This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum)


> Date: Fri, 12 Sep 1997 11:18:45 -0400 (EDT)
> From: Liane Middleton <lmiddlet@freenet.npiec.on.ca>
> Subject: Re: Unidentified plant
> 
> ARGH!
> 
> It looks like I've planted Purple Loosestife in my garden!  However, it
> looks beautiful, and hasn't given me any trouble yet.  What should I do to
> control it?  Or should I completely rip it out while I still can?  The
> real problem in my garden, is Artemesia Silver King.  It has overtaken two
> small geranium plants.  But that's another story...
> 
Dear Liane: I have been growing lythrum in suburban Washington DC for 
about 30 years.  I've ordinary sandy loam, and, as long as I 
don't plant it in the shade, it thrives.  It is NOT invasive.  A 
clump actually increases far less than most perennials.  In the shade, it 
languishes, and dies.

A neighbor of mine has, for several years, been upset that 
lythrum is taking over ponds along Interstate Highway 95 (and elsewhere) all 
the way from Maryland to Maine.  Apparently it IS invasive when 
planted in water, or in bogs that are constantly wet.  Her group 
has persuaded nursery owners in this vicinity to stop selling 
lythrum.

I know many gardens in this area where lythrum is beautiful and 
well-behaved.  The only time I've ever seen it ramp was in a pond 
on the east side of the highway between Princeton and New 
Brunswick, New Jersey, about a mile or so north of Princeton.  
That was many years ago.  It was in full bloom, and had taken 
over the whole south end of the pond.  It is still one of the 
most beautiful sights I've ever seen.  If I'd been the owner of 
the pond, I might have been upset.

My neighbor says the wind can blow the seeds onto distant stream 
banks.  I bike every day from my house down to the Beltsville 
Park, down Howard Road, past numerous specimen plants of lythrum 
(generally one per garden), and then for a mile along the Paint 
Branch, as it's called.  No seeds have blown down to the stream 
bed in the thirty years I've lived here.  Well, I mean they 
haven't taken root.

It's a wonderful plant, and if you haven't a bog, enjoy it!

Harry, Beltsville, Maryland, zone 7a

Listowners, Alpine-L, the Electronic Rock Garden Society:
Active: Louise Parsons & Harry Dewey; Quiet: Eric Gouda & Alexej Borkovec
To join Alpine-L, send the message INFO to Alpine-L-Request@nic.surfnet.NL
All Alpine-L members should use that address for Louise OR Harry, please.

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