"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 2012-07-02 11:22:21 +0100, "Kate Morgan"
said:



"Martin Brown" wrote in message
...

On 02/07/2012 08:11, Kate Morgan wrote:
A neighbour said to me that I should get rid of the stuff growing on the
stone walls at the front of our old house. The stuff she was referring
to is Valerian, I love it and look forward to it every year. I have the
three colours and yes it seed`s freely - perhaps that is what she
meant - but it looks delightful, in my opinion :-)

kate

You do have to dead head it to prevent massive numbers of nuisance
volunteer plants springing up everywhere. It is almost as prolific a
wind borne seed generator as dandelions. I grow it deliberately to
encourage butterflies and hummingbird hawk moths in the sunshine.

It looks nice at the base of a hedge or on otherwise inhospitable spots.
It will grow almost anywhere including in the mortar of garden walls and
the strong thick roots can damage them. Arguably it is a weed because it
is so vigorous but the flowers and nectar are worth it at least in a
cottage garden. It would be a menace in a small garden.



yes indeed Martin, I do dead head it in the hope of keeping it growing
longer. It has been growing on the front of the house for many many years
and only one person has ever moaned about it, like you say Sacha if it
grows she - fussy neighbour - has to cut it down, always complaining
about
our trees, anyone want to buy a house with trees and Valerian :-)


kate

We don't get it in the garden but it's in many walls near us, not ours,
unfortunately. I can't stand over-tidy gardens but when their owners try
to impose their pernickety habits on other people, it's a hanging
offence!!
--

I don't like a neighbour to decide what I might like to grow. I had some
conifers taken down at the front of the house last year and the stumps
ground out to leave a nice little border between the house next door.
I'd not decided what to grow there, so I weeded it and there were some nice
self-seeded opium poppies growing into big plants. I like them. Suddenly
they fell ill. Yellowing tops and in a couple of weeks they were dead as
was anything else that popped it's head up there.
My neighbour works as a gardener for an educational establishment and he
glyphosates his own garden to death with "stuff from work."
Circumstantial evidence, but I know he dunnit. I was going to sow some
annuals there. I am reluctant to challenge him about it, as he has quite a
temper so I will probably have to put up a small fence to remind him that
the border is mine.

Tina