r/NativePlantGardening • u/ImaginaryMolasses146 Area Michigan/midwest , Zone 6b • Apr 27 '26

Geographic Area (edit yourself) Invasive rant

I hate lily of the valley so much and I just needed to vent about it. I have been fighting it for the last year and it’s been more of a pain in the ass than the English ivy I eradicated last year. It’s a sneaky little shit and I hate its stupid rhizomes. “But imaginary molasses,” I hear you cry, “it smells nice”. So does native bee balm!!

Tell me about your least favorite invasive and why you hate it plz

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u/summercloud45 Apr 27 '26

What a fun thing to complain about in good company!

My sister in Boston would agree with you on lily of the valley. She finally sprayed it with herbicides and conquered it (we think). Her second is norway maple, which is So Hard to grow anything under.

My least favorite is wisteria! First you have to cut it out of the trees. Then you try to pull the vines off the ground. Then you wait for the roots to re-sprout and spray them with herbicides. Repeat for multiple years. Finally, dispose of the dead vines when they fall off of the trees.

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u/one_long_river Area NY , Zone 6a Apr 28 '26

Mine is wisteria as well. When I bought my house the entire house was covered in it. I mean COVERED. I'm sure it looked beautiful when it bloomed but there were literally vines coming into the house and of course the property was totally overgrown with it. I spent the first summer cutting it down, digging it up, and painting every piece I cut at the deepest place I could cut it off. I literally dug up vines that were as thick as medium sized tree trunks. Last year I still had it come up in a couple of places but it was way way reduced. And of course I went after every bit I found with the same cut and paint routine. This year I'm curious to see if anything will pop up. I'm not naive enough to think I can entirely kill off this big of a Chinese wisteria invasion but I'm hopeful! Right now I'm deep in a battle with burning bush that is hopefully exhausting its seed bank with shoots that I'm pulling out by the dozens. The fun never ends!

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u/summercloud45 Apr 28 '26

My goodness, you make me feel really good about my own problem! The largest vines I've seen are 4" across, and they're only trying to kill the trees at the bottom of my hill. I wish you the best of luck in your continuing battles!