By Terry Rector

Some gardeners grew up learning which pretty flower plants not to plant because they would take over. Some of us had to learn the hard way; by dealing with species we later regretted planting.

Pretty as it is, Mexican petunia has surprised many a novice with its spreading roots and generously-sprouting seeds. I learned a lesson with Black-eyed Susan vine. It looked nice that first year. Then I fought it for years as seeds came up everywhere, including in the smallest cracks in nearby concrete.

Mexican petunia and Black-eyed Susan vine can work for gardeners with plans to keep them where they are wanted or permission to take over.

I have some spreading plants I certainly wouldn’t call invasive. Seeds aren’t a problem and they don’t send runners way out there. But the clumps gets larger and can become problematic in small areas over time. They produce clones of themselves by self-layering.

The term “layering” refers to a method of rooting plants by forcing limb nodes to stay in contact with soil for a whole growing season. Grandma layered azaleas with bricks. Self-layering plants naturally put out roots at nodes without any help from us, even where not wanted by us.

Believe me when I say the antique climbing rose variety Alberic Barbier is a self-layering plant.  It is a tough, no-spray great fence rose. But it cannot be called low-maintenance. It rapidly grows new canes and the maintenance is keeping those from touching the ground for a season.  Otherwise, I’m convinced there would be Alberic Barbier all the way to the blacktop.

I obviously planted two lantana plants too close in some years back. Every summer they send pink-mixed-with-orange blooms up the fence, through the fence, onto the patio, along the driveway and into a covered area reserved for the grill. These lantanas self-layer and should have been planted somewhere further out where they could be mowed around.

The Winter Jasmine sprouts a friend passed along years ago grew nicely between large oaks along wooded edges. They bloom even before the early spring bloomers, in February usually. And the now large jasmines look like they belong there because they are a native species. They can’t crowd out the trees, but other plants I set out in the same area have disappeared beneath the jasmines’ evergreen foliage as they self-layered and spread out.

One other pass along self-layering plant I chose to deal with is the Chestnut Rose. I stayed ahead on this one and did not foolishly plant it in the rose garden with other roses. It was planted way out back, along the tall deer-denial fence.  Absolutely low maintenance, this one also needs to be where it can be mowed around, all the way around because it wants to annually self-layer offspring from its ground-touching nodes.

I’m about to dig or pull up the lantanas.  Sprouts of the jasmine and Chestnut Rose are there for the digging and cuttings from the climbing rose will root for anybody anywhere.  They need a home.

Terry Rector is spokesman for the Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District.