Cleome will reseed but I've never found it to be particularly invasive. I suppose it could be invasive if you have it in very good soil and it gets lots of moisture, but mine is in minimally improved soil and we are moisture-challenged most years.

If you are concerned it will be invasive, just cut off the spent blooms before they set seed.

I love Cleome and am happy for each and every little self-sown seedling that I find. If they have self-sown too thickly, I dig them up and transplant them elsewhere.

As far as what is invasive, it depends on your soil type, your rainfall and other factors. The only truly invasive plant that I sort of wish I'd never planted has been pink evening primrose. Although lovely while in bloom, it did reseed everywhere.....in the pastures, in the driveway, in different flower beds from the one in which it was planted, in the veggie garden, etc. However, as she often does, Mother Nature took care of it for me. After the drought of 05-06, a lot of the pink evening primrose disappeared. Then, after the flooding rains of 07, more of it disappeared. Finally, after the drought here that began in August 07 and continues to this day, the rest of it has disappeared. I also think Verbena Bonariensis, which is one of my favorite flowers, and a favorite of the butterflies as well, can reseed too thickly, but it hasn't spread much beyond its' original bed unless I dug up seedlings and manually transplanted them elsewhere. There again, deadheading the spent blooms eliminates the prospect of widespread reseeding.

The invasive plants that give me trouble are the native ones and, since our property was once part of a farm that had reverted to native prairie, our main invasive plants are the horrible bermuda grass (hate it, hate it, hate it), Johnson Grass, crab grass, sand love grass, etc. Wild blackberries give me tons more trouble too than anything I've ever deliberately planted.

Mint is one plant that can be very invasive in good, moist soil but I get around that by planting it in poor, dry soil and that naturally controls its tendency to spread far and wide. Horseradish is another plant than can be invasive.

Is there some particular plant that you're worried might be invasive?

Dawn

Well, I planted liriope when I first moved to OK, (Okie, I actually AM from Minnesota), and I have some little runner that I -thought- was called vinca that's spreading quickly after just a few years. I yanked out what I could in the last few days. I have many flowers I've WS and am sooo excited to get them going.

Here's a challenge for you--I have a bed on the North side, right in front of the house. I plant annuals in the front, have a row of hostas and I need something with a little height in the back. The bed itself is probably only three feet deep but maybe 15 feet long. I'm thinking of planting cleome in the back. Any other suggestions? Some of the ladies sent me seeds from the WS forum, so I have many many options. Yaaaayyyy!

I have a poor man's sprinkler system in there, it'll get plenty of water.

I'm so glad it'll be nice today!

If it's shady enough for hostas, I think it is too shady for cleome.

I'm trying to think of some tall shady color plants....

hydrangeas do well on the north side.

There's more, I'll think more about it.....

Lisa

Amanda,

Four o'clocks are tall perennials and handle shade well. I have them in bloom every year from roughly May through the first freeze, and they have a lovely scent as well. I originally planted them under a pecan tree with hostas, but the deer ate the hostas so the four o'clocks are on their own.

Mine get 3' to 4' tall, and even taller if they are in full shade.....they are 4 o'clocks on steroids! In Fort Worth, in normal soil with morning sun and afternoon shade, they stayed about 30" to 40" tall. Here they are a little larger and bloom better.

If you want four o'clocks to plant behind your hostas, let me know. If you are going to come to the swap, I could bring you all you need/want.

Our four o'clocks bloom in shades of mainly pink and fuschia, but occasionally in white or yellow as well. I have some of them in our band of sandy soil under the pecan tree and, in that location, they reseed really well. They also reseed in the clay soil in the rest of the yard, but not as heavily as they do in sand. I pull up hundreds of them every year. (If I'd take the time to deadhead them after they bloom, I wouldn't get all the reseeders, but I do like having lots of them to transplant elsewhere and to share.)

I'll google and find and link a photo of a four o'clock so you can see what one looks like. Their blooms open in the afternoon (as implied by their name) and stay open until morning.

I am a little concerned that they might get a little taller than what you're looking for.

I love cleome but it doesn't bloom very well if it is not getting a lot of sun. I've had them bloom fairly well if they get morning sun and dappled shade midday followed by late afternoon sun, but I think your house would shade them too much for you to get as much bloom as you'd want. I consider cleome pretty much a full sun type flower more suited to the south or west side of a house.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Photo of Four O'Clocks

Like the 4 o'clocks, dawn. Looks like they come in white, too (that would work with the others I have planned for the bed).

I'll be sure to put the Cleomes in the sun.
I can't make it to the swap, bum-mer.

Dawn, How close are your 4 o'clocks planted. My mother always had them on the north side of the house and they were always pretty. I tried them in Lone Grove a few years ago and they were not the pretty bushes I had remembered. They bloomed but they were an ugly, spindle looking plant. The ones we had in my childhood were covered with leaves and blooms to the point you could barely see the stems. I have a flower bed that could sure use some height and some color behind the hosta in front of my house. It will probably get sun for about 2 hours mid-day. Does that sound like enough for them to thrive?

Sorry, If I am stealing a thread, but I had some of the same questions.

Amanda,

I got my seeds of the white ones from Select Seeds Antique Flowers--she had both a white variety and a packet called "Custard and Cream" that has both white and yellow ones, and maybe some bicolor ones as well. She doesn't have "Custard and Cream" this year. I think she dropped it when she added a couple of new four o'clocks.

Carol, Since mine reseed at will under the pecan tree, they probably are closer than they should be since I seldom go under the tree and thin them out. I just let them grow and slug it out for space and they form a huge headge. When I plant them someplace on purpose, though, I plant them about 3' apart. Mine are thick and bushy and full, even in the shade of the pecan tree, and do have so many flowers that you can hardy see the foliage. The aroma is marvelous. If you're coming to the swap, I can bring you some.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Select Seed Antique Flowers website

Thanks Dawn. I am not sure yet about the swap, but I have some sprouts of 4 o'clocks right now. After reading your post I have changed my mind about where I was going to plant them. I was shocked at how fast they germinated, so I hope I can keep them going until time to put in the ground. Since yours reseed so easily, that gives me hope. I can probably put them out early.

Carol,

I have them all over the place right now--everything from emerged perennial ones 4 to 6 inches tall to new sprouts an inch or so tall. Sometimes very cold weather freezes the sprouts down to the ground, but they resprout. Once you get them started, they're hard to kill! I hope yours do well. I guess I really need to save some seed to share this fall. Mine get absolutely no care or attention whatsoever and they give us months and months of gorgeous flowers.

Dawn