The Pitfalls of Pass Along Plants

As the early frenzy of planting and dividing is beginning to wind down, I have a lot of plants to give away to someone else. We widened a bed last summer and are now rearranging as well. The process was on my mind during my morning walk. The tall bearded iris are in full bloom here and the peonies are starting. I thought about my dad trading iris with a fellow gardener and my mom's phlox obtained from a neighbor. This made me realize that many plants in my own garden came from some else's.

The thing that most of those plants have in common is that there is usually plenty to share. Not because we are such good gardeners, but because these plants are so vigorous and spreading. The thought reminded me of the line from Greek mythology: "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts." Many of those pass alongs will sneak out of their allotted space and take over the garden.

Most of those plants are things we want to grow for one quality or another. Some examples that come to mind are lily of the valley (Convallaria), bishop's weed or snow-on-the-mountain (Aegopodium), pennywort (Lysimachia), various of the Artemisias and bee balm (Monarda). So we just need to plan carefully for their containment. I've heard these plants referred to as "thugs" for their bullying rampage through the territory of more restrained plants. Thugs have a place. I once had a friend who was going to be away from her home for two years and wanted to protect her raised garden from becoming infested with weeds and their seeds. She planted Monarda that promptly filled it completely. When she came home, she did have to use Roundup to get rid of the Monarda, but the quack grass had not been able to move in and leave a seed bank as well as vicious rhizomes. I thought it a very clever idea.

A friend across town planted lily of the valley in that small space between the house and the sidewalk that many of us have where the shade may be constant and the soil usually poor. It's the perfect place for it. Otherwise, it will spread rapidly to fill all the area it can and be hard to get rid of since it grows from underground structures called 'pips' that will regrow if you miss any.

I am lucky enough to have a spot like that to grow the mint I love for my summer iced tea. In another part of the yard, another mint is trying to take over a bed, a path and the place I store my hose. It is work to keep it under control, but would be harder still to try to get rid of it.

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