This is a post I wrote a year ago but didn’t publish. I’ve made a few edits and additions and I am posting it now — I feel a little less at sea this year, but I’m sure the plants are still giggling behind my back.
I saw a social media post recently about Creeping Bellflower (Campanula rapunculoides) and ran outside in a panic to see whether the lovely purple spikes I had welcomed into the garden, knowing that they were sneaking in from the alley rather than invited guests, were INVASIVE!
Thank goodness, no! This gentleman from the University of Wisconsin went over Creeping Bellflower leaf-by-leaf to teach us how to identify it, and my plants are innocent! Well, mostly innocent, not a total thug! (“Never been indicted!” as a certain Chicago alderman used to brag. I believe he is now headed to prison.) It has spread in from the alley, into a couple of places in the backyard, and I do recall that Jason didn’t like them as much as I do, and would pull them out when he wanted to plant something else. But there are a lot of good plants in Chicago alleys — that’s a post for another time — and I’m keeping this one for now.
Let me tell you, however, how much some plants have taken advantage of Jason’s absence to sneak into all sorts of spots in the garden beds! Uvularia waltzed around a corner, jumped across the driveway, and over a border into the bed with the ostrich ferns. Mr. Golden Alexander is setting himself up anywhere he thinks he can get a foot in the door (or a root in the ground). About a third of the plants in the garden are taking advantage of the regular gardener’s absence to tiptoe around and visit each other, leap into each other’s beds, and have a good time.
The worst offender, by far, is Celadine Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum), looking so innocent and decorative above. This is partly my fault, as I am a soft touch when it comes to discipling wayward flowers. Jason noted a few years ago that Celandine Poppies can be quite a bully to smaller plants, but that taller and hardier plants (like wild geranium) can fight it off. I think I need to contain it to only certain beds, or it will take over everything. It even set itself up in a flower bed at the neighbor’s house this year — fortunately, they welcomed it. I did warn them about its promiscuity.
Another group of plants have vanished altogether. Well, some have just vanished and I regret to say, some were probably hollering at me to be saved from rabbits and thuggish plants, and I heard their cries too late. The flower bed above, with the ferns and poppies, for example, used to be full of bleeding hearts. Did they gradually just decline, or were they throttled by the Celandine Poppies? I’m not sure.
A few years ago, Jason planted Golden Groundsel in a blank spot at the back of the garden, with a direct sightline from where I sit on the sunporch. It bloomed gloriously and I loved it!! It vanished in 2022, but we didn’t have what it took to investigate. In 2023, I was watching for it, closely, I thought. This shot above is from May 11, 2021, so I knew when to be looking. I didn’t see it, and I asked Kasey, from Vivant, to take a look. She didn’t see it, and we made a plan to replant it for next year. Maybe it accidentally got pulled because it looks too much like certain weeds, or maybe it just failed to thrive.
Well. I went back later, and here’s what I found. Left photo, first day: leaves and buds right where they should be; next day, on the right, stumps!!!
Dang blasted rabbits!!! And probably the Groundsel was hollering for my attention the whole time, and I just didn’t know what to look for and got out the anti-rabbit powder too late. I got a bit of bloom out of it in 2024, but not like before.
Next up, we have the mystery of the Allium Caeruleum. Here they are in 2022, blooming along with the Allium Christophii. I remember planting the bulbs not long ago. Sigh, not a one in 2023. Did they die out? Did they get pulled as weeds because I didn’t know to tell someone they were there? Hard to imagine either of those possibilities completely wiping them out, but there you are. A garden mystery, one of many. We replanted for 2024, but they were not as glorious as they had been.
Meanwhile, the asters seem to have planted themselves all over the place, by ones and twos, poking up where they are not meant to be. On the other hand, I’m worried about where the goldenrod is — but maybe it’s there, and I just don’t see it.
I feel a bit like a substitute teacher. I now repent about how wicked we were to substitutes! Our favorite game was to make up new names. The whole class would solemnly swear that the kid in the front of the middle row was and always had been Tex. I can hear the flowers giggling behind my back: You jump over here, she won’t notice, and look, let’s all crowd into this bed and see what happens!
Wait, I don’t recall Monarda in this flower bed? And the Borage has moved to a new location, crossing the driveway. Jason was not a strict disciplinarian, and he knew that flowers needed to be grown in spots where they were happy, but he also knew how to keep them from completely running amok. He would not have fallen for the Tex gambit.
Even the pots on the patio, drat them, are getting into the act. Look at how these Impatiens are overwhelming the Caladium. The Caladium started out with plenty of space, and should have been just fine. But no, I turned my back, and one day I could hardly see where they were, under the Impatiens. I know we’ve always planted them together in the past; it was one of the tasks I generally did.
Let’s end with two slightly more upbeat happenings, from 2024. In the photo below, a number of alliums have decided to try out a new bed, without waiting to ask my permission. But they have chosen well, crossing both the driveway and the driveway border, and ending up in the central island bed in the front yard. Excellent placement, I should have thought of it myself!
And last but not least, a visit from a scarlet tanager, who stayed and posed very nicely while I fetched the camera. And who didn’t seem too horrified by the state of the water in the birdbath (I am getting better at keeping it refreshed, I promise!).
Does your garden sometimes pull tricks when you’re not watching? Do you feel like a substitute teacher in your own yard?
gardeninacity 
Maybe not a substitute teacher but a mother whose children and their friends are misbehaving when my back is turned 🙂 I tried to control my native plants in my old larger garden and they just did what they pleased. But nature has a way of making it all so pretty. And some plants just decide not to stay or they return after a year or two. Who can explain it. I used to find I had to get aggressive with some plants and take them out or seriously control them. And rabbits….so cute and yet….argh! You are doing very well for only being the substitute teacher for a year. A hard job I might add!
You are right that we can’t really control it all — either a classroom or a native garden. And you’re also right that it takes time to understand how to handle it! So many plants migrating to new places, and I need to figure out which ones to stop and which ones to encourage. I trust I’ll get there eventually.
Eek, I didn’t mean to reply as Jason. I am still figuring out WordPress!
Eek, I didn’t mean to post as Jason. I am still figuring out WordPress!
Some of what grows in the showier landscapes at work arrived by misbehaving and moving in from the neighborhood above. Most of it worked out nicely; campion, phlox, campanula, alyssum, fleabane, foxglove, money plant, etc. We moved some of it to better situations.
eventually, I will be clearer what was planted and what has planted itself. I recently found some spurge, and I was pretty sure it was brought in on the wind. But one of my friends tells me she collected seeds from it last year or the year before, so it’s been there a while.
I really enjoyed this post Judy, and not because your plants are misbehaving, but because I can relate so well to what you are going through! I have come to terms with the fact that one of my beds will never look as planned due mainly to mice excavations. I had some lovely Alliums too…. (Do mice or hares/rabbits eat Alliums? Gourmet taste!) I have a great app on my phone that identifies immediately what is friend or foe, but sometimes the weeds are just so pretty! By the way, I had to look up Uvularia and Wikipedia says it is ‘unobtrusive’…😉 Oh, and your bird is a real beauty – we have nothing as colourful as that in our part of the world.
I don’t think I have mice, or rather, I probably have mice, but they don’t disturb the garden. The rabbits are insufferable! Mostly, I blame birds for scattering seeds around, although it could be a false accusation. I am very tenderhearted, and if the weeds have pretty flowers on them, or otherwise are of interest, I hate the thought of pulling them. Though we do need to figure out whether they are native, invasive, etc.
Mother Nature always wins out in my beds. I attempt to corral my plants but usually lose the fight. The plants I lust after just disappear, and the ones I wish would slow down just move on at mock speed. I keep trying but already know who the winner is going to be. 🙂
Same here! This response made me giggle.
Me too
it’s helpful to hear that everyone is struggling with this! Somehow, I have the idea that the plants were better behaved when Jason was here, but probably not. He was just quicker at knowing which ones to pull and how to keep them in order.
Haven’t seen a scarlet tanager in years. So lucky it patiently waited for you to get the camera! I enjoy your writing style Judy, and descriptions of the wayward plants. I’m prone to allow plants to move around sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. Right now my meditation circle is completely ringed with self-seeded cleome. I wouldn’t have designed it this way but it’s standing up to our excessive summer temps this year so I decided to embrace them for now.
Thanks! The scarlet tanager has come once or twice a year for the last few years. Before that, nothing. I do like clone, it’s one of the annuals that sometimes fills holes in my garden, but not for the past few years. Rudbeckia triloba has planted itself everywhere this year, and now I need to decide which ones to pull and which to let go to seed. So far, I’m dithering.
GREAT POST! Everything looks AWESOME! It is odd how plants move around a bit.
Thanks! I love encouragement!
Yes! We have plants all over the garden that are misbehaving…. Ground cover plants are the worst!
I enjoyed your post Judy, and it will be a reminder to me as I watch out for the bullies!
I love your title “ain’t misbehaving” 💕💕
Thanks! I walked around the garden this morning and I’m not sure which plants are the worst right now – I’d probably say rudbeckia triloba because it blooms so brazenly. It has planted itself in several new locations. It’s like my granddaughter running around, Now I’m here! Now I’m there! Try to catch me!
I love that analogy…’substitute teacher in my yard’. I will have to remember that. It is amazing how some plants can and do sashay through the garden with their own intent. Golden Alexander is one of the more aggressive if not deadheaded in my garden just where I want them. Bleeding Heart doesn’t like my garden. I think it gets too hot and dry here even with watering. Those celedine poppies don’t like it here either. I sort of wish I had them to whine about.
Oh yes, Golden Alexander jumps all over the place. I do love Celandine Poppies, but they have no manners, they just barge in. The poppies shaded out some of my bleeding hearts. I will eventually get better about deadheading, but I keep worrying about winter interest!
I’ve been a substitute teacher ( a couple of days only before we moved west) and know what you mean. 🙂 Rouge plantings we have plenty of here, though with the annual droughts getting longer and hotter I am more inclined to see what grows well where, and let them be, if I can. Except the orange trumpet vines! I started them on an arbor near the garage 12 years ago. They grew slowly at first, but over the last 5 years have tried to crawl over to the garage roof. It is a continual battle getting up on the ladder and trimming it back.
Sounds like a bad boyfriend, very polite until they’ve wormed there way in. I have a couple plants like that, too.
The lower trumpet vine trunk is massive, and I shudder to think how deep the root system may be. It is too big to move it at this point. It is almost through its bloom cycle now and is still visited daily by hummingbirds.
I love the Celadine poppies backed by the ferns! (Not that I’ve much chance of growing either.) The shot of the scarlet tanager is fantastic.
https://krispgarden.blogspot.com/
Thanks! I do love the Celandine Poppies. It’s hard when you fall in love with flowers that you can’t grow!
I’ve been trying to find uvularia for years and nobody local has it. So I have not experienced its wayward habits, but it’s sure sweet, as is the bellflower. It’s always seemed to me that how plants move around the garden is a study in how water flows on your property (or maybe the prevailing wind, depending on the seed dispersal method). It is fun to see where things end up traveling on their own, isn’t it?
That scarlet tanager is so pretty! How nice of it to pose so charmingly.
I know we ordered the uvularia in the mail – possibly Prairie Nursery or Prairie Moon. Interesting to think about wind and water. I’ve secretly enjoyed when my plants move in with the neighbors. And this year I had a plant from the neighbors decide to join my crew.
Daunting! And you are certainly not alone.
I see now that it will take me several years to get up to speed, and even then the plants will have their own minds. I hope you’re well these days, nice to connect!
Yes, yes! So nice to hear from you.
I love that first photo: the goat the bench and the gargoyle. (I have two such gargoyles, Gus and Gordy). It’s not easy taking over the garden upkeep when you weren’t the original ‘conductor’. It will take time to figure it out and until it follow your lead and direction.
I’m very fond of gargoyles! I need to work with my granddaughter to name it!