I'm turning over a new leaf here at Tiger Gardens, so to speak. In an effort to reduce maintenance and plan for the long term longevity of my garden I have embarked upon a quest to remove invasives from my garden, starting with the burning bush (Euonymous alata). It really is a beautiful shrub and I've always enjoyed it in the garden but after finding hundreds of tiny seedlings under the bush I decided weeding out those seedlings every year was not for long term solution for me.
Can you blame me? Just look at this mess! I took action immediately and turned my old burning bush into a bowling ball shrub! Like the color? Green matches everything:)
The burning bush is no more, now we have a 'Bowling Ball' sculpture in the garden. In front of the location of where the burning bush used to be I have planted a cleyera. Cleyera are evergreen shrubs that grow large in a short period of time. I have a whole row of these in this location so as to provide a buffer between the road and my garden. It will take some patience but the cleyera will quickly grow in and replace that invasive burning bush.Other invasives I have removed just this spring include: Common nandina (too many seedlings), golden euonymous (spreads by runners), vinca (spreads by runners), sweet autumn clematis (seedlings and difficulty in cutting away the old vine), and the bananas. I just can't see leaving these prolific and rampant plants in the garden for me to have to weed and prune in order to maintain order here. One day I might not be here to maintain the order then the title of this blog might be "In the Garden Run Amok" and I can't have that. Mainly though I wanted to reduce my maintenance and work in the garden so the invasives had to get....
out of the garden....
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,
In the Garden
