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RE: pennyroyal

	I said:
	.....it's rare when one doesn't live (sedum stems stuck in
dirt), and then
> only because something like pennyroyal preceded it and left its oil in
> the soil.  
> Tim Chavez
> 
      Then she said:
> I didn't know that pennyroyal had this effect. Can pennyroyal affect
> plants
      growing close to it?
      Margaret Schnall

To which I replied:
Margaret, 

I have only observed this with sedum. I have pennyroyal growing next to
Verbena Tapien, Sundrops, Butterfly Flower (a mint), Balsam, Bluebells,
and a few others. The only place it has had this effect is on the sedum.
I moved both to a different location to repeat the experiment and got
the same result in less than a month. It is a noticeable affect if only
because so few things have any affect on sedums at all. It only affects
the Sedum stem in the dirt, so I can break off the dead portion and
replant further away. This explanation came to me when another seedslist
denizen was having a problem with Podophylum (Mandrake, May apple)
possibly choking out her trillium bed. This caught my eye because I used
to use Podophylum extract in a medical setting as a cauterizing agent on
mucus tissues. I speculated that the podophylum resins are deadly to
some other plant roots. At least I got a warm fuzzy from that proposal
since plants make their chemicals for some purpose however invisible.
Pennyroyal smells very strong. Most bugs leave it alone except for
armyworms. I did not expect a subterranean purpose for the intense oils
of this plant. I am still having trouble rooting sedum into a spot where
I uprooted pennyroyal many months ago. Its a steep slope where very few
things grow and removing or replacing dirt leads to complete erosion of
the improvement. So I am trying to grow things in like sedum which has a
tough rootmat and doesn't care if the twig hole is on a vertical clay
impoundment below a rock. Pennyroyal also likes my steep clay slope but
is much more work to contain. I will replant pennyroyal in a container. 
Can I get any more stories sparked out of the closet on this
possibility.  Keep in mind, I am not a gardening authority, I just know
my own garden well.

Tim Chavez 
Z6 Wichita Kansas

You know its been bad when the weatherman's says its going to be 92 F
with 80% humidity today and your thrilled [it's been much higher here
for weeks].
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