I have limited experience but looked back on RMG and see Skybird commenting on the ease of growing Jupiter's Beard. Here was my experience and in thinking back on the winter weather, it must have been in '95, several years before I showed up on GardenWeb.

I was happy that first year with the plants. There were quite a few and I must have given them a good start in my backyard greenhouse. They bloomed, weren't everything I'd hoped for, but I liked them.

The reason I think it was '95 was that it was -25°f by mid-December. Perhaps because of the age of the plants or because it was very cold or because of a fairly early onslaught of cold weather without much snow cover, the plants all died! They certainly had no chance to spread.

I may be overestimating the winter cold in Denver and Colorado Springs but I wonder if that loss to the cold isn't the common fate there for Jupiter's Beard.

You waited quite awhile for a response. This is not much of one but was my experience.

Steve

Jupiter's Beard spreads quite freely by seed; Russian Sage spreads by both seed and from its extensive root system. Both of these plants - as you have discovered, Kristie, do well here in Colorado as they are drought tolerant once established in addition to being relatively pest and disease-free; they don't seem to have a problem with alkaline clay soil, either.

Here is some info about controlling Russian Sage: Russian Sage Sprouts Seems as if they are advocating the use of herbicides as the best method of getting rid of the Russian Sage. Your choice, of course, but I would do is just remove the sprouts as they show up. I prefer not to use herbicides, though sometimes I am tempted to take the easy way out when I am overwhelmed by the mess that some areas of my garden have become! "Just nuke it and start over," I think to myself. Thus far I have resisted doing anything of the sort - I pretend that I will never give in to the weed, lol.

In my yard, for whatever reason, my Russian Sage struggles and has not really spread at all. I think I am grateful for that! The Jupiter's Beard, however, does go wild and reseeds all over the place. Unlike Steve's experience with it, the winters we have had here in the Denver metro area since I planted the plants - quite a few years ago now - don't phase it at all; it comes back reliably every spring, along with lots of not-necessarily-wanted new seedlings. The plant is rated for hardiness Zones 4-9.

I have both the red (Ceranthus ruber/Red Valerian) and the white (Ceranthus ruber 'Albus') versions of this plant and though the white cultivar seems worse, both can get out of hand. I just pull the seedlings out where I don't want them to be. Despite its bad behavior, I like Jupiter's Beard, as do the bees and butterflies, so it will remain in my garden, just hopefully not take it over!

We all seem to manage to bring something invasive into our yards and gardens, or have it introduced by seed from the neighborhood. My problems are Quack Grass and Creeping Campanula (Campanula rapunculoides;) I would take the Jupiter's Beard over either of those nasty, nasty plants any day! (Not sure about the Russian Sage, of course, because it seems to be under control in my garden - I will definitely keep an eye on it though!)

Good luck, Kristie!

Holly

I was warned to promptly deadhead to cut down on the Jupiter's Beard self seeding from the nursery when I bought some a couple weeks ago. Wasn't given any advise on the Russian Sage.

Pot them up and share them! That's what I did with my extraneous Jupiter's beard aka Valerian. I never started Russian sage because I always thought it was just simply too large for my small garden.

I do not like Russian sage... I did a landscaping job in a yard that was riddled with it and the smell was so strong with my face constantly buried in it for 8 hours a day that it gave me a headache and made me slightly nauseous. Now I can't stand it. It is a nice looking plant, but I (probably) won't ever plant it, just can't get over the smell.

I am also concerned about it's invasiveness. I am not sure that we wont find that it has escaped the confines of our yards and becomes an officially listed weed at some point in the future... I could be wrong, but it's one of those ones that simply does "too well" here for me not to go "hmmm..."

Agastaches on the other hand I love. They are VERY well behaved. They don't sucker, don't substantially seed themselves (and even if they did, I would consider it a "gift" lol), and quite the opposite of make me nauseous, I have even tried tasting them the smell so good (It was anticlimactic, kind of like the scented chapstick.)

Lots of salvias that might fit the bill, too, or lavender! It does seed around more than agastache, but it also does not sucker. I love lavender. But, if you otherwise enjoy your Russian sage, then I suppose the extra work it takes to keep it in line would just be a labor of love.

You crack me up Zach! "anticlimactic like scented chapstick" That's magic!

Thanks for the comments. I think the Russian Sage is just annoying. But I do like it when I keep it compact and tidy. I pulled up the Jupiter's Beard sprouts. I'm sure it will pop up again and maybe I will pot it up and give it to my sister. I will be more careful deadheading trimming. I think I just tend to let them go and maybe I shouldn't be afraid to trim them during bloom.

I have Russian Sage, Kristie. I did not know about it's suckering nature when I bought a couple several years ago at end of the season from Walmart - just knew that I loved the look of the plant, which I'd seen on many roadside plantings, and that it was xeric. Fast forward to now, and I have two plants that get very large if not cut back at the beginning of the season (I leave them uncut over winter for some interest), and have many sprouts that come up!

But I still love them! The scent can be strong, but I do resist the urge to have my nose in them for too long - otherwise, I'd be more on Zach's opinion! LOL. In small doses, I find the minty sage scent lovely (the dry stems smell good, too, when added to a camp fire). And I love that the bees LOVE the flowers! Many times, they are just covered in bees and they could care less if I'm standing close by. Great for attracting the pollinators to the garden!

But back to the suckering!! Yea, I do not like that part about them. I find pulling or breaking them off when they are very small helps. But I also dig them up, too. I have transplanted some to other parts of my yard (actually, I now don't care for where I originally planted them, but the plant sure seems to! I tried to dig up the mature plant, but found the main root was too far down and never could get it out! So I keep it cut way down now in spring so it doesn't get as large over the summer. Eventually, I may hack it down once I get the other plantings taking off). And I've brought some of the babies to swaps (might not get any takers after everyone reads this thread, though! LOL). I have not used chemicals on the suckers (although I do use chemicals on some weed areas). As long as it's not too close to the main plant, that might work well.

I have found that I've ended up with many plants in my yard that have an invasive nature (mint, lambs ear, blue spruce sedum, quince, etc.). On one hand, it's nice to always have an abundance of plants. Just have to always remember the importance of keeping an eye on them and nip 'em in the bud, as they say, before they get out of hand!

Marj

Jupiter's Beard: The mature plants that I have allowed to thrive are just starting to bloom, reminding me as to why I allow the plants to live, but I now have the urge to run outside to pull up all of the Jupiter Beard seedlings I can find, and maybe take out the "keeper" plants as well. I don't need another crazy-invasive plant in my yard. And I think I am happy that my Russian Sage struggled, too; don't see any signs of it this spring, I think it has finally given up.

I love lavender and Agastache; highly recommend both. I haven't been able to find a place in my yard yet where I can make Agastache happy - so far I am just very good at killing it - but Lavender does very nicely here, looks and smells wonderful, and has always been very well behaved.

Holly