I have a small yard-so my invasives might be your 'spreads well' but here goes:

Artemisia 'silver mound'-looks pretty in the pot-floppy and nasty after a month or so-spreads like crazy too.

Common Orange Daylilies-foliage turns ugly not long after blooming-very invasive.

'Ribbon Grass'

Tall garden phlox-looks pretty in bloom but it spreads like crazy-choking out other plants. I have found volcano phlox to be much better behaved.

Columbine-looks good in flower-then ugly after that-also spreads like crazy. I finally pulled it all out. I would like to try the short, red native species I remember from my childhood-but that's about it.

Blackberry Lily-flowers are pretty-and the seeds are great for drying-but in a clump-the plant is not that attractive, and the flowers only last for a day each.

Trollius, Japanese Iris, Endless Summer Hydrangea (Water needs are just too high)

Blue Fescue-I like Blue Oat Grass much better

Helleborus 'Royal Heritage'-In 3 years-I have yet to see it flower

Euphorbia polychroma (Cushion Spurge) Spreads too much-and I don't really like the spring color-the acid yellow bracts give me the pip-I like Euphorbia dulcis 'Chameleon' (purplish leaves) much better.

Astrantia -started out red-now returns every year with a couple of dull, pinkish white flowers

Other plants:

Looking Glass Brunnera-expensive and fussy-died both times I tried it.

Others that failed to return: Knautia, Gallardia 'Oranges and Lemons', Irish Moss, Forget-Me-Nots, Japanese Anemone, Iceland Poppy, Scabiosa, some of the low growing sedums, Bugleweed, violets, violas, hardy mums, Oenothera (any), varigated Obediant Plant, Verbascum, Vinca 'Illumination'

I happen to like dwarf asters-even though they spread because I can throw out/give away the extras-and they replace 'hardy mums' for me-which I have never found to actually be hardy. The taller varieties I have (bluebird, wood's pink) haven't spread that much at all.

hahaha this is funny...

astillbe: both i have planted have died... too fussy

clematis: never bloomed yet; just brown leaves and skinny vines

i hope my oranges and lemons come back... my liatris just fizzled out this summer; and i hope my "miss manners" obedient plant comes back... and maybe, just maybe now that i know NOT to chop my hydrangeas down in fall they might flower next year. one flowered this year and it is beautiful but i have this huge bush right in front of it called i think centauria or something like that. 3/4 of the plants in my yard i inherited when we bought the house a year ago... so i am still muddling through what is what. my salvia that was already here looks "leggy" so can it be pruned or split and if so when, fall or spring? lol

Fanfare Gaillardia, tried it twice and it didn't make it through the winter either time. Echinacea Sunrise, didn't survive the winter, Echinacea Sunset, the petals stay rolled like quills, think it'll be coming out, orange ditch daylily, ok I didn't plant it I got it with the house. Creeping Jenny, Bishops Weed, both came with the house; I finally got rid of the Bishops Weed when the county did some road work and took out some trees and the Bishop's Weed with it. Don't know if I'll ever completely be rid of the Creeping Jenny. Buttercup, Buttered Popcorn is just as nasty and then there's snowdrop anemone, hmm didn't plant that one either. I'm sure with a little more thought I could come up with some more but those are a good start.

omgggggggggg i just love gaillardia and i have planted at least 5 varities this year because my moms is sooooooo beautiful.... i sure hope mine all come back because they are all doing so well...grrrrrrrrrrr!! but of the two foxgloves i planted last year only one came back but it is very hardy... i am also worried about my black knight butterfly bush. it is doing wonderful in its large pot but i am hearing that there is not much success with those. i think i will bury the pot for the winter next to the house and plant it in the ground next spring... will it have a better chance if its planted close to the house? i also planted a butterfly garden this spring that took all last winter to plan but its beautiful and i am waiting for the green wizard to bloom... but one plant for sure i wish i didnt plant cuz it just croaked is the blue sea holly.... i want that plant so much but it annoys me that it croaked after it grew so nicely in the beginning...

Goose neck loosestrife...I should have known better given its pedigree, I love the flowers but it is such a horrible bully. I don't usually regret the losses, that is just gardening, live and learn, I do regret my own stubborn streak when I plant something over and over again regardless of bad history, I should just accept that some things do not like the conditions of my particular garden.

Bee Balm! I planted it 2 years ago and it has taken over! It killed off most of my asiatic lilies and no matter how hard I try, the little buggers seem to pop up all over again!

Out of all I've planted one wicked, wicked, wicked plant comes to mind. That would be campanula glomerata. Pretty flower but it grows into this living breathing creature under the dirt spreading with it's long tentacles.

Lamb's ears! I planted it years ago, 10+ I think. It took over, so I ripped it out. And have been fighting the stuff ever since. Last year I thought I had succeeded! But nope, there it is again this year!

Anyone want some???

Jenny P

I had the same experience with Gooseneck Loosestrife. Roundup works.

Lily-Of-The-Valley is another pest I can't eradicate. Yes. the flowers are lovely and it does spread, but it looks bad by mid-July, and when it starts to travel under intended barriers... THREE years of selected Roundup has winded it, I think.

Shasta daisies reseed in a terrible way. Ten years after I removed it, I am still finding seedlings.

Violets (see Shasta Daisy). I got this from a 'swap.' I finally realized the reason someone wanted to unload this pretty brute. And to think I actually fertilized and watered them the first year!

Pink and white yarrows. A gift that keeps on giving, to you and your neighbors...

White clover... It began as a well-intended 'green manure' that now pops up everywhere. Attracts rabbits to the garden who then stay to eat other plants. What a disaster.

Columbine-looks good in flower-then ugly after that-also spreads like crazy.

I wish I had this problem with Columbine. Mine does look ugly when the worms get to it but after I cut it back it grows again and looks great.

and then there's snowdrop anemone

Thank you! I planted this (lost my tags...thanks to DH) and I couldn't remember what it was called. It spreads like crazy and is trying to smother my Coral Bells and Coreopsis. I wonder if pulling it will keep it in check...it's on my list of regrets!

I have some crazy maroon yarrow that wasn't a problem at my last place but here it's spreading like wildfire. Another huge regret there.

Purple pansies. What was I thinking? Their little faces are so cute when they first start popping up....but by late spring they are everywhere! Fortunately they pull up easily enough. I've been trying to transplant some into the shady backyard where I don't mind if they spread (though I suspect they won't do so as much as in the sun).

Kristy :)

After a while, you start to learn to watch for wandering tendencies in any new plant you get. I grew Oenothera speciosum for about half a season before it got the Round up treatment.

Many a gardener has discovered that cutting the bottom out of a mere 1 gallon pot won't stop anything. Two trick here: 1)of course you need a BIG DEEP pot - probably 5 gallons, 2)use heavy soil. Light soils encourage deep rooting, because drainage is good and airborne oxygen is not a limiting factor. Roots need oxygen to grow, and heavy soils limit its availability, because large air pockets are wanting. And the lack of oxygen increases the deeper you go.

Hmmmm...
How about 2 "Mock Orange" bushes I bought and lovingly grew from tiny little rooted twigs- Only to have them grow WAY too tall- not be the lively chartreuse foliage but a dull green- and worst of all- have NO scent- AND reseed like CRAZY!
Or the plum trees that send out new trees from their widely sprawling roots-
Or adenothora "Ladybells"- 'Arch Angel' Lamium, Lily of the Valley, Knautia that reseeds like crazy!!, obedient plant, chenodium, spiderwort, oregano, cherry bells, malvas, cranesbill, All of these are rampant thugs in my garden-
Some thugs I do like are Raspberry Wine Monarda as opposed to the native fistulosa, I do like hespiris and phlox paniculata- although I have learned to remove seed heads early- I do like ajuga- although I do have to remind it where it is to grow, I do like the tiger lilies- but the babies are just too much!
Any one else have trouble with raspberries red and black- amaranth- or poppies that seem to pop up all over the place? How about red currents?
I love the snowdrop anemone, and have yet to have it become a problem-
As far as those that I have given up on- just think of anything beautiful or unusual that requires moist soil- and I have pretty much been there and killed that- I have a bit of clay soil envy...
I find those that volunteer themselves such as Grapevines- virginia creeper, creeping charlie, asters, dayflowers, snake root, purse lawn, buckthorn, oaks, maples, elms, ash, boxelders, string of pearls, thistle and grasses tend to be the worst.
The most hopeful- but least impressive are many of the taller sedum and most artimesias that start out well- and by mid season are floppy and bedraggled looking-
I think I have given up on foxgloves as well- I have found very few that will come back after their first year- and then they just do not do well at all-
Although- I have not given up hope that I may find some primrose that may live and possibly thrive in my yard- even though I have killed more than I care to admit...

Oh yeah-I forgot about reseeding maple trees (boxelder in my case) and hackberry trees. The boxelder is being cut down this winter. I don't know a whole lot about Maples-but I am guessing that they are a better choice when you have a lawn and a lawnmower to keep the seedlings down-versus a garden situation.

I'm keeping the 2 large Hackberries. Hackberries are a bad choice for a city lot-weak branches and reseed like crazy-but the trucks are nice and straight, it's a native tree, and it would be too expensive/too much of a pain to cut them down at this point. With only a few exceptions, the previous occupant of my house seemed to have a penchant for anything invasive and/or inappropiate for a small lot.

Julie-you have a flowering mock orange-I'm jealous-the two I bought 3 years ago haven't done squat in the flowering department. I don't like the leaves either-so next spring I'm taking them out.

Before Ricecreek gardens moved-we talked to the owner about primroses-and she said she had varieties of primrose that were much hardier than the common ones you see at nurseries and big box stores. I didn't purchase any-so I can't say firsthand how well the Ricecreek garden ones hold up-but it might be worth a shot.

I wrestle with the poppy question too. I'm not sure the thrill of 2 or 3 days worth of orange poppy flowers is worth the two month mat of unattractive foliage. I find myself debating on whether or not to get rid them every year-but so far haven't decided to yank them out.

"Shasta daisies reseed in a terrible way. Ten years after I removed it, I am still finding seedlings."

I have only been trying for 8 years, it is driving me crazy. It came with the house.

Ribbon grass I can't get rid of it.

Any phlox that gets mildew.

It is interesting to read the lists and see some I love and others I wish would grow for me. Of course others I wouldn't have if given to me.

I also have knautia till I am nauseous, but love it and can't be parted from it. It reseeds in my grass and in other perennials. I have a naturalized prairie savanna area at the back of my propery along the river, we put Golden Alexanders there, they are now EVERYWHERE...Does anyone else have Sea Holly reseeding in everything? or Heliopsis?
Helen.

Malva, how could I forget that one? I had 'Zebrina' for a few years but realized I'd have a whole lot more if I didn't pull it out. That was many years ago. I tossed the plants into the compost pile. Big mistake! I still have Zebrinettes popping up now and then.

Not a perennial, but an hooligan annual is 'Grandma Ott' morning glory. A reseeder that is determined to stay. Guara is another, but that I don't mind. It is one of the few plants to tolerate hot, dry conditions, so I let it reseed in such a spot. But I showed it the Roundup bottle just let it know who's boss.

Interesting thread!

Snowdrop anemones are thugs.

malva zebrina also dreadful

lobelia syphilitica reseeds everywhere and isn't very pretty. It looks rough and weedy and I'm going to banish it to our alley.

I'll take some of the shasta daisy seedlings as I've put them in four years in a row and they've never once survived! I can't get siberian iris to thrive either and have put new ones in several years in a row.

Asters asters...

asters asters asters.... *GRIN*

Hey, I didn't plant them - the woman who started these gardens did that and you know what I think she should do with them?? *mutters something about asters again....* Actually, they are gorgeous when in bloom but they are EVERYWHERE!! I'm constantly weeding them out.
Oh yes, and white snakeroot and jewelweed. Violets *shrug* easy enough to deal with, I like them.

-Marie

p.s. Yes, I'm back from England - and wow are they damp there! I have some alpine garden pictures for you Rick. When I get stuff organized I'll email them to you :)
-m

Thanks Marie. Maybe you'd like to post them on the Alpine and Rock Garden forum. I don't know how you feel about pics on GW anymore, but that forum has been really dead since the "big change" with ivillage. I usually go to the other place.

"Purse lawn" - (Purslane) thanks for the chuckle, Julie. I really shouldn't be talking: I just found out a few days ago that "for all intensive purposes" isn't that at all! LOL I think I take the cake this time.

Cherry Bell Campanula. It pops up everywhere I didn't plant it.

I actually love malva zebrina (and mauritiana). It flowers continually till frost and gets up to about 4 feet high. I have received complements from people walking by about what a cool plant it is.

In general- I think I am much more tolerant of reseeders rather than plants that spread via under ground roots.

Laurampls
I will trade you some Shasta daisy seedlings for some of your
Snowdrop anemones I can't get them to grow. Looks like you are in Mpls so am I.

My NEVER AGAIN list includes: adenophora, snow on the mountain, lamb's ears, japanese artimesia. I think the "cherry bells" are pretty, but they came up everywhere so I yanked them!

I actually have had no trouble with a lot of the plants you all have chosen here. No prob with daisies, mock orange, astrantia, bee balm, astilbe, etc.

Have had absolutely NO luck with foxgloves, coreopsis "early sunrise" and "limerock ruby", or gaillardia "burgundy". My oriental poppies do well, but I, too am thinking they are not worth the trouble. I pulled my lady's mantle this year, with limited garden space I prefer "showier" plants. Some of you got my "Always Afternoon" daylilies because they were an off color in my soil, I am also pulling my "black eyed stella", and possibly a couple more, same reason as lady's mantle.

There are others I have difficulty growing, but this is all I can think of off the top of my head.

Linda

limerock ruby isn't hardy here. there were a lot of angry gardeners (myself included) who purchased what they thought were zone 4 plants only to find out next season (and no returning plants) that it had been reclassified as zone 6.

linda, do you have the red astrantia? does it actually stay red for you?

No, meeperx, I have a very pale pink astrantia. It's not particularly showy, I may trade it for something else at a swap, we'll see.

I know Rick had red astrantia last summer and it was beautiful. Not sure if it stayed red for him all season, tho. Maybe he'll pop in and give you some info on it.

Linda