@Sandra A Gunnera is an amazing plant in the right place. I cannot imagine Paxton's rock garden at Chatsworth without it. I guess he knew all about it spreading it's roots have always looked to be confined. Is there a small form of it? Perhaps I made that up?
GardenerSuze, I was trained and worked as an environmental officer a few decades ago. The true kind, the one that takes samples and check developments under different scenarios. I am against these type of attitudes because it comes under the assumption that it will be invasive everywhere, no matter types of soil, temperature throughout the year or conditions. We find Gunnera manicata in gardens that have been there for centuries, and never caused any issue. But the landscape is changing like never before due to climate change. The UK is getting warmer and today, foreigner species, either animal or vegetal, are adapted and reproducing. Sooner, the landscape as we knew, will no longer exist. But this is a process that started several decades ago, and the threat will not come from a species like Gunnera. It will come from animal species that will decimate the endemic ones, which, in turn, provided a contribution to other endemic populations and to vegetation. If a species like this is out of control, somewhere, is due to poor husbandry and that is the concern to be addressed. It is exactly why the prohibition to bring in foreign animals and plants failed. There will be aways someone ready to pay a fortune, not caring for the impact and not even knowing how to deal with them, when adults. If the government wishes to intervene, maybe it should start by going back to schools and teach young people about misusing resources and caring for living things.
The wife and I were discussing this last night and whilst we support the control of invasive species the complete double standards of DEFRA and lack of consistent policy is astounding.
Thugs rampage across our countryside, baiting badgers, killing foxes, spraying insecticides & herbicides, releasing pheasants in their millions...and nothing is done.
Water companies pollute our waterways to such an extent that nearly every river and beach in the country is dangerously polluted at one time or another...and nothing is done.
I can wander down to my garden centre and buy Portuguese laurel, crocosmia, bamboo, fuschia, rhododendron ponticum, Japanese honeysuckle, molinia (native I know but highly damaging in the wrong place)- and countless other plants that are arguably worse...and nothing is done.
DEFRA once again bringing a teacup to douse the flames of the bonfire that is our compromised environment.
DEFRA once again bringing a teacup to douse the flames of the bonfire that is our compromised environment.
I entirely agree. We have a govt running regulation that hates having regulations. And so we have rivers, oceans, air, food, health and woodlands trashed. They just shrug and say it's a dog eat dog world. It's the central paradox (read: pointlessness) of having a group that celebrates the "bonfire of regulations" setting regulations (their phrase).
We have a large stand of Gunnera nearby, in a small NT garden. It's been there for decades - I've lived/worked in this area for around 30 years, and it was there when I first moved here. If it was really invasive, it would be in plenty of gardens nearby, but it isn't. I can only assume the climate and conditions don't suit it well enough to spread easily.
Meanwhile, that horrible thug - Carex pendula, is everywhere - along verges and in those nearby gardens....
We now have skunk cabbage all along a burn which runs along the back of the NT garden, through the neighbouring field, and under the main road, en route to the River Cart, and eventually into the Clyde. I presume it's escaped from the garden, as the only other adjacent dwellings are the lodges/gatehouses for the garden.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
@thevictorian Himalayan balsam is a shallow-rooted annual which spreads readily by seeds, which shoot out over a wide area. But it's easy to pull up and compost, though getting rid of a big stand of it along a canal, for instance, takes a considerable effort. Gunnera, however, is perennial, and as @Fire says, can re-grow from a tiny bit of root left in the soil, as well as from seed. It's not invasive everywhere in Britain and Ireland, since it needs mild winters and a damp climate to thrive, but banning it only where it's currently a problem wouldn't be possible - and climate change might well affect its spread, anyway. And the only practicable way to eradicate it is by using herbicide...
I meant gunnera is easier to deal with than himalayan balsam because it can take a few years before it grows to flowering size and if you attempt to remove it, then it would take another number of years before its regrown to flower. Himalayan balsam on the other hand, I believe, can have hundreds (just googled, 700 plus) of seeds and it doesn't take much effort to miss a plant.
It will be available for sale for many years to come I bet. I don't know when it is supposedly banned, if that was from yesterday or if it's like other recent bans where (and this is the crazy thing about these bans) it will still be available until the nurseries sell out. We saw this with water hyacinth in the aquatics trade which was banned when we were still in Europe because it could overwinter in warmer climates, I believe this ban has since been reversed as it was with apple snails but you could buy the plant for a year after the ban was announced. I have seen many long banned plants like skunk cabbage and parrots feather (the true banned type not the legel close relatives) freely available on ebay and they have absolutely no interest in removing the listing when this is pointed out.
Perhaps they have seen great problems in Ireland and beyond and move to block it now in England before the problem gets terrible. It certainly makes sense to act fast before the situation is irretrievable, as it is now with so many invasives about which so little can be done.
Darmera may be what you are thinking of, @Ergates, I grow it.
I think it was Rheum I’d seen near the Gunnera in the garden centre. I really fancied the Gunnera, but the plants were quite big and correspondingly expensive, and the Rheum looked like a cheaper alternative. I have a biggish area of bog garden, probably caused by underground springs, and I thought a big leafed plant would look good there. I will keep a look out for the Darmera, sounds pretty.
Darmera may be what you are thinking of, @Ergates, I grow it.
e. I have a biggish area of bog garden, probably caused by underground springs, and I thought a big leafed plant would look good there. I will keep a look out for the Darmera, sounds pretty.
I love Darmera peltata. Very popular in Scotland. Flowers in spring with pink flowers and no leaves. Later the leaves grow. Loves moist, wet ground. In autumn leaves turn a super red.
I grow Darmera too and that definitely can spread, though by runners rather than seed. I like mine but have to cut it back regularly or it would take over completely. Though so would many other things, such as flag iris, persicarias, cotoneasters and dogwoods, to name just a few that love my frequently very wet garden!
Posts
Meanwhile, that horrible thug - Carex pendula, is everywhere - along verges and in those nearby gardens....
We now have skunk cabbage all along a burn which runs along the back of the NT garden, through the neighbouring field, and under the main road, en route to the River Cart, and eventually into the Clyde. I presume it's escaped from the garden, as the only other adjacent dwellings are the lodges/gatehouses for the garden.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I meant gunnera is easier to deal with than himalayan balsam because it can take a few years before it grows to flowering size and if you attempt to remove it, then it would take another number of years before its regrown to flower. Himalayan balsam on the other hand, I believe, can have hundreds (just googled, 700 plus) of seeds and it doesn't take much effort to miss a plant.
It will be available for sale for many years to come I bet. I don't know when it is supposedly banned, if that was from yesterday or if it's like other recent bans where (and this is the crazy thing about these bans) it will still be available until the nurseries sell out. We saw this with water hyacinth in the aquatics trade which was banned when we were still in Europe because it could overwinter in warmer climates, I believe this ban has since been reversed as it was with apple snails but you could buy the plant for a year after the ban was announced. I have seen many long banned plants like skunk cabbage and parrots feather (the true banned type not the legel close relatives) freely available on ebay and they have absolutely no interest in removing the listing when this is pointed out.
Flowers in spring with pink flowers and no leaves.
Later the leaves grow.
Loves moist, wet ground.
In autumn leaves turn a super red.
More pics..see link.
https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=11713966@N02&sort=date-taken-desc&text=darmera peltata&view_all=1
That doesn't mean to say don't grow it but it needs space.