Re: What I wish I hadn't planted

I planted Rubus rolfei (formerly R. pentalobus) in a small bed once. Big mistake. There should be a notation on tags telling us not to plant rampant spreaders like this one in a small space, something like: "best in a bed at least 8X10 feet or in a bounded space." It lept over my entire bed and was the devil to dig out in its entirety. I have seen it used well in two situations. In one, it was planted between rip-rap (consisting of tree branches) on a slope that was at least 20X20 feet, maybe bigger, and it was happily covering the slope. In the other, it was in a concrete-bound parking strip along a street and had filled the space solidly. It seemed to take the foot traffic associated with getting in and out of cars too.

Incidentally, I keep my houttuynia cordata in a nice pot about 14" across and rather shallow. It looks very pretty there in spring and summer and cannot escape to cause a problem.  (It's dormant in winter here.)

Pam Peirce
San Francisco

From: Nan Sterman <TalkingPoints@plantsoup.com>
To: Medit-Plants listserv <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
Sent: Sun, May 19, 2013 6:49:45 PM
Subject: What I wish I hadn't planted

I was working in the garden this evening, feeling a little frustrated by all the duff from the pepper tree i planted almost 20 years ago.  i was thinking that if I had it all to do again, I would NEVER have planted that tree. 

What in your garden do you wish you'd never planted?

Nan


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