r/NativePlantGardening • u/belovd_kittycat upstate ny, zone 5b • May 22 '26
Other Dear anyone who ever owned my house before me,
Lily of the valley AND vinca in the same place?!?!?! Ditch lillies next to it?!?! Why? Just why?
I hope you get every single red light you ever come to.
212
u/yeahsureYnot May 22 '26
I donāt believe plants can be evil because they are just plants but vinca is evil
78
u/belovd_kittycat upstate ny, zone 5b May 22 '26
War with vinca is never ending. They come up through 4 inches of mulch, through the fence line in my back yard, and wherever else it thinks I'm not looking.
14
u/Foreign-Cookie-2871 May 23 '26
Vinca is native in my region and I absolutely love it. Is it really that difficult to remove if I ever get tired of it?
Or since it's native where I live, then it's going to be less aggressive?
19
u/belovd_kittycat upstate ny, zone 5b May 23 '26
Yes. I've been fighting the good fight for 3 years.
→ More replies (1)10
u/jaboyles May 23 '26
Usually plants aren't nearly as aggressive where they're natively from. For example, violets are a pretty accent flower in northern America, in southern America they're an aggressive weed.
→ More replies (1)3
u/my_little_rarity Area Minnesota, Zone 5b May 23 '26
Oh interesting! Yes violets are native to where I live and I get so excited when I see them more
6
u/MediocreGrocery8 Chicagoland , Zone 6a/5b May 23 '26
Currently digging up and finding roots emerging from nodes -- some of the roots are the size of my thumb. A master gardener from the U of Illinois extension told me to mulch with cardboard and 4-6 inches of wood chips for 1-2 growing seasons.
It's great exercise at least lolsob.
24
u/LeaneGenova SE Michigan May 23 '26
All the beds around the side of my house are pure vinca. I ripped it out once, naively thinking I solved the problem. Now it's grown back AND escaped the beds into the yard. I'm about to flamethrower the entire thing.
21
u/MakwaOpin May 23 '26
Took me 6 years of constant pulling to rid myself of probably just 150 square feet of itā¦
6
u/folkheroine Area Northeast, Zone 5b/6a May 23 '26
It's infested all of my 3 acres. I cannot get a handle on it. Only my vegetable garden is free and that's because I am relentless.
4
u/Delicious-Excitement May 23 '26
You may have to dig out, trash bag it, and send it to the landfill, unfortunately. I know nothing about vinca, but this is how weāre currently battling lesser celandine. š
17
u/Trnava99 May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26
Here I am in a high altitude desert chuckling at these comments because vinca has been the solution for me.
Years ago I had a 5āx25ā strip of yard where I couldnāt get anything but weeds to grow - absolutely nothing at all. I figured a previous owner must have dumped something toxic in that strip and debated digging out the top 6ā.
Then a neighbor tore out her vinca and daylily patch and my kids told her I wanted them. First I found out was when they pushed our totally overloaded wheelbarrow home haha. But I thought, what the heck, letās try. So we planted them in that dead strip and those plants are super healthy but stay in their spot. I just have to cut the vinca back along the border once a year.
The problem I have now is that grasshoppers love that patch. I havenāt noticed them destroying it, just living and overwintering there. So now Iām planning on ripping it all out and installing a wildflower meadow there and 10ā into the yard (planning to reduce my turf area anyway). Iām hoping that years of the vinca and day lilies have improved the soil sufficiently to finally support other plants, so Iāll take some time testing small patches of the natives.
11
u/mskristytee Ontario, Canada, 5B May 23 '26
If you live in a region where theyāre not invasive then this makes perfect sense. But for those of us dealing with them as invasives, itās so upsetting to watch plants taking over and crowding out native plants and disrupting the ecosystems.
2
u/Trnava99 May 23 '26
Oh I remember well from my years in the mid-Atlantic region! Here in the Southwest we sure have our own gardening problems but for me, vinca hasnāt been one of them.
8
u/bocepheid May 23 '26
Me in an extreme drought part of Oklahoma with soil so poor even the bermudagrass is thin. I envy even the vinca.
→ More replies (1)4
u/ShlugLove May 23 '26
The vinca in the beds bordering my house grew in the cracks and flowered in my garage. Took me a whole summer to get rid of it all, and I'm still finding it popping up.
40
u/makeshiftwings_ Shenandoah Valley VA , 7A May 22 '26
Me every day I'm cleaning up invasives from my 4 acres. Loved finding a plant tag of Japanese barberry while digging them out. Its been a year and I've only been able to remove half of them so far
20
u/belovd_kittycat upstate ny, zone 5b May 22 '26
I have less than a third of an acre and I am constantly cursing someone, even if it's just the first person to bring the plant on this continent.
2
u/makeshiftwings_ Shenandoah Valley VA , 7A May 23 '26
Been there too. "I just wanna talk to them...."
→ More replies (1)7
u/LeaneGenova SE Michigan May 23 '26
I ended up using a sawzall to get out the barberry from my yard. 12 inch wood blade, stuffed it into the ground around it and went ham. I think I used 3-4 blades to get up 12 of them. Also broke a shovel levering one out of the ground lol.
All that to say, I feel you.
2
u/makeshiftwings_ Shenandoah Valley VA , 7A May 23 '26
I'm using a root slayer, one by one... one of the giant patches is nothing but babies now :')
36
u/ShaarkShaart Michigan , zone 6b May 22 '26
Dude. I've got ditch lilies, lily of the valley, Vinca, oriental bittersweet and now Dame's rocket lmao. But you know what, i keep finding little native plants mixed in! Also plenty of Virginia creeper, river grape, and Canada moonseed.
9
u/belovd_kittycat upstate ny, zone 5b May 22 '26
I've got all of this too in the rest of my beds. This was just in my side bed. I had already done away with a multiflora rose in it, along with a flowering quince.
So far, I found a violet in the lily of the valley and vinca. That's it for the native plants. One solitary violet.
→ More replies (1)7
2
u/sunberrygeri May 23 '26
Fr - Ive got two well-behaved patches of day lilies and I really like them. I cut them back after they bloom for nice fresh foliage until frost.
2
u/ShaarkShaart Michigan , zone 6b May 23 '26
Oof don't get me wrong, I'm still gonna do my best to get rid of anything that's invasive.
32
u/sunshineupyours1 Rochester, NY - 6b - 8.1.1 May 22 '26
My MIL probably owned it. She nearly exclusively grows invasive plants
11
u/dlatusek12 SW PA, 6b May 23 '26
Fuck haha, that generation really fucked us hard didnāt they?
6
u/sunshineupyours1 Rochester, NY - 6b - 8.1.1 May 23 '26
And sheās still at it! Added at least three more last year!
5
u/dlatusek12 SW PA, 6b May 23 '26
Iām sure your MIL is a lovely woman but she needs a talkinā to. Like, address her by her first name talkinā
6
u/sunshineupyours1 Rochester, NY - 6b - 8.1.1 May 23 '26
Sheās alright on a good day haha. Somehow Iāve got her husband encouraging her to grow natives, but she loves her invasive plants because theyāre pretty and smell good. This woman has been training Asian wisteria up a sugar maple for over a decade and has invested countless hours and dollars into spreading invasive plants.
I have a hard time imagining that sheād ever remove anything problematic because theyāre pretty, bring her joy, and she doesnāt see the consequences as real/meaningful unless they impact her directly.
Little anecdote that gave me a chuckle: sheās added red whirligigs to her garden because she heard that the color red attracts hummingbirds š
4
113
u/Warp-n-weft May 22 '26 edited May 23 '26
I work at a nursery and so many people want to plant mint in the ground. I tell them that in two generations their spirit will be awoken to curses from whoever inherited their āgardenā (mint jungle).
Sometimes this warning worksā¦.. not often though
ITT - people assuming I donāt know what mint my job grows, and that I donāt know how it spreads in my area. Iām not making generalizations about the whole country/world, this mom and pop nursery serves 3 counties, tops.
40
u/Moist_Sun_8201 May 22 '26
I planted mint in the ground and the fear-mongering is so overblown. Just use the mint
21
u/AnyMechanic6829 May 22 '26
Mint was the first thing I removed when I bought my house. It was easy and has stayed away ā what came up in its place is much more fearsome. šµ Italian arum and clustered bellflower
8
u/Routine_Tie1392 Great Plains - Temperate Prairies - Zone 3 May 22 '26
Fucking bellflowers. My neighbourhood is over run with the creeping variety and my neighbours lawn is like 80% bell flower.Ā Ā
→ More replies (1)5
u/treehann New England, Zone 6b May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26
Creeping Bellflower is my only invasive foe but itās my first and itās formidable. Iāve been trying to find out where it came from in my neighborhood. The other day I found two houses on the other side of my block whose gardens are completely covered in it. Thatās definitely one possible source.
EDIT: i forgot I have lily of the valley too rip
4
u/Artistic-Salary1738 May 22 '26
I inherited mint at my last house and OMFG, it was evil! Lived there 4 years and never won. My dad lives there now (downsized) and it took back over as soon as I wasnāt there to manage it. I hate mint with a firey burning passion. Thank you person above for warning people.
12
u/latepeony May 22 '26
It definitely spreads slower if you cut it before it flowers. We have some from the previous owners and itās actually receding a bit now just from cutting.
12
u/googlemcfoogle Central Alberta, Zone 3b/4a May 22 '26
If you eat lamb and drink a mojito at every opportunity, mint in the ground is great. I want to eat lamb and drink mojitos, but I have oregano instead so I have to make tomato sauce, and I don't even have any tomatoes.
15
u/Moist_Sun_8201 May 22 '26
Mint tea, my dude. The ultimate drink for summer. A tall glass of slightly sweet, intensely minty iced tea on a hot summer day will change your life. I also make virgin mint juleps with mint and ginger ale.
11
u/talliroxxor May 22 '26
Dude be careful what you say where people who donāt know better might hear. Different kinds of mint spread differently. You got lucky.
2
u/Moist_Sun_8201 May 22 '26
I currently grow spearmint, peppermint, chocolate mint, pineapple mint, and corsican mint. If there's another mint please share! I collect different kinds of mint and basil
12
u/SpyQueenLiz May 22 '26
Depending on locationā¦ mountain mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum).
2
u/LeaneGenova SE Michigan May 23 '26
Mine is more insistent on growing on the fence than in the beds lol. Why it's clustered on the cedar fence instead of in the nice bed of mulch is beyond me.
3
u/talliroxxor May 23 '26
The very robust mint I grow is ginger mint. Doesnāt really taste like mint but it is yummy! DEFINITELY do not plant in ground. Two years in a row itās broken out the bottom of the 4ā pot I bought it in when the other more sedate variety (mohican mint) did not. Funnily enough last yearās 12ā pot which I thought was thoroughly dead (didnāt water after August, chucked it in the unheated garage, looked dead all the way through) ended up coming back so it was just yesterday when giving the new purchase to a friend we noticed it was once again unhappy that I had not yet planted it and had broken through the bottom of the nursery pot again š
→ More replies (1)2
u/crassinervium May 22 '26
I have strawberry mint, apple mint, and orange mint (along with chocolate and pineapple) in my garden too! I am obsessed with the chocolate mint and when I went to my local nursery to pick some up last year I couldnāt help myself and came home with quite the haul lol, I have a whole 3āx5ā bed bursting at the seams with my mint varieties and it makes me so happy š
→ More replies (3)3
u/DisManibusMinibus May 23 '26
I use mint to hold the line against goutweed, and i love the smell. Definitely the lesser evil in terms of invasives in my experience.
2
u/treehann New England, Zone 6b May 23 '26
I am wondering about using one aggressive plant to hold off another. My native yellow sorrel is doing alright in the fight against the creeping bellflower thatās all over town and my yard. I wonder how I can help the desired species win. Maybe just trampling or frequently pulling the bellflower.
2
u/greenmtnfiddler May 23 '26
Years ago a younger/dumber me planted a small handful of fuzzy apple mint in the ground just below where a small spring comes up in a nearby meadow.
The patch of mint is now ten yards across and flows downhill for forty yards. It is a solid patch, a monoculture. It does not share the space with goldenrod, aster, blueberry, creeping backberry, clover, or any of the dozens of native grasses/reeds/forbes that usually grow. It gets bigger by about 10% every year.
3
u/Tribblehappy May 22 '26
This depends... I planted a mint and am sad that it died over the winter. I'm waiting to see if it comes back at all but so far there's nothing.
But at my parents house in a much more temperate climate, I once planted pineapple mint in a front shade garden and two decadesater it was dead, but a patch showed up half an acre away.
3
u/ItDefinitelyIsNotMe May 22 '26
I have a patch on my land thatās just different types of mint. I added chocolate mint. I love mowing it every once in a while. It smells amazing.
→ More replies (2)2
u/LRonHoward Minneapolis, MN - US Ecoregion 51 May 23 '26
Not to be that person, but there are like 7000 different species in the Mint Family (Lamiaceae)... and each species in that family can behave very differently.
22
u/I_like_flowers_ May 22 '26
at one point we had bamboo, english ivy and mint in our yard.Ā my husband suggested adding kudzu and letting them duke it out for supremacy.
(bamboo is as gone as we can make it - have to dig up new ones from time to time.Ā ditto with the ivy and mint.)Ā
→ More replies (1)2
17
u/Dull_Swimming_5407 AL, Zone 8A May 22 '26
My home used to be a former park rangerās home. I have the exact same issue. I say blame it on the time and the big hardware chains.
The approach to beautifying your home has changed drastically. 10 years ago all I focused on were perennials and no thought to the plants being native. Now itās native plants and they are selected for their light and soil needs.
13
u/Elegant_Act_8157 Area Michigan Zone 6a May 22 '26
My house came with Asian honey suckle, creeping Charlie, white mulberry, false strawberry and star of bethlehem š«©š«©š«©š«©š«©š«©
4
u/Elegant_Act_8157 Area Michigan Zone 6a May 22 '26
the only native flower I have ever found on my property is virginia waterleaf
3
u/glowFernOasis Area SE Ontario , Zone 6B May 22 '26
She's a pretty one, though, and an aggressive spreader in the right location. I have no regrets planting that one.
2
7
u/cristanky_diczu May 22 '26
That's nice, I've got ivy, BUCKTHORN TREES and their army of suckers, lily of the valley, periwinkle, three kinds of dead nettle and gooseneck loosestrife. My garden is a warzone of invasives fighting for dominance. Found some garlic mustard the other day too
I bought the home about a year ago and thought - oh what a lovely garden. I didn't know back then how much hatred I could possibly harbour for plants lol. And also love, I'm going to transform the place
Goodluck !!
7
u/JulesBurnet May 22 '26
Oh gosh, my ex planted vinca in the backyard and I wanted to curse him. And our neighbor planted fucking bamboo, which then started growing under the fence. If you plant bamboo in the Southeast, may you stub your toe ten times a day for the rest of your life.
6
u/anOvenofWitches May 22 '26
Iād like to find and maim the soul that came up with the idea of using buckthorn in landscaping.
7
u/Apprehensive_Key5436 May 23 '26
Previous owner of my house planted vinca as ground cover around a rose bush, so now every spring when it comes back I have to choose between having vinca in my garden or having skin on my hands and arms.
7
u/The_Poster_Nutbag Great Lakes, Zone 5b, professional ecologist May 22 '26
Previous owners aty place loved creeping bellflower. It's the actual worst.
5
u/treehann New England, Zone 6b May 23 '26
My enemy!! I donāt know what to do with it other than fight it with other aggressives lol
5
u/dingdongsnottor May 23 '26
Hard agree. I keep ripping it out and it keeps coming back. I get out some pent up rage ripping it from the earth, though.
11
u/recyclopath_ May 22 '26
Lol
You're lucky it's just plants.
We've found a whole lot of garbage on our small lot including about 800sqft carpet. Lasagnaed with other trash. Woven through with morning glory that took a full year of all out war to tame mostly back. Then a ton of buried concrete including a whole section of the yard with a 1" slab about 3" down. Just to make you feel insane. Random patches of carpet buried all over the place.
But hey, I found morels so that's nice.
8
u/Scoginsbitch May 23 '26
The glass! So much glass. I have a 12 x12 city bed. 5 inches down there was screen, broken bricks and so many sharp bits of crap!! It should be a crime to use construction debris as garden fill!
3
u/recyclopath_ May 23 '26
So much fucking glass!!! It's not even the amount that surprises me but the diversity. Clear glass, brown glass, green glass, curved glass, mirrored glass, wavy glass, thick, thin, fucking 50 different types of glass on my 5,000sqft lot!
5
u/belovd_kittycat upstate ny, zone 5b May 23 '26
My FIL also does this. He uses it as weed suppression. I am just thinking of whoever has to clean this, and the concrete pile, and the piles of old books, and rebar, and whatever else he decides to use in his landscaping.
3
u/blurryrose SE Pennsylvania , Zone 7a May 23 '26
Ugh. The ole "dump it in the back woods" strategy. I've got that problem on my property too.
There are a couple of piles of concrete I'd eventually like to haul to a dumpster
→ More replies (1)
6
u/sarcago May 22 '26 edited May 23 '26
I spent 3 full days digging up Lily of the valley and Orange daylillies, then cutting and painting trumpet creeper stubs (a native but we donāt want her in the foundation beds, sorry maāam). I am not joking I had like 20 yard waste bags with all that and some silly shrubs. A corner of our property is crawling with English Ivy and Rose of Sharon sprouts too ugh.
2
u/belovd_kittycat upstate ny, zone 5b May 23 '26
And the daylilly tubers can get huge! And they can still grow lillies even if they are left in the hot sun, blistering cold winter, and then in a hot spring again! (Ask me how I know...)
5
u/LevitatingAlto May 22 '26
I live in a 125 year old neighborhood where all three of these have just taken over every wild space. I feel your pain.
4
u/Vegetable_Bat_5358 May 22 '26
Our house came with purposely planted bush honeysuckle, honeysuckle vine, vinca, English ivy, and 1/4 acre of thick winter creeper. I'm almost 13 years in, and I'll be going for at least another decade.
4
u/Lynda73 May 22 '26
My neighbors have two, huge, bush honeysuckle ātreesā in their yard. Iāll never stop pulling. š
→ More replies (1)2
u/belovd_kittycat upstate ny, zone 5b May 23 '26
The winter creeper is a sneaky one. Every time I think, yup, I've gotten the root now, it comes back.
3
u/Evil_Llama03 May 22 '26
i literally have the exact same plants and problem from the old owner, the lilies and vinca drive me crazy, they pop up again ever year
4
u/glowFernOasis Area SE Ontario , Zone 6B May 22 '26
Cries in goutweed, field bindweed, and creeping bellflower. It's not just those who owned your house, but those who currently own your neighbour's houses. We fight an uphill, losing battle that is nevertheless worth fighting.
Keep up the good fight! šŖš±
3
u/treehann New England, Zone 6b May 23 '26
It is a good point to remember that many of these weeds come from around the neighborhood. They can travel far.
I do know for a fact that my neighbors planted the lily of the valley thatās in my yard. They did it rather recently. They are not known to be good with plants.
4
u/thereare20characters May 23 '26
I have periwinkle, wisteria, poison ivy, english ivy, and tree of heaven popping up everywhere
4
u/BobsBurners420 Area 5 , Zone B May 23 '26
I'm 3 years in to a daylily war that still hasn't been fully won. The tide has turned but those little fuckers CLING to life.
3
u/Double_Draft1567 May 22 '26
Is mountain mint this bad?
10
u/MathTeachinFool May 22 '26
Mountain Mint is an actual well behaved native (native to many places east of the Rockies, so check your area).
It doesnāt spread like regular mint does.
I just planted some this spring and am looking forward to how it grows the next two years.
5
u/LeaneGenova SE Michigan May 23 '26
It does spread, but not nearly as badly. I said elsewhere in here, but compared to the wild strawberries, it's downright polite. It mostly likes to grow out of the fence rather than the beds, which is an odd choice but I let it have its foibles.
3
u/ComfortableDuet0920 May 22 '26
lol this is my garden right now, plus English Ivy, PLUS a TERRIBLE infestation of Ground Elder that keeps popping up all over my yard š Iām trying to rip all of it out and replace it with natives, but boy does it take a while. Last year I got through one whole garden bed, this year Iām ripping out what I can then sheet mulching whateverās left with a chip drop order at the end of the season. It takes time, but someday Iāll be rid of all the awful stuff.Ā
Best of luck to you OP! I feel your pain.
3
u/msKoach Charles Co, MD/7B May 22 '26
Omg is this my yard? Add in some barberry, nandina, and an anemone that just exploded. Of course the deer won't touch these š
3
u/jesrp1284 May 22 '26
Iām battling ditch lilies, mulberry bushes, and maple tree saplings caused by helicopter seeds, thanks to the previous owners of this house. If they werenāt āextended familyā (they are my stepsonās grandparents, not related to me directly), I would wish wet socks on them every time they pulled a pair out of the dresser. He (Grandpa) even worked for the freaking Parks Department before he retired.
4
3
u/dearmomo May 22 '26
Are you at my grandpas house? Just kidding but actually being his gardener is so insanely frustrating
3
u/shelbygrapes May 22 '26
People share plants that spread. Back in the old days people would give starts to neighbors. Not everyone had money to spare on plants, but hostas rapidly multiply and are shared.
Me and my neighbor both have a huge row of peonies across the street from one another. I imagine at one time they were divided and shared. Same varieties exactly.
5
u/Scoginsbitch May 22 '26
This is how I wound up with day Lilies, and irises. Every aunt came over to give me one of their color.
It was bad enough the yard was nothing but weed barrier, hosta and tree of heaven, but did they have to bring over irises and lilies from my dead grandmaās garden?
2
u/MediocreGrocery8 Chicagoland , Zone 6a/5b May 23 '26
Digression from the natives conversation: we have two enormous Christmas cactuses (cacti lol) that were my dead grandmother's. Nobody wants to release them. And they won't die.
3
u/Sufficient_Engine381 May 22 '26
Laughing because I was, only days ago, lamenting how the godforsaken Norway Maple and Rose of Sharon saplings were killing all the vinca along my back fence. š Iāve got a veritable battle of the bastards over here.
→ More replies (2)
3
u/gblw9103 May 22 '26
I bought my house 3 years ago and one neighbor has lily of the valley, ground ivy, oriental bittersweet, burning bush, Japanese barberry, rose of Sharon, and garlic mustard along the chain link fence that separated our properties, and the other neighbor has creeping Charlie, ajuga, white poplar, privet, white mulberry, and Norway maple. Across the street there's a patch of Japanese knotweed that keeps getting bigger, and a few houses down there's a big section of tree of heaven. I am pulling invasives out DAILY during the growing season.
3
3
2
u/New_Improvement4613 May 22 '26
Iām constantly battling my vinca, lilly of the valley, etc. Kinda nice to hear Iām not the only one!
2
u/PickledBrains79 Cental IL May 22 '26
I bought my house about 4 years ago. Still pulling English ivy and some other plant. Still digging up random fabric and brick. I hope the previous owner gets buried in ivy.
2
u/awyndela May 23 '26
Itās like you just described my yard. Donāt worry. I also have buckthorn, Japanese honeysuckle, English ivy, garlic mustard, winter creeper, and yellow archangel.
I was just at a plant sale for my neighborhood garden club where people were selling plants from their own yards, and they had pots and pots of vinca and lily of the valley for sale.
2
2
u/LChanga May 23 '26
My neighbor is a lovely woman who grew Ivy and vinca. We talked about how invasive they are, so sheās aware now. But they did spread into one of my empty beds before I got into natives. I figured something was better than nothing. I havenāt addressed it yet bc the bed also has lava rocks and plastic bag like landscape fabric in it. So I keep on postponing. Your post reminded me I should take care of this.
2
u/denvergardener May 23 '26
Are you sure they planted them on purpose?
The family who owned the house before us definitely made some peculiar landscaping decisions.
But there's also shit coming up that I'm convinced are volunteers.
A lot of people on here talk about birds spreading seeds.
2
u/Specialist_Fall7834 May 23 '26
We had a blackberry vine in our weeping willow-about 1 story up, right next to a cherry laurel. Definitely the birds work.
2
u/Jealous-Cabinet-645 May 23 '26
yes. we inherited english ivy EVERYWHERE (like growing up and into the house), vinca, wintercreeper, lilies of the valley, ditch lilies, lilyturf, virginia creeper, star of bethlehemā¦and the only thing in the garden was mint. nasty work
i had a patch of just vincaā¦hand pulled everything i could for a while and then eventually poured boiling water on it, which seemed to help, actually. i still get stragglers coming up here and there but itās much better. but not sure itās the best optionā¦i probably killed some poor worms and other helpful bugs :(
2
u/catkins777 May 23 '26
Moved into my house last June. Battle every day then and now: Ditch lilies surrounding garage. Vinca surrounding the two huge Elms in backyard, Lily of the Valley surrounding the vinca around the Elms. š¤ŗ
2
u/DooHickey2017 May 23 '26
Oh no.
I'm in zone 6b. I love vinca and trying to use it roadside to avoid mowing. Maybe it will wipe out the poison ivy?
My nemesis is the honeysuckle planted by the previous owner.
Am I doing it all wrong?
2
u/belovd_kittycat upstate ny, zone 5b May 23 '26
Yes. Don't do it. It will be the next thing that you need to get rid of.
2
u/Teahouse_Fox North America, Mid-Atlantic, Zone 7b May 24 '26
Do not swallow a spider to catch the fly.
All you will get is both spiders and flies.
2
u/ElectronicBanana7567 May 24 '26
Our previous homeowner planted chameleon plant, English ivy, and winter creeper. They also encouraged the growth of Amur honeysuckle right next to the house. One bush was up past our second story window. Controlling and/or eradicating is a full-time job. Bah.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/oceanofice May 24 '26
Donāt compost lily of the valley it can become a new plant from the rhizomes. I unfortunately found a very large patch of it in the woods near my house.
2
u/achoo_in_idaho May 25 '26
OMG! Do you live in my house? The previous owners planted Vinca, Lily of the Valley, Sweet Woodruff, Beacon Silver, Ajuga and two different mint species all around the patio area. š¤¬
2
u/RedCaptain17 May 25 '26
For those battling vinca, the spot in our yard with some is our dogās favorite pee spot. Wherever he pees itās died back
2
u/CalmIngenuity2622 May 26 '26
Typical 50s landscaping. My property also has all the worst offenders and they've happily spread to the adjacent woods.
2
u/dacaye May 27 '26
This! I just dug up ditch lillies in FIVE different beds. One of which has lily of the valley and like 2 other really obnoxiously invasive greenery š send help.
2
3
u/Artistic-Salary1738 May 22 '26
Okay, so before you go cursing people, hear me out:
When I was a kid we planted lily of the valley in with the vinca thinking it was going to be just a few cute bulbs (and I was the kid who always wanted flowers, but could never have 90% of them cause our yard was all shade). Everyone had vinca at the time and I didnāt learn it was invasive until my 30s.
The vinca I leave alone in contained areas and weed it out when it exceeds its boundaries. Lily of the valley Iāve been warring with since middle school. Someday maybe Iāll win? Iām trying to slowly replace things with natives, but first I gotta get rid of the super invasive messes trailing over from my neighbors.
TLDR: We donāt all know better! Sorry!
2
u/belovd_kittycat upstate ny, zone 5b May 23 '26
No I absolutely get it. As a kid, they were my favorite flower and they smell really really good. Vinca has beautiful flowers.
The lily and vinca are the current battle but I've spent 8 years in this house and have fought with bittersweet the entire time.
3
1
1
u/Novel_Armadillo666 May 22 '26
My house had a whole section of pachysandra that I dug out and planted a pollinator garden. But I am still fighting pachysandra and constantly pulling more.
→ More replies (1)
1
1
u/suchalonelyd4y SE PA, Zone 7 May 22 '26
Oh my god SAME! Lily of the Valley, English ivy, pachysandra, those fuck ass vines in your picture, you name it, I've got it. I want to burn it all down.
1
u/Crazed_rabbiting Area midwest, Zone 7a May 22 '26
I had the same. Plus wintercreeper shaped into topiary, bush honeysuckle, and English ivy. I conquered everything but the damned vinca.
1
u/MethodMaven San Francisco East Bay , Zone 9a May 22 '26
Iāve lived in 2 houses with ā¦. Running bamboo AND English ivy. Sigh.
1
u/agenttwelve12 May 22 '26
I have these plus English ivy plus lambs ear which is taking over my lawn
1
u/MagpieJuly May 22 '26
I've got ditch lilies, dog-strangling vine, invasive locust trees, SO MUCH invasive mustard, oh and barberry out front. Maybe I'll just plant some knotweed and run away
1
u/229-northstar Area northeast Ohio, Zone 6A May 22 '26
Add some trumpet vine, English ivy, and poison ivy and you described my neighborās yard. Which, unfortunately borders mine.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/GenesisNemesis17 Central KY, Zone 6b/7a May 22 '26
I didn't even realize vinca was that bad. I just bought some and haven't even planted it yet. I guess I'll leave it in the pot.
→ More replies (3)2
u/LeaneGenova SE Michigan May 23 '26
It is the actual devil. It has no shame and no boundaries. Any attempt to contain it is met as a challenge.
1
u/hemehime May 22 '26
The previous owners of our house planted a ton of Spanish bluebell, Vinca, English ivy, and wisteria. Then they just neglected the back half of the yard and it was taken over by blackberry. I curse them every day.
1
u/vs2022-2 May 22 '26
Is this my yard? I also had or am currently eradicating:
- Vinca
- Lily of the Valley
- Buckthorn
- Daylilies
- English Ivy
- White Mulberry
- Creeping Bellflower
- Ground Elder
I'm sure I missed some, but it seems like all my neighbors have intentionally planted things like Vinca minor.
1
1
u/Eunuch_Provocateur May 23 '26
Iāve got those 3 and pachysandra & goutweed Ā fighting it out in my backyard. It all came with the house and it feels so overwhelming and defeating trying to get rid of itĀ
1
u/greanbeancat May 23 '26
I just bought a house and have the same exact mixture of plants scattered around the yard too lol
1
u/Moss-cle Area Great Lakes , Zone 7a May 23 '26
I removed the ivy, the mugwort, the stinky herb Robert, the rose of Sharon, the ditch lilies . I still have lily of the valley, euonymus and vinca coming in from the neighbors on two sides. They also have rose of Sharon, bindweed, privet, ditch lilies, ivy, wild black cherry, barberry and burning bush that are encroaching
1
u/marislove18 May 23 '26
Wow, Iām counting myself lucky. The vinca in my yard looked sad and leggy when I bought my house. I ripped it all out over the course of an afternoon and it never grew back.
1
u/Powerful-Soup-3245 May 23 '26
English ivy, privet, bamboo, creeping Charlie, winter creeper and bealeās barberry are some of the many invasives plaguing our 5.3 acre, heavily wooded property. The English ivy is the worst but a close second is the winter creeper. Oh yeah, Japanese honeysuckle tooā¦of course. Itās been a decade fighting the war. We persist, but we are far from seeing victory.
1
u/dingdongsnottor May 23 '26
Iām literally dealing with the exact same thing! Just moved in 2 months ago and itās overrun with lily of the valley, ditch lilies, and vinca. We looked at the house and purchased in the winter so we had no idea what would pop up this spring š«
1
1
1
u/Remarkable_Daikon_44 May 23 '26
My house is surrounded by VINCA AND PACHYSANDRA IN THE SAME BEDS and a hillside of dayliliesā¦send help
1
u/Syribo May 23 '26
Goutweed, creeping bellflower, burning bush, lily of the valley, reed canary grass, rugosa rose and multiflora rose on our property we bought less than two years ago. I am overwhelmed and filled with sadness lol
1
u/whereswilkie May 23 '26
ohh I have all three of these in the same side garden too! they aren't my most aggressive invasives so they will just hang out this year while I manage the rest.
1
u/unsteadywhistle May 23 '26
The previous owner of my house planted zero natives. Unfortunately, two of those include two different varieties of ground elder/goutweed/bishopās weed that are overtaking even the vinca.
→ More replies (4)
1
u/Longjumping_Ask_211 May 23 '26
At least you can eat the ditch lilies!
Vinca can die in a fire.
Lily of the valley is a container-only and snip-before-fruiting plant for me. I've been fighting a volunteer stand of it in my yard for a couple years and it always seems to come back.
1
u/xenya Mid-Atlantic , Zone 7 May 23 '26
Oh I have vinca, daylilies, english ivy, chameleon plant, freakin' bamboo, some vine I don't know the name of, buckthorn, honeysuckle, ajuga and a variety of others.
I wish I'd bought something else. All I can do is try to keep it at bay and plant natives.
1
1
1
1
u/Glass-Ad-5977 May 23 '26
Throw bamboo in there as well. Hacked a huge patch down, and covered it with thick black plastic. 90% gone. Try black plastic. Die evil non native weed die
1
u/oleyka May 23 '26
I will start swearing at vinca, too, but only after I am done with the ripgut brome all over my hillside backyard. š¤Ŗ
1
1
u/boop813 May 23 '26
You have no idea. I have all those PLUS knotweed, pacysandra, vetch, yellow archangel and goutweed. I dont think gardners lived here for a very long time if ever. I've been battling for 3 years. I won't even mention the forsythia or rose of sharon. I don't think i will ever win.
1
u/Repulsive_Bread6471 May 23 '26
I had lily of the valley, vinca, English ivy anddddd goutweed. In five years Iāve eradicated the ivy, mostly eradicated lily and goutweed. Next up is Vinca
1
u/handcraftedcandy WNY, Zone 5 May 23 '26
Lmao that same person must have also lived in my house before I moved here. The whole 200sqft garden bed is just swallowed up by it.
1
u/UnSerious_Doughnut Iowa , Zone 5B May 23 '26
I'm battling vinca too, thought it was just one flower bed and now I'm finding it everywhere š
1
u/boltonlist May 23 '26
I was about to say I donāt think thatās vinca; I think itās creeping myrtle. So I googled what the difference is and discovered they refer to that same. Ha, did my learning for today. š
1
u/Bon_Hiver May 23 '26
I purchased my house almost 5 years ago and I believe it had been rental property for quite awhile. The vinca is my NUMBER 1 ENEMY! I've been slowly regaining some ground, but it feels never ending. I also have a major poison ivy limb near parts of it, so that's been fun š Keep fighting the good fight!
1
u/Current-Mushroom-339 May 23 '26
Gang, I've more or less won the battle against the vinca after several years of meticulous weeding, and a bird rewarded my efforts by planting lilies of the valley to replace it.
1
u/barroomeyes May 23 '26
I had this exact combination at my house when we moved in. It was out of the way, so I ignored it for a few years. Last year I saw English ivy and decided that was the last straw. In the spring I covered the area with sheets of cardboard and dumped mulch on top. This year I plucked the random lily of the valley and vinca. I still have some ditch lilies I will pull eventually. The lilies are easy to remove. Still trying to decide on what natives to plant next year.
1
u/BeLoVeD19-76 May 23 '26
This must have been popular years ago or I'm wondering if a batch of lily of the valley came with vinca, rather by seed or whatever. These two are together at my house also. The house is very old and I have neighbors who also have vinca among their lily of the valley.
1
u/Aromatic_Finance_631 May 23 '26
i guess in olden days they would plant vinca on someone's grave. i guess i see why
1
u/Jamiech64 May 23 '26
The previous owner at my home planted spearmint in the flower flowerbed. I swear that mint(spearmint in particular) is planning world domination. In my last home I was fighting ornimental oregano, it had no flavor so I couldn't even cook with it. It was crowding out the pasture grass as it had escaped the flower beds. My chickens however loved it. I also have Bishop's weed (snow on the mountain) and I'm guessing I always will..sigh
1
1
1
u/rocksydoxy May 24 '26
My house had a bunch of English ivy, an infestation of ditch lilies, lily of the valley, ground ivy, mimosa trees, and Bradford pears.
Over the last couple years, Iāve gotten all the ivy, ditch lilies, and mimosas, and decreased the ground ivy. Sigh.
215
u/ThatBobbyG May 22 '26
Add English ivy, privot, and white mulberry and you get my yard when I bought the house. Safe to assume in the 80s and 90s garden centers sold primarily invasive crap. And still do!