Persicaria
I recently picked up a couple of persicaria at my local garden group plant swap. I did not get chance to find out who had brought them so don't know much about them including the variety. unfortunately the group has stopped meeting now until the autumn.
I was looking for plants for a shady spot and another member said that the persicaria would be ok. however since doing a little research I have discovered that may varieties can be very invasive. as I don't know the variety I am now wondering if I should plant them out at all. It looks like a bistorta with pale pink flowers and is already about 40 - 50 cm high in the pot.
Could anyone advise if this plant is easy to control by pulling out if necessary i.e. is it very deep rooted to difficult to eradicate if necessary. It is just that I have spent 13 years trying to control the ivy in my once neglected garden and there is still a large area under ground elder and yellow archangel so I don't want to add unduly to my list of rouges in the garden.
Any advise much appreciated.
Amanda
Posts
I haven't had much invasiveness from those I've got. I think a lot will depend on variety and how well your soil suits them. My soil is mostly quite dry, some persicaria have just faded away.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Persicaria bistorta in my garden does best in moist soil in sun or dappled shade and spreads slowly over time. I love it. The clump I have in a dryer spot seems more static.
I also have forms with finer spikes of deep red flowers which are also well behaved in full sun. I have the low, ground cover form persicaria affinis which makes a carpet and seems to prefer dry places. Then there are the spotted and V marked variegated forms for shade which I also love. Pesicarias are attractive and versatile plants and not thuggish.
Red Dragon is another good one if you don't suffer from very cold winters. Too cold for white flowered forms too.
Agree that Persicaria is not thuggish. I have the smaller and taller varieties in my garden - clay soil, in sun and in shade and all doing well.
I have two Persicarias. One (Golden Arrow) is well behaved, but the other (wallichii) produced new growth 18" away within a short time of planting, so I immediately dug it up and put it in a container, where it is doing well.
Pop it into a pot and keep an eye on it until you can be pretty sure which one you have. They are lovely but some are indeed thugs of the first order!
Many thanks for all the replies - I think I'll follow Bookertoo's advise, at least this year, and see how it behaves. from what I understand some are well behaved and some are somewhat rampant depending on the variety.
It does look a lovely plant so I am hoping it will be well behaved and bring some colour to my shady woodland garden.
Perhaps I will be able to find out who brought it to the plant swap and ask them how it behaves for them in the autumn.
Thanks all again.
Do tell how you get on, and which it appears to be? Love to hear follow up from folk.