The last thing we think about when we plant up our gardens is worrying about where our plants may end up. I don’t mean falling foul of some light fingered visitor, rather spreading their seed and roots and ending up over the fence. It may seems nice to see a few familiar plants popping up outside of their usual garden setting however, the real problem is they often don’t know when to stop. You’d all be familiar with Morning Glory. It’s large, trumpet shaped blooms and lush foliage look very attractive but belies the fact this vine is a serious weed of gardens and bushland smothering trees and shrubs as it grows. As Morning Glory vines spread and touch the soil, they send out roots, effectively producing new plants as they grow. Because of that, you definitely need to be careful where you put any prunings you trim off. I’d recommend the green waste bin rather than your compost. Another, less likely escapee are Robinia’s. The lovely ferny foliage and attractive shape make them popular garden tree. If you’re growing one at home and wondering what all those little plants popping up in the pavers and the lawn are, you don’t need to look any further than your Robinia. The potential for Robinia roots to sucker (send up new plants off their roots) is high. It is not unusual to see a forest of Robinia plants suckering off one tree. If you want to get rid of Robinia suckers, then you either have to hand pull or trim them off when they are very young. The sucker won’t go away but at least you won’t see it. When the sucker get too big to pull, you can dig down, cut through the root that connects to tree to the sucker and then spray out the sucker. Even after all that, where you cut is likely to sucker – you can’t win. If you want to find out which plants love living in your garden and not interested in going anywhere else, pick up the ‘Grow Me Instead’ brochure available from your local garden centre. WATCH THE CLIP
