There are plants that scream ‘Buy Me’ at the garden centre, but the savvy gardener resists that pull. While a plant can look great in its pot, put it in the ground, and that impulse purchase can lead to months and even years of cursing ‘that **** plant’. With so much on offer, making a wise choice is difficult, but take advice, pay attention to the label description, and be mindful of how much space you have. The last thing you need is your exciting new purchase, the one that looked oh so dainty in its pot, settling in to run riot all over your garden. Here are seven of my ‘leave-well-alone’ plants, unless you have a specific spot for them, or you’re prepared to wade in and keep them under control.
1: Shuttlecock fern, which will spread through your border
I love this fern. It’s absolutely gorgeous in spring, with fresh green ‘shuttlecocks’ springing out of the border and looking fabulous with bulbs and other spring bloomers. But it spreads big-time. Before you know it, this seemingly dainty little fern will be springing up in your border all over the place, crowding out weaker plants. It’s hard work to weed out, too; its dense black rhizomes are stubborn and difficult to spot in dark soil. So, unless it’s in a spot where it can run amok, just don’t plant it.
2: Leylandii – a vigorous grower that will suck your garden dry
If you need a hedge or a screen, then there is nothing faster growing than leylandii, but seriously, don’t go there. This plant will outstrip the average garden in no time, leaving you madly trying to keep up. Let it get away from you, and it becomes a straggly mess of a hedge or turns into actual trees that are simply taking over your garden. There are so many nicer, better-behaved plants to grow: use beech or hawthorn as a hedge, rowan or amelanchier as a screen. These choices are also brilliant for wildlife, while leylandii isn’t. It isn’t good for anything, not even firewood.
3: Pretty periwinkle is a major spreader
A good ground cover plant is so useful, and periwinkle is one of the prettiest choices, with starry flowers in blue, purple or white. Cover the ground it certainly does, but with rather too much vigour, sending out long trailing evergreen stems that will swiftly manoeuvre out of their allotted space, snaking their way into your borders and smothering other plants. If you absolutely must have a periwinkle, then avoid the larger Vinca major; instead, pick the daintier Vinca minor, which is more manageable but will still need cutting back rather more regularly than you might expect.
4: Japanese anemones will pop up everywhere
Let me be clear, I love Japanese anemones. They’re so elegant, with lovely leaves and beautiful flowers in early autumn, just when you think the garden show is coming to an end. But buy the wrong variety, and they’re challenging to keep in check: one plant becomes three as they swiftly multiply and pop up all over the place, even creeping into the lawn. Left alone, Japanese anemones can totally monopolise a border in a few short years. Looks great, if you only want one plant. My picks for hassle-free anemones that stay pretty much where they’re put include Wild Swan and Ruffled Swan, although the beautiful white ‘Honorine Jobert’ and the rich pink ‘Pamina’ are also well-behaved.
5: Bamboo is impossible to get rid of
To my mind, the best bamboo for the average garden is one that’s in a pot, where it can look great and stay put. There are bamboos that are okay to plant and those that you really don’t want in the ground. The worst bamboos are the ‘runners’, and these are some of the prettiest, of course. Don’t plant this type unless you have a small country estate. The others are the ‘clumpers’, and these do stay as a nice clump, but that expands over the years, gradually spreading and colonising. It’s very difficult to get rid of either type of bamboo once you’re fed up with it, so take my advice and keep your bamboo in an attractive pot.
6: Left unchecked, ivy will run rampant over shrubs and fences
Ivy is such a useful plant: it’s great for ground cover, good for walls and fences, and it looks great trailing over the edges of pots and window boxes with bedding plants. A little pot of ivy goes a long way. Be prepared to do battle, though. Before you know it, the pretty ground cover will be surging up your cherished shrubs and trees, smothering them unless you take control. Any gaps in your walls or fences will be mercilessly exploited until the fence is falling to bits and the ivy is firmly rooted forever into your garden walls. Stick to growing ivy in pots and window boxes, but even then, only give it a year, or it will take over. Yes, I know it’s fantastic for wildlife, but that’s not so much the variegated forms you get from the garden centre, rather it’s the native ivy with flowers and berries that you’ll find growing with wild abandon in the woods.
7: Mile-a-minute vine will smother plants
The clue is there, plain as day, in the name. Fallopia baldschuanica is a great climber to cover a small village that has suddenly collapsed, but that’s about it; anything smaller it will swamp in minutes. It’s pretty with its dainty blush pink and white flowers and heart-shaped leaves; don’t be deluded, this is a monster and totally rampageous. If you need a swift, all-covering climber, then go for a Clematis montana, which grows fast, although not so furiously, and is much more controllable.
