What I grow , but others can’t get your hands on ….

Admitted some of the park gardeners knew mum ( and her hobby of gardening) They would have a good natter about plants etc so probably were aware of her sideline while looking the other way !!!!!

 

I'm bumping this thread because it seems appropriate rather than starting a new one. Someone in a post recently mentioned BUYING verbena bonariensis. I am currently finding this seeding all over my garden! So it's definitely one I grow, and should never need to buy again. Yet I have to admit to problems with Erigeron karvinskianus which is a weed locally - but not for me.
I also don't need to buy dierama (thuggish), gladiolus papilio (spreading madly), hesperantha coccinea (spreads AND flowers at all the wrong times).
Anyone else have plants that do insanely well for them?

 

Nigella damascena I bought seeds once years ago and every year I pull it out by the bucketful.
@CarolineL I know what you mean about Gladiolus papillo never bought and yet it reappears regularly.
Allium sphaerocephalon been trying to get rid of this for two decades.
Allium christophii I love this allium and it self seeds without being a thug.

 

Filipendula spreads by seeds around my garden, not the wild Meadowsweet but a different species, a cultivated one and less shrubby. There's no telling where it will come up.
Erigeron karvinskianus and V. bonariensis - can't grow them. V bonariensis always dies in the winter and never sets seeds. Erigeron karvinskianus just won't grow at all.

 

V. bonariensis doesn't easily seed here due to the climate. I occasionally get a few seedlings if they have the protection of another plant or similar. I've just pricked out and potted on some that had been in the soil mix of my raised beds, and was used for planting bulbs in pots. I've removed all the raised beds for a project, and there must have been some seed in the mix. The non winter and very hot/dry spring has meant they've managed to germinate and grow. The parent plants don't always survive [have to be right up against walls/fences] so I take cuttings to overwinter as back up. You could try that @Michael Hewett
I collected seed from the wild filipendula which grows all around here in damp verges/ditches. I now have quite a few plants - about to flower now.
Convallaria [lily of the valley] grows very easily here - in any site or aspect. I know wosme people find it difficult. The L. Pride saxifrage [S. urbium] is another one which grows anywhere and everywhere.

 

Verbena Bampton seeds freely here, much more than V. bonariensis. I'm still finding seedlings two years after removing it .

 

@Michael Hewett - I can send you thousands of seedlings - you're so near to me, perhaps my version will grow for you!

 

My most prolific self seeders are Datura Wrightii, Echium pininana and probably Physalis peruviana.

 

It seems to vary. A few years ago, I grew escholtzia, and they self seeded like mad but now only a few pop up. My cleome came back for a couple of years, but not any more. Instead I'm knee deep in nigella (and verbena!)

 

I had Eschscholzia self seeding for years, but its gone now, I guess conditions have changed, more shade probably.

 

Hi @Michael Hewett , how did the seeds do?

 

I'd put them somewhere and couldn't find them !
I did find them last week in a dish on a shelf, but it's too late for sowing now. I'll try them next year. I'm going to write in my diary where I've put them.

 

And there was me relying on you.

 

Least youl be able to tell Michael where he has put them , thats if you dont forget pete