11 Plants Gardeners Would Never Put in Their Yards Again

This vivid, sword-leaved perennial produces striking orange, red, or yellow trumpet-shaped flowers, but its aggressive spread via underground corms and stolons can quickly turn it from a garden showstopper into a takeover artist. “It took off in a garden bed, marched down a slope, and jumped a border of crossties to keep going!” says Lucy, a Master Gardener. And to add insult to injury, it then refused to bloom, leaving her with nothing but a tangle of leaves.

Lucy also learned a hard lesson with obedient plant (Physostegia virginiana). “I should have listened when the gardener who shared it with me called it ‘disobedient plant,'” she laughs. While it is aggressive, she notes it is at least easy to pull up when it gets out of bounds. And come late summer, all is usually forgiven when those beautiful pink spires finally bloom.

Angie, a home gardener, was drawn to mountain mint for all the right reasons: it’s a native plant and a pollinator magnet. But what she didn’t bargain for was how aggressively it would try to take over her entire garden.

Bee balm lured Angie in as well with equally good credentials: native, pollinator-friendly, a favorite of hummingbirds, and wonderfully fragrant. Both times, however, the plants fell victim to horrible powdery mildew, despite being planted in a sunny, well-aerated spot. “I regret this one the most because I love it so much, but it breaks my heart every time. And still, I keep wanting another one!”

“Oh my gosh, Mexican petunia,” says Michelle from @Everyday Gardening Tips on Instagram. With its vivid purple blooms and willowy stems, Mexican petunia is an eye-catching perennial that thrives in heat and humidity. But don’t let its delicate appearance fool you: it is a quick spreader that somehow rises back from the dead every season. “I’ve dug it up and trashed it every year, and it somehow reappears.

Claudia of Claudia Grows It All learned the hard way that spiderwort’s delicate appearance is deceiving. This native wildflower, with its grass-like leaves and vivid blue-purple blooms, spread aggressively through her garden, choking out everything around it. “I have been fighting a losing battle with it for more than years, and if I’m being honest, I am losing.”

Claudia also found herself at odds with black-eyed Susan, the cheerful yellow daisy-like perennial beloved by pollinators. Though a garden staple, it proved just as thuggish as its counterparts, spreading to places she never intended and overwhelming everything in its path.

Robbie of Visit Our Garden admits that a bargain plant turned into a years-long headache. “I planted this stunning plant seven years ago because I got it for $1,” he says. It took only two years to discover just how invasive and destructive variegated Japanese knotweed can be. “I’m still getting pieces that pop up in that spot.”

Robbie also has regrets about verbena bonariensis. He ignored the warnings from fellow gardeners who told him he would have it forever and urged him to take it out. Now, years later, he is still pulling seedlings.