OK. so I have about 20 sod chunks of the invasive Lysimachia 'Firecracker'. I also have a raised area in the center of the backyard that has become covered with english ivy (well, if you have a wild area, ivy isn't bad looking). The raised area is too rough to mow and I have considered at times hiring someone to level it, or turning it into a wildflower area.
I can mow entirely around the area, so nothing can actually escape.
That middle area as been a problem for 25 years. When I moved here, it was covered with thorny locust scrub. It took 5 years to finally cut them all down. Then it took another 5 years to actually kill all of them. Thorny locust is TOUGH. I read stories of farmers using the cut trunks for fenceposts, and the trunks would ROOT and start growing again.
So, anyway, now it is basically a area where english ivy has taken over, poison ivy keeps trying to get established, and tree saplings keep trying to get growing. And brambles love it. I can keep the saplings and brambles chopped down.
I'm going to plant the Lysimachia chunks every 5' throughout the english ivy and see who wins!
I know from several years experience that the Lysimachia grows so tall and thick that there are never any weeds in the patch. That's one thing I like about it. And it does have a nice flower and the purple foliage is impressive!
So I am going to see what happens for a few years. Which invasive plant do you think will win?
2 comments:
We are rooting for the Lysimachia cause of the pretty flowers. But will be watching with interest to see which one actually wins.
We looked up Lysimachia to find out more about it and discovered our Golden Globe and Herman's Pride that are around Whiskers grave are in the same family. We has high hopes it will spread around the grave and do well. It can't escape as Daddy has stuff around it to keep weeds out but it should also keep the Lysimachia in. We hopes to find some of the Firecracker variety as it will look pretty with the ones we already has.
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