Home » Plants & Animals » California Gardening » Plants to Avoid: Certifiable 'Turkeys'

Plants to Avoid: Certifiable 'Turkeys'

© Keith Muraoka

While you digest your Thanksgiving turkey, try gobbling on this: there are many plants, too, that are certifiable "turkeys."

These unsavory plants represent those that you should avoid at all costs. One way or another, they simply do not make good home/garden plants.

Take pampas grass, for example. This undesirable giant ornamental-type grass can be typically found growing wild on hillsides and bluffs along the ocean. They're especially noticeable on any windy day this time of year. Their feathery white flower plumes or, more accurately, parts of what once were white -- usually they're dirty white or even brown by now -- can be seen flying through the air. They come flying through your open car window or give the rest of your garden what appears to be a bad case of dandruff.

If that isn't enough, the sheer bulk of pampass grass can be a problem in small gardens. Established, they grow to 20 feet high and 8-10 feet wide. Also, their leaf edges are like sharp saws and can cut skin just by brushing by them.

Eucalyptus, the most widely planted non-native tree in California, also makes my "turkey" list. Eucalyptus can be found along several hundred miles of California coastline, as well as inland. They make great windbreaks if you plant them in a large expansive area.

However, the latter is where the problem comes in. Many gardeners plant these huge brittle trees in single-family neighborhoods where the 80-foot monsters drop branches and leafs in the slightest winds. Eucalyptus have become such nuisances that some residents have been accused of poisoning them in order to preserve scenic views. Remarkably, a worry for state agricultural officials is that an insect pest known as the eucalyptus longhorn borer may have been deliberately spread by ecological zealots who would like to rid the California landscape of the ubiquitous eucalyptus.

The copyright of the article Plants to Avoid: Certifiable 'Turkeys' in California Gardening is owned by Keith Muraoka. Permission to republish Plants to Avoid: Certifiable 'Turkeys' in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.