Gooseneck Loosestrife
- To: s*@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
- Subject: Gooseneck Loosestrife
- From: R* D* <d*@INDIANA.EDU>
- Date: Mon, 24 May 1999 09:35:10 -0500
Nancy,
Yes, Lysimachia clethroides is gooseneck loosestrife. I'd like to know who
told you this plant is not invasive. Most definitely it is! And not just a
little, but VERY. Don't kid yourself; get it out of your perennial border.
But DON'T pitch it out.
I have it under hackberry trees in my Thug Garden with some real monsters
and it holds its own very well and is so cute when it blooms that I could
never get rid of it. It just must be confined by other like-minded plants.
The plain leaved liriope spicata, sensitive fern, yellow archangel,
English bluebells and giant Solomon's Seal can survive in there among the
bedstraw, moonvine, euonymous, and Japanese honeysuckle. The latter four I
am gradually eradicating, but they will probably never be gone entirely.
N.B., for the next two springs you will need to watch for volunteers in
the perennial garden, because every microscopic piece of root that remains
will form a new plant.
Bobbi Diehl
Bloomington, IN
zone 5/6
