My two biggest monsters are sweet potato vines and Little Ruby Alternanthera.

I thought I was going to be able to grow sweet potatoes here, but it turned out the vines were so aggressive that I had to keep cutting them back, thus, no potatoes. No matter what I do, they keep coming back up every year, so I just decided to eat the leaves and not worry about it. Evidently, it's going to be a perennial green for me.

I got one little clump of Little Ruby Alternanthera from a neighbor who was moving, and no matter what I do, I cannot get rid of it! I've pulled and dug and there are always little nodes left behind that starts the whole cycle over again.

I'm also not very happy with my crocosmia. It comes up in places where it isn't even planted. It's pretty, but I don't like "traveling" plants. It's another one that multiplies like a bunny rabbit. So I've turned it into a money maker by thinning it every year, potting them up and selling them.

A purple bougainvillea that I never should have planted. Wild Muscadine vines and a thorny vine, cat-spur?

I liked them once, but hate them now - coral vine and wedelia. Wedelia came with the house, but I planted the coral vine because I thought the flowers were so lovely (they are) and regret it every day.

Taro. I thought it would be fun to have a clump…hah,,,…it's everywhere now crowding out everything.

The worst plant, in the sense of undesirability, is the Mexican Flame vine. It wants to take over everything. I have tried to get rid of it for over ten years, but it just keeps coming back.

Another plant that has spread and is very difficult to remove is the Hamelia Patens or Firebush. It wants to take over everywhere also, but I like this plant since it is a favorite of Zebra Longwings and Sulfur butterflies and also hummingbirds.

Finally, a plant that spreads rapidly, but I really like is the Cuphea Schumannii. It is everblooming and a great favorite of hummingbirds.

Speaking of vines, at my old house, someone talked me into planting Black Eyed Susan vine, which almost killed my elderberry. My giant pipevine did strangle a beautiful pink hibiscus tree. I don't plant vines anywhere close to small trees anymore, and keep them trimmed away from other plants as well.

Dirtygardener, what kind of sweet potatoe did you plant? I'd love to plant some just for the greens. I'm not a tuber eating person.

I planted purple and just plain old orange ones from the store. You don't need any special kind to eat the greens. They all taste pretty much the same. What I do is cut the top off the potato I'm going to use, let the top dry for a day or so, and stick it into the ground, or you can go to the trouble of growing out the slips by putting the potato in a glass of water and letting them grow, them putting them into the ground. Works either way.

If you're just going to use them for leaves, you can put them into a container, because if you keep trimming the leaves, they don't grow tubers, or only grow small tubers where the vines touch the ground and root.

The greens are very mild, so I like to mix them with other, tangier greens like mustard.

I'd plant a Firebush or Cuphea Schumannii only somewhere where I wouldn't have to look at it. The flowers make me think of discarded cigarette filters.

Another monster I have are dune sunflowers. They can get 6' long or more on a trellis. Smaller when not given support. My neighbor doesn't like them because she considers them weeds that self seed too much. But I hate her lawn so we're even. lol

A house a few blocks away has a very ground hugging cultivar of dune sunflower that I absolutely love. I've never seen it sold anywhere.

RUNNING BAMBOO! They eventually smoother all the other aggressive monsters.

A lot of my plants grow too big but I keep them cut, sometimes at the expense of having less flowers.

I like to keep my garden orderly and neat, in the backyard the only things big are the avocado and mango trees.

We have some kind of bamboo that I've been pulling out of my flower beds since we moved in here. We will mow it, pull it, dig it etc It will disappear for a few months then pop back up in some random place. It could have come from miles away for all I know lol. I'm not poisoning everthing since we have a well. So the fight continues until we move.

Huge bananas, Mexican Petunias, Lizard's Tail- and Elephant Ears (the giant green wild kind)anywhere wet.

Spanish Needles- but I admit to letting them get out of hand because the butterflies adore them. I hate the seeds though.

What I hate the most is Stinging Nettles! Every spring they get into my flowerbeds and I end up stung when trying to weed!

My Blue Sky Vine is definitely a thug. Always pruning it to keep it out of nearby trees. It's gotten so large I"m afraid it may take down the iron fence it's on. Another is papyrus I have in large pots. I have to divide them regularly, which isn't easy, and cut out the dead stalks so they look neat.

Speaking of bamboo, I don't know if this is bamboo or bamboo grass, but some idiot planted it and it just takes over everything. It's very skinny, never gets any fatter. A few pics, one of a dead limb so you can see how the nodes look, one of the tallest patch and one showing how it spreads like Satan with an angel chasing him! I thought about trying to grow some of it in a pot, but it would have to be a really heavy duty pot, and every hole would have to be plugged so it couldn't escape. I don't think there is such a pot.

all this junk planted by older generation snow birds. I combat all the time. Macho Fern, a terrible beast, parsley fern ugh, Sansevieia awful, porterweed, and many bromeliads like Achemea chantii even. Outside of skunk weed or Brazilian pepper which aren't native these native smaliax green-brier thistles suck too. A final mention to virginia creeper, fig trees, and some little smelly vine with yellow flowers....when you touch it or pull it you will smell bad,

Mexican Petunia. It's like ground cancer. You can't get rid of it. Also my Morenga, it grows super fast and is very brittle. I don't suggest planting either of those. Also the Morenga roots stick up out of the ground. I had an aggressive Passion fruit, that's probably a good choice. Many people like the fruit too. Ours smelled just like Tang.

Mexican Petunia. Can't control it and weed wack it constantly. Keeps coming back all over. Passion Vine, took over my fence went up all my trees, a job to get rid of it.

Alamanda is a pretty shrub, vine but difficult to control. I planted it from a small cutting and its taken over my yard. Golden rod, planted it for the pollinators but it spread everywhere. I've cut it, dug it and it keeps coming back!

My most aggressive one is a passion vine, I was told it was a Maypop. It pops up all over my yard, and has since gone to the neighbors yard too. They even put a stand for it, because they loved the flower. Spanish Needles are in my grass, and they go everywhere. I sometimes leave some patches for the butterflies, but I hate the seeds. I don't mind the milkweed going all over the place, because I always need more milkweed for the Monarchs. They sometimes eat everything, and I have to go buy more. This is a picture of my passionvine. My mom would take the seedlings, and put them back to the mother plant, got very bushy.

Jane, what kind of allamanda? I've never thought of them as difficult to control.

Iley68, oh yes the native maypop can be extremely difficult to manage for some people. It suckers up everywhere. That was even the case as far north as NYC.

The native ipomea indica is another monstrous plant....which I plan to buy. I feel sorry for whoever buys my house after I'm gone. lol.

Can I say Royal Palm trees.... I just HATE THEM... their roots are HORRIBLE. They go out 50 feet and make a THICK dense mat chocking out other plants. I have the roots kill roses.... it took over my strawberry beds and they are RAISED.... I have DUG out the roots, down to 4 feet deep and within a growing season they are back..... HATE HATE HATE them.... can anybody tell I don't like Royal Palm trees!

Spanish Needles, Spanish Needles, Spanish Needles, technically I am AL but can see Florida. That said I like Spanish Needle/Nettle with the white flower because we have so many beneficial insects and it tastes pretty good. That said, there isn't a week where I don't pull it up. I have actually taken the mexican petunia growing out the yard and it comes out easy with a sharp nose and used it like liriopie as a hedge to hide and old ripraff border and you wouldn't believe the amount of bees/butterflies its INSANE.

Very aggressive, but very pretty, I'm tempted to plant it.

Bleeding Heart vine - Clerodendrum. It's awesome when blooming, attracts butterflies and hummingbirds, but in my yard it is the most invasive thing other than skunk vine. I am so sorry I ever brought it home. Yet I've talked to others who said it didn't behave that way in their yard. So it must depend on the soil and conditions. And in the Winter it freezes to the ground and you are left with pruning all that tangle of vines and getting rid of it. Yes, Mexican Petunias but I actually like them. When they are in a mass planting and all in bloom I just think they are beautiful, and again, butterflies and hummingbirds love them. Firecracker plant. I love it but I now only keep it in pots, again another one that attracts wildlife and it also looks awesome in mass plantings but make sure you really, really want it there if you put it in the ground because it will become a mass planting whether you want it to or not. Low growing Juniper - when it becomes diseased and you want to get rid of - good luck to you. I actually like the look of it as a mass planting/foundation type plant but in our soil it gets diseased and dies and man, let me tell you, the root system is awful when it spreads out. Never again, huge mistake, best leave that one to the Californians. Oh yeah, a long time ago when I was really extra ignorant, I planted an asparagus fern in the ground. Someone should have just horse-whipped me right then and there. Can't think of another one except for a lot of the natives, such as Greenbriar (Cat's Claw), stinging nettle - the one we have is also called "finger rot". Spanish Needles. And of course a non-native but all over the place is skunk vine or stink vine. It is everywhere. Actually when it blooms the flowers are lovely and I heard that was why it was brought here because people thought it made such lovely hanging baskets. They should have been horse-whipped! LOL!

I planted both of the Bleeding Heart vine, but they haven't really grown much, and don't seem to be aggressive here.

People seem to use the word invasive to mean all kinds of things from vigorous in there own little personal yards, to naturalizing in disturbed areas, to killing natives in functioning ecosystems. I only use the term for the latter.

Bleeding heart vine has been pretty behaved in my yard. It's stayed exactly where it was planted. I cut it back to a frame work of stems in late winter/early spring. Are some of you guys saying it actually pops up in different areas of your yard? I've never had that happen.

One plant that does do that for me is plumbago. That thing is constantly popping up everywhere from both underground stems and apparently seed. I had always thought in the past that it was sterile but it's definitely coming up from seed in my yard. My blue clock vine has also been coming up from seed as of late too which is a bit concerning. I've sent seedlings of it to people up north for trades.