way they so freely bloom. Good luck with yours! Hopefully you are lucky, and they stay put!
I’m doomed! I think all of that is growing on my 20 acres over in Clemson. Are you going to discuss how to get rid of it...without killing the good stuff? Great video
Yeah. I wonder if that is even possible. Would love to hear how to approach something like this.
Only constant diligence will keep them out of your yard. There is no answer to this.
I was afraid that would be your answer!
Good to know. I think I've been pulling up small mimosa trees around my yard and bindweed just showed up this year. Do birds eat the seeds and spread them around?
oh, bindweed...
I'm pretty sure they do--- I think that's how we got English Ivy and occasional mimosas that I pull up in my yard.
Glad to see rose of Sharon on this list. It one of the most popular landscape plants in my area and I always say “when you buy a rose of Sharon, you’re buying a lifetime of weeding”
Wonderful series. Now that you've identified some invasive plants, what do we do? I'm in north Raleigh and spent all summer pulling up English Ivy and other invasives that you (understandably) didn't include in your video. I'm a 74 yo and can't do this much longer. Help.
Duane, I hear ya. I'm only 43 and feeling extremely DONE with dealing with our English Ivy infestation!
Anything that can beat out poison ivy is not all bad in my book. Bermuda grass is as invasive as anything you talked about. Hate it. It is all relative.
out of all the plants on earth, if i could delete asian bittersweet, i'd do it. luckily the greenbrier can compete with it, relatively, but even trying to pull the entire roots out is such a task. lots of honeysuckle here in new england as well, and norway maples, as much as i wish there were natives instead of those and buckthorns too honestly, they dont outcompete the way bittersweet does.
So even the Proven Winners Rose of Sharon is invasive?
Rose Torn PW has sterile varieties, you can google them.
Are you not worried about that bamboo creeping into you yard? I heard that plant 🌱 keeps walking.
It is blocks from me. But yes, all of these things try to come up everywhere
Took me all summer to remove ivy from my trees.....
what is the worst invasive plant in all of north America?
"clusterfuck"
That’s a shame to lose the natural areas.