i was so happy yesterday when i found these pretty little shrubs that bloom yellow then stay green all year and smell lovely! i was buying them for my outside dining patio at my restaurant. i happily bought five at $40 each with plans to come back to buy more for my home.
then last night i did a little web search and discovered they are highly toxic, deadly to animals, a fire hazard and highly invasive. this is SCOTCH BROOM. thankfully i hadn't planted any yet. the garden center accepted the return so i got my money back. when i asked the guy to confirm what i found he kinda shrugged and said "they're not native, they're all imported." that didn't make me feel better. BUYER BEWARE!!!
by TypePuzzleheaded6228
25 Comments
These things are an absolute scourge where I live. The sides of the highway are all yellow now. Its awful.
Nice catch!
Where are they selling scotch broom??? It’s a scourge in the PNW.
Another reason to plant (mostly) native.
I have one in my garden. I’ve only encountered it in the wild once. It might not be invasive in Poland, even though it’s native. Many plants are poisonous. However, I have to admit that $40 apiece is a hefty price. I bought mine for $5. Probably because of tariffs.
They are extremely invasive all over !!!! Take them back!!
Haha fuck, I genocided these on this little plot of BLM land next to my property. The flowers are kind of attractive but they’re assholes.
I have a couple in NY. I won’t get more, but for a supposedly invasive plant in my state, they only barely and inconsistently survive the winter, and certainly aren’t doing well enough to spread or crowd out anything else.
Never buy mint !
Never heard of this plant thought it was photo of a snapdragon lol just looked it up bc I was curious if I’ve seen them in my area without knowing im surprised it’s not marked as highly invasive
https://www.nps.gov/articles/scotch-broom.htm
I’m in northern California and there is a massive broom abatement project going on here. It’s so pretty, but it’s taking over. I can’t belive they still sell it at the local nurseries. The poison oak is coming in beautifully in all the space this year though. 🤦♀️
Why not use some midnight candy phlox and/or nicotania in your pots instead? They both smell lovely in the evenings, and while not native, they are not invasive and very easy to control the spread of. You won’t have greenery in the winter, but how many outdoor dining guests do you really have during NJ winters?
I grew up in the PNW, highly allergic to these. Many years later, I move into a house in the desert SW and there’s a big ol’ scotch broom planted in the yard like it’s a decorative shrub! Yuck! They don’t even smell nice to me anymore. They smell like sneezing!
I spent the majority of my youth eradicating this stuff from my parent’s property.
Good catch.
We had one at our allotment (in Europe). I found whenever I went over to that corner, I’d have allergy symptoms- sneezing, red, itchy eyes, coughing- the works. We removed it very quickly and replaced it with a gooseberry plant.
In the midwest here. I usually plant native, but I loved this gal. Mine is a different color though, and is trimmed every year bc I don’t need my backyard looking like the PNW or a firehazard. She is a stunner for sure, but does require consistent care as they can become monstrous easily.
https://preview.redd.it/1lblijkroczg1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b802c3eee29c50d9f8eb935374b88f86b8710e00
I remember my mom telling me they have lots of ticks on them. Anyone else notice this too?
It’s very pretty but also quite invasive.
That stuff is the most hated living entity where I live on the oregon coast. Its all over, you cant escape it. Sucks to remove too, so good job
Why are all the beautiful flowers toxic.
I had something similar happen recently while shopping for perennials. The garden center was selling beautiful spireas and decorative grasses like zebra grass. All highly invasive and I had them in my cart and even went home with the zebra grass. Thankfully I researched before planting and took those things back!
I naively thought local places would only sell local plants. Not correct. I’m starting to go full native where I can. Our local zoo does a native plant sale and the master gardeners do too. Great place to buy natives.
Wait.. I just bought a Minstead Scotch Broom from Lowes…. I haven’t planted it yet. I’m in the southeast US.. Would it be invasive here?
Edited to add Monrovia is the grower of the one I purchased. It’s wild that these companies grow and sell these plants here that are wildly invasive.
https://www.monrovia.com/minstead-scotch-broom.html
https://preview.redd.it/qbm55ox5vczg1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=85802ee2c7955b14edd6fd3a7fb37e081bf9ddae
This is what happens with scotch broom… I’m 6’ tall. These are right around 8’-10’ tall… don’t buy this crap and plant it…
Yikes. Fuck all the brooms.
Idk i bought one of these before from there, for way cheaper though and it never came back. Couldn’t even get the darn seed pods i saved to grow xD. Just used it as a pretty potted plant for the season. Lots of plants are toxic to animals, most actually so always important to know what you are buying. Lillies are all over and they’re super deadly to pets. And those stupid sago palm things.
Where I’m from, this is a noxious weed and it’s illegal to import/buy it. When it blooms, it makes everyone’s allergies miserable, too.