On 29/07/2015 6:01 PM, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Fran Farmer wrote:
On 28/07/2015 8:08 PM, Jeff Layman wrote:
You've never come across Allium viminalis 'Hair', then. Should be
renamed Allium verminalis. Another appalling invasive plant whose seeds
get everywhere (I think they are more like small bulbils than seeds). If
you are offered it, my advice is to say "No"!
No, I've not come across that one but then now you mention it, I'd say
the same for Crocosmia. Nasty bush destroying ravagers they are. I
must look up that Allium as the nly time I've tried to grow the big
alliums, I managed to kill them. And they always look so lovely in
British gardneing magazines.
There are very few plants that are invasive except in a few conditions,
and even fewer that are seriously harmful. Crocosmia is invasive in
the West Country, but neither harmful there nor invasive over most of
the country. Allium christophii is invasive in my flower beds, but
only in the areas that have bare soil for half the year and full sun
for all of it - it doesn't even establish where there is permanent
ground cover or partial shade. And so on.
Most of the UK has an ecology made up entirely of recent invaders and
introductions, and is probably the most resilient in the world, which
is why all this blither about invasive land plants is just that (with
VERY few exceptions, mainly Japanese knotweed). Australia is different.
And, since a plant can be invasive in only one part of a small garden
and not others, talking about a plant being invasive in absolute terms
is misleading at best.
Although you clearly know of my location, I hadn't thought that any
other reader of this ng would have assumed from my mention of "bush
destroying" that I was referring to crocosmia grown in the UK.
Here, crocosmia is indeed an invasive plant. It's a declared noxious
weed (with a consequent legal obligation to destroy it on private land)
in very large parts of every State of Australia. Europe will fit within
the coastline of Australia so that reveals exactly how large a problem
this single garden escapee is here.
You can read about it here and although this is only a cite from one
State (Queensland), I can supply some for other States if you are
interested:
http://keyserver.lucidcentral.org/we...osmiiflora.htm