Fifty years ago when Nancy and I had our house built on what was formerly farmland owned by Nancy’s grandmother, we installed some plants that are now considered invasive. 

We moved a burning bush, Euonymus alatus, from her mother’s house to ours and maybe a barberry of some sort from her grandmother’s. We purchased, planted and enjoyed the ornamental grass Miscanthus, which is now on Maine’s list of plants that are illegal to sell.

There is also an advisory list of invasive plants that are still legal to sell, but I wouldn’t want to buy them. 

Over the years and well before I began writing about gardening, we learned enough to avoid buying invasive plants. Nancy joined a garden club and passed the information on to me. And we removed the invasive species we had planted before we knew better.

That does not mean that our property has no invasive plants. A couple of weeks ago we expanded some gardens next to a wooded area on our property, and I spent more time in the woods.

I expected to find — and did find — several Norway maples. A neighbor to our east has three huge Norway maples, and we regularly pull tiny seedlings as weeds from our ornamental gardens. In the woods, I found several Norway maples that were 10 or more feet tall with trunks a couple of inches in diameter. I cut them down, but know they will sprout from the roots.

I also found three burning bush plants, which I was able to pull out by the roots, and several oriental bittersweet plants, also small enough to be pulled by the roots. The bittersweet roots are a bright orange, so they’re easy to identify even when they are small. I regularly find them when weeding both our ornamental and vegetable gardens.

The bright foliage is eye-catching, but burning bush is invasive and is no longer legal to sell in Maine. (Joe Phelan/Staff Photographer)

If you have a huge number of invasive shrubs and can’t pull out all the roots, it may be time to turn to chemicals — and that is usually Roundup, or glysophate. Check your town’s guidelines, because you may have to request a waiver to use it. Many people are totally opposed to the chemical, but for huge infestations, it is the only solution.

Keep in mind that although the makers of Roundup sell it in spray bottles, you don’t want those, and you don’t want to spray the stuff. Instead, buy Roundup concentrate. Cut the invasive plants you want to get rid of – bittersweet, multiflora, Norway maples or anything else — and use a paint brush to cover the cut of the trunk or stem that remains in the ground. The poison will be sucked down into the roots. That makes sure the poison goes only on the plants you want to kill.

GET READY FOR FALL

Now for the fun part. It’s time to get ready for fall planting. Typically, that means buying and planting spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils, tulips, hyacinths and others.

Daffodils in the garden. (Photo by Tom Atwell)

Many nonprofit groups, including Fedco and the Cape Elizabeth Garden Club, of which Nancy and I are members, have bulb sales beginning about this time of year. All of the local plant nurseries, including Skillins which sponsors this column, have a wide selection of flowering bulbs. The bulbs should be planted about six weeks before the ground freezes, which would be from mid-September through early November.

We plant bulbs throughout our gardens, in front of a lilac hedge, along the walkways and driveways where passersby are likely to see them, and even in the vegetable garden so you can cut them and bring them inside. Most bulbs want full sun, so avoid the north side of your house and under shade-producing trees and shrubs.

There are bulbs that thrive in the dappled sun of a forest floor, but they aren’t the typical ones. Look for ones like camassia, corydalis, fritillary and others. 

Don’t forget garlic, which should be planted at about the same time. Nancy uses garlic in flower arrangements as well as for cooking.

From The Garden is published in partnership with Eat Drink Lucky and sponsored by Skillins Greenhouses.