Re: Eastern catalogs

> Chris - you have to be kidding! Privet is one of the most dreaded words
> here
> as it is so invasive and terrible for hayfever suffers like myself.  It is
> actually
> illegal to have in our gardens as the city council will remove for free or
> you
> can do yourself but go it must.  Whenever I see any nursery selling
> anything
> like this or oleander etc it makes me think twice about shopping there.

I'm surprised.  Here in the Midwest Ligustrum is hardly invasive at all.  
Swink & Wilhelm only list two species in "Plants of the Chicago Region"
as escapees: L. vulgare and L. obtusifolium.  Both are listed as "an
occassional escape in our area."

They're used quite extensively around here for low-growing sheared 
hedges; in fact, the formal gardens at Robert Allerton Park in
Monticello, Illinois use them sheared to a height of about one foot.
They look especially nice in the knot garden.

Is it possible that the privet that you're thinking about isn't Ligustrum?
Or maybe the climate is such where you are that they take off like
gangbusters?

One item in favor of your comments -- Dirr says that the seeds MUST be
cleaned before sowing, or they will not germinate at all.  He theorizes
that the pericarp contains a physical or chemical barrier, so it follows
that in the wild most seeds need to pass through a bird prior to 
germination.  This would indicate that they do spread somewhat by
airborne messengers.

Chris
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index