There are a variety of methods gardeners utilize to border their flower beds, and all of them are delightful. Some might use bricks or stones, especially in states with a great deal of shiny, white quartz rock available. Some gardeners, and many landscapers, prefer to use natural borders such as liriope and ornamental grass.
Such bordering grasses require consistent monitoring and upkeep in order to prevent them from taking over the entire garden bed. Without a dutiful gardener present, some forms of this plant can take over a whole lawn. This might not be such a problem when it comes to the lawn, as it lessens the need for mowing, but it can be a serious problem if it takes over flower or vegetable beds.
There is more than one species of this flowering border plant. One, L. Spicata, is also known by the names creeping lily-turf and monkey-grass, is a runner. It is this particular species that is known for its invasiveness because it will create a thick ground cover if left to its own devices for the season.
It is the potential for it to take over large areas that makes it potentially harmful to local plant species. This is especially true when it comes to destroying indigenous grasses. When an indigenous species gets crowded out of an area, the entire landscape can be forever altered, impacting other living things.
A foreign species can find its way to our shores as easily as hitching a ride in the grooves on the bottom of a pair of shoes. Many plants, and even some animals have been moved from one part of the Globe to another in this manner. Some are brought over intentionally for the purpose of landscaping.
Kudzu is a perfect example of how an intentionally introduced foreign plant created an ecological disaster here in North America. Originally it was brought from China BECAUSE it is invasive, and therefore they felt that it would be easily cultivated. They had hoped to feed it to livestock here in the States, but it turned out that animals detest the flavor.
The one good use they did find for this plant was preventing weed encroachment from the railroad lines. This is why one can see fields of the stuff emanating out from the train stations and rails. Keeping it controlled in other areas has proven to be a nearly impossible task.
Because it has literally hundreds of pounds of roots in every small patch, no human can really dig it up. Burning it is only a temporary solution, and one would wish to avoid doing that when the season is extremely dry. Bulldozing an area to around ten feet deep then discarding the dirt, or scorching it free of all life forms, is the only method of eradication which has shown promise.
Hopefully we humans have learned our lesson about moving plants from one part of the world to another. What is a well-controlled succulent in one country can become an out-of-control, seed-tossing, watery nightmare in another. Many of the plants that the Native Americans lived on are now believed to be extinct due to plants like kudzu and L. Spicata.
Such bordering grasses require consistent monitoring and upkeep in order to prevent them from taking over the entire garden bed. Without a dutiful gardener present, some forms of this plant can take over a whole lawn. This might not be such a problem when it comes to the lawn, as it lessens the need for mowing, but it can be a serious problem if it takes over flower or vegetable beds.
There is more than one species of this flowering border plant. One, L. Spicata, is also known by the names creeping lily-turf and monkey-grass, is a runner. It is this particular species that is known for its invasiveness because it will create a thick ground cover if left to its own devices for the season.
It is the potential for it to take over large areas that makes it potentially harmful to local plant species. This is especially true when it comes to destroying indigenous grasses. When an indigenous species gets crowded out of an area, the entire landscape can be forever altered, impacting other living things.
A foreign species can find its way to our shores as easily as hitching a ride in the grooves on the bottom of a pair of shoes. Many plants, and even some animals have been moved from one part of the Globe to another in this manner. Some are brought over intentionally for the purpose of landscaping.
Kudzu is a perfect example of how an intentionally introduced foreign plant created an ecological disaster here in North America. Originally it was brought from China BECAUSE it is invasive, and therefore they felt that it would be easily cultivated. They had hoped to feed it to livestock here in the States, but it turned out that animals detest the flavor.
The one good use they did find for this plant was preventing weed encroachment from the railroad lines. This is why one can see fields of the stuff emanating out from the train stations and rails. Keeping it controlled in other areas has proven to be a nearly impossible task.
Because it has literally hundreds of pounds of roots in every small patch, no human can really dig it up. Burning it is only a temporary solution, and one would wish to avoid doing that when the season is extremely dry. Bulldozing an area to around ten feet deep then discarding the dirt, or scorching it free of all life forms, is the only method of eradication which has shown promise.
Hopefully we humans have learned our lesson about moving plants from one part of the world to another. What is a well-controlled succulent in one country can become an out-of-control, seed-tossing, watery nightmare in another. Many of the plants that the Native Americans lived on are now believed to be extinct due to plants like kudzu and L. Spicata.
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