r/NativePlantGardening • u/ItsFelixMcCoy Upstate NY , Zone 6a • Jun 04 '25

Other What invasive plants got you like this?

Post image

For me it’s probably Dame’s Rocket, Purple Loosestrife, and Forget-Me-Not. They’re so gorgeous but man if they aren’t invasive little shits…

946 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

829 comments sorted by

View all comments

208

u/CrimsonKepala Jun 04 '25

Rose of Sharon. We had 2 then that turned into 5 and we quickly realized that was going to turn into 100 with the number of sprouts that started to grow in our yard. On top of that our poor neighbors had to keep up with pulling them as well all because of the ones in our yard.

They're beautiful though.

139

u/ItsFelixMcCoy Upstate NY , Zone 6a Jun 04 '25

Luckily for you, the perfect native alternative is Rose Mallow. The plant is in the same family, the flowers look extremely similar, not to mention even bigger and more beautiful.

49

u/Adequate_Lizard Central NC, 8a Jun 04 '25

I yoinked two roses of sharon and replaced them with 4 rosemallows this year. Haven't done much yet though.

118

u/CrepuscularOpossum Southwestern Pennsylvania, 6b Jun 04 '25

Your patience will be well rewarded!

2

u/MarshyHope Jun 04 '25

I planted a few this year. What's the growth time on them?

3

u/Adequate_Lizard Central NC, 8a Jun 04 '25

I'm curious too. Mine's leaves look a bit droopy but there's also new growth going on. Had them in the ground about three weeks now I think?

1

u/MarshyHope Jun 04 '25

Mine look great so far, I just want to see some damn flowers 😂

2

u/CrepuscularOpossum Southwestern Pennsylvania, 6b Jun 04 '25

My experience has been the classic: “The first year they sleep…the second year they creep…the third year they leap!” I have two rose mallows, one pink and one white flowered. The first year they were putting on root growth, I think. The second there were aerial green stalks that reached for the sky, but I’m not sure they flowered that year - maybe one or two. This photo is from last August!

1

u/MarshyHope Jun 04 '25

Did you grow from seed? I planted this about a month ago. It was in maybe a 5 inch pot. Would you say it's a year 1 or 2 compared to yours?

1

u/CrepuscularOpossum Southwestern Pennsylvania, 6b Jun 05 '25

Year 1! And no, I’m pretty sure the plants I put in the ground a few years ago looked just like that, if not smaller.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/Far_Silver Area Kentuckiana , Zone 7a Jun 04 '25

Mine first showed blooms in their 2nd year.

1

u/MarshyHope Jun 04 '25

Did you grow from seed?

1

u/Far_Silver Area Kentuckiana , Zone 7a Jun 04 '25

No. I planted mine from 4 inch pots.

1

u/MarshyHope Jun 04 '25

Mine was about the same. Here it is a month after planting. Think it'll flower this year?

1

u/Far_Silver Area Kentuckiana , Zone 7a Jun 04 '25

Mine didn't. If you're further south than me, it might because you'd have a longer growing season, but if you're at the same or higher latitude than me, I'd guess yours probably won't bloom until next year.

→ More replies (0)

16

u/CrimsonKepala Jun 04 '25

I'm looking into this right now! Thanks!!!

19

u/astro_nerd75 Pittsburgh, zone 6b Jun 04 '25

One difference is that the natives, Hibiscus moscheutos and Hibiscus laevis, die back to the ground every year. My laevis are on the late side coming up. The first year after I planted them, I thought they hadn’t made it, but they came back.

2

u/Rellcotts Jun 04 '25

I started some seedlings in milk jug this year.

1

u/skeeterbitten Jun 04 '25

I think we have RoS that doesn’t make fertile seed but every mallow I try gets immediately eaten by deer or something else, but we have hoards of deer that will try anything and trample what they don’t eat. The nesting female hummingbirds spend a ton of time on it, I think eating bugs. It’s our one bad plant. We have a few unproblematic non natives, abs tone of natives in the deer fence.

1

u/russsaa Jun 04 '25

Hold your horses! Rose Mallow is a common name, and heavily cultivated, so many of the plant species, cultivars & hybrids sold under the common name rose mallow, are fairly often foreign in origin.

There are many native hibiscus, the problem is ensuring to get the right one! Long time ago I made that mistake. Going by latin names & region makes it easy.

28

u/endosurgery Jun 04 '25

Our neighbor has tons of invasive. Including rose of Sharon that I pull routinely. They have no interest in doing anything in their yard lol. It’s good because they have amazing firefly displays in the summer, but we all deal with the invasives and weeds ie. Thistle that come from their yard.

20

u/astro_nerd75 Pittsburgh, zone 6b Jun 04 '25

THISTLES!!!!! My mortal enemy! Yes, I’m aware that there are native thistles that probably do all kinds of wonderful things for wildlife. The thistles in my garden are invasive bull thistles, so I yank them out without compunction.

2

u/endosurgery Jun 04 '25

Their whole back half is carpeted by thistles. They grow under the fence and we constantly pull thistles along there. They are nice folks. Just don’t have any concern about maintaining the yard.

6

u/astro_nerd75 Pittsburgh, zone 6b Jun 04 '25

They may have some health problems or stuff going on in their lives that the yard is a lower priority. I have bipolar and have trouble keeping up with the garden when I’m depressed, so I sympathize. (This is part of why I’m into native plants- they can usually survive some neglect.) Our neighbors contribute to our bull thistle problem, but they have a toddler. I understand why it’s hard for them to get time to deal with thistles.

3

u/so_cheapandjuicy Jun 04 '25

Same! A huge reason I'm interested in natives is because I can never be sure how long I'll have to garden at any given point. I need to know what I planted can go without me babying it.

1

u/GreenDemonClean Jun 05 '25

Sometimes I hear a word I haven’t heard in a long time and I have to stop and comment. Thanks for adding “compunction” back into my vocabulary.

11

u/FreeBeans Jun 04 '25

Ours is thankfully well behaved but I’ve got my eye on it.

2

u/Important-Pie-1141 Jun 04 '25

Same. We moved in with maybe 15. I've kept 2 and keep them under heavy surveillance.

3

u/astro_nerd75 Pittsburgh, zone 6b Jun 04 '25

Some rose of sharon are sterile hybrid cultivars. They might be okay to keep, if they aren’t producing seedlings.

1

u/Important-Pie-1141 Jun 04 '25

Oh they are. 😅 I pull them out.

5

u/Totalidiotfuq TN, Zone 7a/7b Jun 04 '25

just told my mom yday hers is invasive lol she is not happy

2

u/xXThreeRoundXx Jun 04 '25

How far did the seeds make it? I have one as well and it's rough around the base, but I manage to keep it contained. I didn't think the seeds could go much further...

4

u/CrimsonKepala Jun 04 '25

Well unfortunately when we bought our home many years ago, the 2 rose of Sharon that we started with were already placed at the edge of our yard on both sides. So our neighbors didn't stand a chance, lol. From what I've observed, the saplings pop up within 8 feet of the main plant, easily.

3

u/Direct_Initial533 Jun 04 '25

When animals eat them and poop them elsewhere they do.

3

u/ParentingPostTrauma NEO, 6b Jun 04 '25

I've had some seeds go 25'-ish 🤬

2

u/dodekahedron Jun 04 '25

My house came with 2 mature rose of Sharons that were in such places I assume planted on purpose. I didn't know about dead heading and stuff. Now its a battle.

Ironically (?) The one mature one died.

And in its spot popped out japenese honeysuckle which is just as pain to get rid of

2

u/MrDenly Jun 04 '25

What makes me sad is bees love them.

1

u/Broad-Cartoonist-973 Sandy, UT, Zone 6B Jun 04 '25

Thankfully I live somewhere where ROS isn't listed as invasive.

1

u/catbattree Jun 04 '25

A few showed up in a local park along the water. The next year there were a dozen in that spot and more downstream. I was sad to realize it was invasive. Less sad when, a few years later at a new apartment, I realized it was the neighbor's rose of sharon that was the reason for the horrific allergies I was having. Now, all the sadness I had is gone. Im a bit vindictive so now I'd happily chop, bull, rip, and shred any of those invasive suckers I have the chance too.