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Re: Favourite Thug for a Med. Garden

>Ok, I'll bite! My favorite Garden Thug is also a geranium. I know it only as
>geranium robertianum (herb robert). Started w/1 plant 5 years ago, and now
>literally have thousands all over our yard. With it's ferny type foliage, red
>hairy stems, nicely pungent smell, and pretty small pinkish flowers, it is a
>pleasure to weed where I don't want it,

Goodness!  I almost equate this with Oxalis corniculata in terms of
weediness.  It's a pestilential native wild flower here and smothers
everything in no time, given half the chance.  I have several patches
in the private lane behind the garden where it is allowed to grow and
forms a fairly attractive patchwork with the white form, but both are
far to invasive to be given much headroom I'm afraid.  

The same applies to Corydalis lutea, which although attractive with
greyish, delicate, fern like foliage and masses of bright yellow
'cigars', rapidly seeds itself about and quickly crowds out anything
less vigorous.  A few weeks of inattention, nearly cost me several
clumps of the diminutive, chocolate leaved geranium - G. sessiliflorum
'Nigrum', due to tiny seedlings of Corydalis creeping in unnoticed and
then growing away suddenly at the expense of everything else.

Another thug which give me a real headache is the so-called
'Kenilworth Ivy'  or 'Ivy leaved Toadflax' -  Cymbalaria muralis.  Its
soft herb with lengthy trailing stems and small, lilac mauve,
snapdragon flowers.  Once it gets a hold, you can never get rid of it
and although it is well behaved in the hot, dry impoverished
conditions of a dry stone wall, once it roots into half decent soil
with a degree of moisture, its grow is rank, rapidly smothering nearby
plants.  

The only one which is 'thuggish' to a degree, but is allowed to invade
from outside, is the little Mexican daisy - Erigeron mucronatum.  It
rapidly colonises wall and cracks in paving, but I rather like the
white flowers which rapidly age to deep pink and so far, it has not
been excessively difficult to eradicate where it is unwelcome.

I wish the same could be said of one of the new varieties of
Tradescantia that has become quite popular in recent years.  I
originally planted Tradescantia albiflora 'Maiden's Blush' in a
hanging planter where its intense magenta pink and white leaves on
long trailing stems were very effective fro that summer.  The planter
was left out in winter and the tradscantia survived.  I foolishly
planted some pieces in the border and now it is the most thuggish of
them all.  So far this year, I have ripped out sackfulls of it and
still it continues to smother even quite vigorous plants.  It sends
out underground rhizomes which extend for many feet and in our mild
climate, it thrives.  Even the snails seem to ignore the fleshy stems
and leaves, preferring instead to hide amongst it in daytime, only to
launch attacks on everything else at night.  

David Poole
TORQUAY UK
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