We have several varieties of Achillea in various spots around the gardens, but the two predominant ones are Achillea millefolium, one (very large) clump of white, as well as several smaller stands of (my favorite) the red variety. We do still have some of the upright yellow Achillea filipendulina, or Fernleaf Yarrow in the back garden, but I'm trying to discourage it, ahem, make it go away because it has crowded out more valuable plants, always falls down (no more staking for me, I've got better things to do!), and just generally has become an annoyance more than a good member of the garden. So ... if I don't just pull it this fall, I won't be sad if it doesn't show up again next year. If it were up to me, I'd banish it to the "cornfield," so to speak....However, the red and white do have their saving graces, even if they do have a tendency to want to take over their respective neighborhoods. The white variety is by far the most aggressive and if we don't divide our clump next year, we could be facing some serious loss of precious sunny garden space. Still, it has a lot going for it ... it requires virtually no attention, remains attractive through the hot months of summer and is really drought resistant. It attracts lots of bees and butterflies, and even has some herbal value ... I should be really in love with this plant, but curiously enough, I only tend to feel indifferent about it. Yes, it was a traded plant from several years ago, from a friend who gave us some really invasive stuff --some good, such as the phlox-- such as the Lysimachia I profiled back in (I think) July. I just find that it's a bit on the "weedy" side, and wish its red cousin would behave a bit more like it, because that's the one I'm really interested in seeing crawling out of odd spaces in the front boulder bed. It's starting to get there, but just not as quickly as the white has staked out its territory, so we'll just let it do its thing and advance slowly if that's what it wants. But should anyone passing by who mentions liking the white, I'll gladly send them home with a pot or two to get going in their gardens....
That was pretty long preamble to what I really wanted to do in this post, which was to throw out a general gardening query to readers: How many of you have plants/flowers in your garden that you sometimes wish you didn't ... whether they be invasive thugs, pretty rogues, or overly enthusiastic beauties? I've featured several of ours this summer, and I'm curious to hear what others' experiences have been like. So feel free to comment, rant away or generally share some of the more dubious "successes" that you have had in your garden.
In essence, as they say on the big dog blogs, consider this an open thread!
