I’m continuing to pull Canada goldenrod from my small suburban yard. It was popular with pollinators, but too aggressive. Working in a lot of stiff goldenrod and other plants instead.
I also pull the joe pye that spreads into my path and kid/dog area, as well as any spreading elderberry or sawtooth sunflower. Also my asters and browneyed susans are spreading by seed a little too much, so I’m pulling them in the area reserved for wild strawberry and violet and antennaria.
So yeah, native gardening involves pulling natives out too. What are you pulling?
stringTrimmer
100s of heart leaf aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium) seedlings and yearlings from my vegetable garden. Also penstemon digitalis, cup plant, figwort, wild bergamot crowding out less aggressives. Sorry, gotta go. That’s why it’s called native plant **gardening**
nyet-marionetka
Giant ironweed and false sunflower are getting over-enthused here. I’m hesitant to give anything away because I do have jumping worms in my yard. I moved some last year but I’m out of full sun places for them, so some of them will have to go.
ResplendentShade
Quite a few partridge pea, some lance leaf coreopsis, some monarda. Just the usual suspects. I let them spread some places but not others. Super glad that they reseed as well as they do though! It’s a labor of love.
panda_monium2
Violas in my garden beds. They are free to exist in the grass though
MechanicStriking4666
Tons! The ones that are already over represented in the ecosystem don’t need my help, so I don’t sweat it.
CeanothusOR
Milkweed is not going to choke out my mule ears and penstemons, so it is getting pulled. I still have plenty left.
loripainter12345
I always have tons of rudbeckia fulgida (brown eyed Susan). I relocate some and give away plants to anyone who wants them.
KathyfromTex
I will always pull Evening Primrose if its within my beds. It’s fine out in the back acre but wants to be the only thing that grows in my beds.
froggyphore
I have a patch where new york fern grows out of control and blocks the path to my barn so I pull it and replant it in barren places. The area where it was planted used to be a huge patch of bloodroot but the area was disturbed due to a problem and the bloodroot has taken a while to rebound so there was a huge barren space for it to go crazy in. Now that the bloodroot is coming back I’m hoping it’ll compete enough to keep the fern at bay. Since the bloodroot is technically ephemeral it works well as it limits the fern in spring and then the fern is free to take over once it dies back in summer.
Regular-Success4911
Canada goldenrod and cut leaf coneflower have become bullies and I’ve needed to start pulling them
Suspicious_Note1392
As much as I love wild violets I’ve had to pull a good number of them recently. They’re trying to bully my baby seedlings in my new bed. I feel bad about it though. 😭💔
kimfromlastnight
For the first time in six years I’m having to pull volunteers this year. So far just Canada goldenrod and American jumpseed, maybe some white avens. Bee balm is also taking over but those I might try to give away before I just kill them.
batw_art
Already pulled some new england aster and common milkweed. Will probably also have to relocate some scarlet bee balm soon.
ttd_76
I treat Carolina Geranium, horsenettle and bindweed the same as any other non-native weed. I used to try to cut the horsenettle a little break, but it would always spread, and then if you don’t pull it early it’s so annoying to have to deal with the thorns.
I treat pokeweed the same as any other weed in my maintained area but there’s a little patch of 3 or 4 just on the other side of my back fence that I allow. It always spreads and then I just pull it if it starts to go out of bounds. Also there’s some random pokeweed all over from when I can’t get at the taproot and I’m lazy so I just cut it above ground whenever it gets more than 6 inches or so and starts to annoy me.
Viola gets semi-preferential treatment. I mostly pull it just like any other weed. But I also know that I’m not really ever going to stop it and that’s okay. It would be a crazy amount of work to try and dig out every tuber and there are worse plants in my yard. So I dig out big clumps in areas that bother me, and I just scrape smaller clumps in other areas knowing they will come back but just at least forcing them to regrow and keeping them under control. And then in a few areas I purposely treat it as beneficial and leave it to hopefully outcompete invasives.
I try to preserve yellow passionflower but it never works. I try to leave it so like maybe it will climb up a cane of maple viburnum and I don’t care about and then bloom and then I will cut it. But it doesn’t do that. It grows right into the middle, tangles up in everything, and starts becoming a problem before it ever flowers.
I pull Eastern Redbud out but I hate it. I love them, but I can’t have a tree like right up next to my house. But there is a spot in my yard where I WANT a Redbud. So I always try to carefully dig out little redbuds and replant them in that spot, but it never works.
I think pretty much every other native I treat as desirable. But even then I pull out tons of helianthus decapetalus, rudbeckia clumps, aster, monarda, phlox etc. every year. That’s just gardening. If you’re doing a good job– especially with natives– you’ll end up with too many/overcrowded plants. I’m not trying to get rid of anything, I know those plants will come back and I want them too. Just trying to keep things balanced and manageable.
astro_nerd75
I’ve been pulling white snakeroot. I want SOME white snakeroot, not a garden with only white snakeroot. I may have to do the same with the goldenrod.
That-Employer-3580
Violets and mistflower everywhereeee
86rj
Cutleaf coneflower. I will be pulling it out forever.
amethystmoon85
Thimbleberry. It’s my first year creating a native garden and my thimbleberry was getting very aggressive and trying to take over the whole garden. Had to spend all afternoon digging it out, as it had grown roots that spread all throughout the garden bed, lol. Rookie mistake, haha.
TowerBeach
Not yet. I’m putting my Douglas asters on notice… They’re nice filler this year (it’s my first year with garden) but hopefully next year my other plants will start needing more room.
BaylisAscaris
Thousands of maple seedlings since the trees were particularly amorous this year.
saltysunglasses
I’ve been fighting a 4-year war against some really aggressive smilax (saw greenbriar). Birds love it, but it strangles everything it touches and my dogs kept catching themselves on the monster thorns as they ran along the fence. I think I finally got the main rhizome this year though! It was a 50-ish pound behemoth. Here’s hoping that my adventures with smilax going forward aren’t much more than small shoots popping up from the neighbors’ yards.
pricklycustard
Showy goldenrod, blue vervain, penstemon, rattlesnake master and Canada anemone all have to be pulled occasionally to keep them from taking over the world.
RoseGoldMagnolias
If I didn’t pull the volunteer goldenrod that comes from my neighbor’s side of the fence, I’d have nothing but goldenrod.
I have a bunch of aromatic aster I need to give away because it reseeds like crazy and I don’t have space for it. I started with five plugs and probably have 50 plants now.
unjustified_earwax
I’ve pulled some lyre-leaf sage [ saliva lyrata] out if my veggie garden beds & transferring them to pots to give away
PaththeGreat
Black raspberry, Rubus occidentalis
I love them, they’re always covered in insects, but if I didn’t actively control them, they would try to take my whole yard.
randtke
Digging up so many Greenbrier roots. I got two roots, each the size of my head from a grassy area which has been regularly mowed the last 5 years. It would put a vine up, get mowed, and then put a vine up, over and over all summer every summer. I guess it had a lot of reserves.
FernsMissingTeeth
Goldenrods and Lamb’s Quarters. Both are just everywhere and will obstruct other plants that I prefer. I left some goldenrods, but any Lamb’s Quarters I see, I pull. I just think they are a little too ugly.
voice_in_the_woods
I literally just came in from pulling Smilax vine form part of the border of my yard. It does its best to take over everything.
LokiLB
The eternal battle against the sweetgum seedlings continues.
GenesisNemesis17
I’ve had to cut back so much of my aster, goldenrod, and violets because otherwise it’ll take over my whole yard. Eventually when I get more organized I may start to dig and re-pot to give away to locals so I’m not just cutting it back and composting.
infinitemarshmallow
Snakeroot and boneset getting yoinked – I gave some boneset away but it’s overwhelming
Gem_Supernova
i let a devils beggarticks grow out of curiosity last year cause i liked how it looks
every single bed and half my plot has a bajillion sprouts this year. plus i was still finding the seeds in my dog’s coat like for a month or two into winter
crollaa
Relocating yarrow, oregon sunshine, candyflower, oregon oxalis. Straight up pulling Douglas astor and California poppy from places outside their intended space. This fall I’ll be able to dig up snowberry, thimbleberry, salmonberry, and Douglas spirea to trade or give away.
Everything else seems to be behaving so far this year.
nicolenotnikki
I’ve been relocating natives and rehoming ones I don’t have space for. Lately it’s been Henderson’s Checkermallow. Those guys make so many babies!
MurderousLemur
Pulled out maybe 100 evening primrose. Maybe another 200 to go. Don’t let them fuckers go to seed!
Punchasheep
Yeah, I’ve got native hog peanut vines that try to choke out my blueberry bushes every year. Sorry guys you’re just too aggressive!
DeathlessBliss
Violets and black eyed susan’s…they are absolutely everywhere.
lace-ruffles-pearls
Bellbinds (Calystegia sepium). Let it grow last year and am thoroughly regretting that. They spread by seed and by roots and now it’s growing everywhere. I’ve plucked buckets and buckets and there’s no end in sight. I’ll still let it grow up the fences and trees but I don’t want any in me borders.
Also wood avens (Geum urbanum). Just where I pass by a lot because the seeds are awful to get out of clothing.
And ivy. I love ivy but not when it’s growing on the ground where I originally planted some flowers.
39 Comments
I’m continuing to pull Canada goldenrod from my small suburban yard. It was popular with pollinators, but too aggressive. Working in a lot of stiff goldenrod and other plants instead.
I also pull the joe pye that spreads into my path and kid/dog area, as well as any spreading elderberry or sawtooth sunflower. Also my asters and browneyed susans are spreading by seed a little too much, so I’m pulling them in the area reserved for wild strawberry and violet and antennaria.
So yeah, native gardening involves pulling natives out too. What are you pulling?
100s of heart leaf aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium) seedlings and yearlings from my vegetable garden. Also penstemon digitalis, cup plant, figwort, wild bergamot crowding out less aggressives. Sorry, gotta go. That’s why it’s called native plant **gardening**
Giant ironweed and false sunflower are getting over-enthused here. I’m hesitant to give anything away because I do have jumping worms in my yard. I moved some last year but I’m out of full sun places for them, so some of them will have to go.
Quite a few partridge pea, some lance leaf coreopsis, some monarda. Just the usual suspects. I let them spread some places but not others. Super glad that they reseed as well as they do though! It’s a labor of love.
Violas in my garden beds. They are free to exist in the grass though
Tons! The ones that are already over represented in the ecosystem don’t need my help, so I don’t sweat it.
Milkweed is not going to choke out my mule ears and penstemons, so it is getting pulled. I still have plenty left.
I always have tons of rudbeckia fulgida (brown eyed Susan). I relocate some and give away plants to anyone who wants them.
I will always pull Evening Primrose if its within my beds. It’s fine out in the back acre but wants to be the only thing that grows in my beds.
I have a patch where new york fern grows out of control and blocks the path to my barn so I pull it and replant it in barren places. The area where it was planted used to be a huge patch of bloodroot but the area was disturbed due to a problem and the bloodroot has taken a while to rebound so there was a huge barren space for it to go crazy in. Now that the bloodroot is coming back I’m hoping it’ll compete enough to keep the fern at bay. Since the bloodroot is technically ephemeral it works well as it limits the fern in spring and then the fern is free to take over once it dies back in summer.
Canada goldenrod and cut leaf coneflower have become bullies and I’ve needed to start pulling them
As much as I love wild violets I’ve had to pull a good number of them recently. They’re trying to bully my baby seedlings in my new bed. I feel bad about it though. 😭💔
For the first time in six years I’m having to pull volunteers this year. So far just Canada goldenrod and American jumpseed, maybe some white avens. Bee balm is also taking over but those I might try to give away before I just kill them.
Already pulled some new england aster and common milkweed. Will probably also have to relocate some scarlet bee balm soon.
I treat Carolina Geranium, horsenettle and bindweed the same as any other non-native weed. I used to try to cut the horsenettle a little break, but it would always spread, and then if you don’t pull it early it’s so annoying to have to deal with the thorns.
I treat pokeweed the same as any other weed in my maintained area but there’s a little patch of 3 or 4 just on the other side of my back fence that I allow. It always spreads and then I just pull it if it starts to go out of bounds. Also there’s some random pokeweed all over from when I can’t get at the taproot and I’m lazy so I just cut it above ground whenever it gets more than 6 inches or so and starts to annoy me.
Viola gets semi-preferential treatment. I mostly pull it just like any other weed. But I also know that I’m not really ever going to stop it and that’s okay. It would be a crazy amount of work to try and dig out every tuber and there are worse plants in my yard. So I dig out big clumps in areas that bother me, and I just scrape smaller clumps in other areas knowing they will come back but just at least forcing them to regrow and keeping them under control. And then in a few areas I purposely treat it as beneficial and leave it to hopefully outcompete invasives.
I try to preserve yellow passionflower but it never works. I try to leave it so like maybe it will climb up a cane of maple viburnum and I don’t care about and then bloom and then I will cut it. But it doesn’t do that. It grows right into the middle, tangles up in everything, and starts becoming a problem before it ever flowers.
I pull Eastern Redbud out but I hate it. I love them, but I can’t have a tree like right up next to my house. But there is a spot in my yard where I WANT a Redbud. So I always try to carefully dig out little redbuds and replant them in that spot, but it never works.
I think pretty much every other native I treat as desirable. But even then I pull out tons of helianthus decapetalus, rudbeckia clumps, aster, monarda, phlox etc. every year. That’s just gardening. If you’re doing a good job– especially with natives– you’ll end up with too many/overcrowded plants. I’m not trying to get rid of anything, I know those plants will come back and I want them too. Just trying to keep things balanced and manageable.
I’ve been pulling white snakeroot. I want SOME white snakeroot, not a garden with only white snakeroot. I may have to do the same with the goldenrod.
Violets and mistflower everywhereeee
Cutleaf coneflower. I will be pulling it out forever.
Thimbleberry. It’s my first year creating a native garden and my thimbleberry was getting very aggressive and trying to take over the whole garden. Had to spend all afternoon digging it out, as it had grown roots that spread all throughout the garden bed, lol. Rookie mistake, haha.
Not yet. I’m putting my Douglas asters on notice… They’re nice filler this year (it’s my first year with garden) but hopefully next year my other plants will start needing more room.
Thousands of maple seedlings since the trees were particularly amorous this year.
I’ve been fighting a 4-year war against some really aggressive smilax (saw greenbriar). Birds love it, but it strangles everything it touches and my dogs kept catching themselves on the monster thorns as they ran along the fence. I think I finally got the main rhizome this year though! It was a 50-ish pound behemoth. Here’s hoping that my adventures with smilax going forward aren’t much more than small shoots popping up from the neighbors’ yards.
Showy goldenrod, blue vervain, penstemon, rattlesnake master and Canada anemone all have to be pulled occasionally to keep them from taking over the world.
If I didn’t pull the volunteer goldenrod that comes from my neighbor’s side of the fence, I’d have nothing but goldenrod.
I have a bunch of aromatic aster I need to give away because it reseeds like crazy and I don’t have space for it. I started with five plugs and probably have 50 plants now.
I’ve pulled some lyre-leaf sage [ saliva lyrata] out if my veggie garden beds & transferring them to pots to give away
Black raspberry, Rubus occidentalis
I love them, they’re always covered in insects, but if I didn’t actively control them, they would try to take my whole yard.
Digging up so many Greenbrier roots. I got two roots, each the size of my head from a grassy area which has been regularly mowed the last 5 years. It would put a vine up, get mowed, and then put a vine up, over and over all summer every summer. I guess it had a lot of reserves.
Goldenrods and Lamb’s Quarters. Both are just everywhere and will obstruct other plants that I prefer. I left some goldenrods, but any Lamb’s Quarters I see, I pull. I just think they are a little too ugly.
I literally just came in from pulling Smilax vine form part of the border of my yard. It does its best to take over everything.
The eternal battle against the sweetgum seedlings continues.
I’ve had to cut back so much of my aster, goldenrod, and violets because otherwise it’ll take over my whole yard. Eventually when I get more organized I may start to dig and re-pot to give away to locals so I’m not just cutting it back and composting.
Snakeroot and boneset getting yoinked – I gave some boneset away but it’s overwhelming
i let a devils beggarticks grow out of curiosity last year cause i liked how it looks
every single bed and half my plot has a bajillion sprouts this year. plus i was still finding the seeds in my dog’s coat like for a month or two into winter
Relocating yarrow, oregon sunshine, candyflower, oregon oxalis. Straight up pulling Douglas astor and California poppy from places outside their intended space. This fall I’ll be able to dig up snowberry, thimbleberry, salmonberry, and Douglas spirea to trade or give away.
Everything else seems to be behaving so far this year.
I’ve been relocating natives and rehoming ones I don’t have space for. Lately it’s been Henderson’s Checkermallow. Those guys make so many babies!
Pulled out maybe 100 evening primrose. Maybe another 200 to go. Don’t let them fuckers go to seed!
Yeah, I’ve got native hog peanut vines that try to choke out my blueberry bushes every year. Sorry guys you’re just too aggressive!
Violets and black eyed susan’s…they are absolutely everywhere.
Bellbinds (Calystegia sepium). Let it grow last year and am thoroughly regretting that. They spread by seed and by roots and now it’s growing everywhere. I’ve plucked buckets and buckets and there’s no end in sight. I’ll still let it grow up the fences and trees but I don’t want any in me borders.
Also wood avens (Geum urbanum). Just where I pass by a lot because the seeds are awful to get out of clothing.
And ivy. I love ivy but not when it’s growing on the ground where I originally planted some flowers.
Edit: Location is central europe.