Now's the best time to get rid of the invasive plants in your yard and garden

So, I was reading "The Brother Gardeners" by Andrea Wulf the other day, a great book for plant geeks like me and you. It is about the brotherhood of plantsmen in the 1700s and how plants from the American colonies became all the rage in Britain, thanks to the efforts of an American nurseryman from Philadelphia named John Bartram. Eventually, the traffic of plants flowed in two directions, with Bartram introducing to America a bunch of English plants.

Much to my surprise, the book describes one day when Bartram noticed that yellow toadflax, Linaria vulgaris, "(a) much beloved flower in Britain" that had been sent to him, was now invading his landscape. Uh, oh, he thought. I know the feeling, and if you know what toadflax looks like, you do too.

This led to a bit of research. Linaria vulgaris is native to Eurasia. All signs point to the fact that it is not native to any place in North America, including Alaska. How many years after Bartram saw his escaping in Philadelphia did it take to arrive on the shores of our great state? I am not sure, but once it arrived, it took off.

I mention this because the stuff is up already in our gardens. It is not in flower, but in a month or so, it surely will be, ready to go to seed and continue its march into anyplace it already isn't. This is, to me, the very definition of an invasive weed. Look at some of the local names it has garnered as it spread around the world: brideweed, butter and eggs, bread and butter, bunny mouths, dead men's bones, devil's flax, devil's flower, dragon bushes, eggs and bacon, eggs and butter, false flax, gallwort, impudent lawyer, lion's mouth, rabbit flower, rancid, wild snapdragon, wild tobacco and yellow rod, among others.

You can't do anything about equisetum, but you can stop toadflax from flowering and at least slow, if not prevent, the spread of this plant. Look it up on the computer, check out its lazy leaf form and get them all off your property as you go about your chores.

There are a couple of other plants you should be pulling, in my opinion, as well. One, Centaurea montana, is called giant bachelor flower hereabouts. It looks great the first year a neighbor or friend gives you some, but it spreads like fire and the second and third years the large plants start to crowd out others. It is easy to pull and the root system is not extensive.

Next on my list are Oriental poppy plants, Papaver orientale. Well, I don't want to get rid of all of them, but gee whiz, these things spread over the years. They are really easy to dig and you could plant them elsewhere, as long as you remember that they will proliferate and probably need cleaning up in the new spot in a few years. I suppose that some of the other poppies spread a bit too and may need cleaning.

Campanula glomerata is another one of those plants that seemed like a pretty little thing worthy of a spot in the perennial garden. Oh, what a mistake that was! Now is the time to go after yours, as every day they develop more roots and get closer to flowering. What a spreader. Awful. I will cover it with  6 to 10 inches of mulch and see if that works. Nothing else has.

A handful of other, similar plants really should be totally eradicated from the Alaska scene. Everyone has at least one of these lurking in the yard — surely butter and eggs, and if not Campanula glomerata, something else that is taking over. You get the point. Now do something about it while you still can.

I like to think that the great plant collector John Bartram got right down on his knees and took care of his Linaria vulgaris once he figured out that it was not a great plant for  the American yard. I would like to think we are all going to do the same thing with our soon-to-flower linarias and those other plant invaders.

Jeff’s Alaska Garden Calendar

Alaska Botanical Garden Gala: Thursday, June 15, 6-8:30 p.m. This is a must-attend evening in the garden. It is a fundraiser, but it's also a great fun-raiser. Lots of art for sale, music, food, beer, wine and all manner of great gardening Alaskans. Join us! Tickets required. For more information, call 907-770-3692, ext. 0.