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Avoid Planting These Invasive Ground Covers In Your Yard
By CAITLIN CASTELAZ
Goutweed
Goutweed moves underground through rhizomes, allowing these plants to spread laterally without self-seeding. So, it can easily outcompete other plants in the garden.
If your garden has goutweed, you should use hand tools to dig the whole system up, but even then some pieces of rhizomes may be left behind. You’ll have to remove them repeatedly.
Ivy
Known for invading natural areas for over 300 years, ivy chokes out native plants and climbs trees, fences, and houses if allowed to spread, requiring frequent cutting back.
Removing ivy can require hours of hand-pulling, and since these plants contain irritants and chemicals that can cause rashes, you need to be careful and wear gloves.
Vinca Minor
In many states, conservation departments warn against planting vinca minor because it's invasive and can outcompete native plants when it creeps into natural areas.
Avoid planting it especially if you live near woodlands, streams, or other shaded areas where conditions are right for it to run wild. You can remove this weed by hand-pulling.
Liriope
Like goutweed, liriope spreads through its rhizomes. It has been found in natural areas, encroaching onto the turf of native plants to the point of eliminating them.
Its tendency to spread means that weeding is a way of life for those who grow it. Removing it may require digging to uproot the plant and repeating the process if needed.
Pachysandra
Pachysandra easily grows beyond the bounds of where it's planted, often escaping cultivation and encroaching onto natural areas. There, it can overrun native plants.
These plants also spread through rhizomes, growing dense foliage that chokes out native plants. To remove them, you'll have to pull them by hand or dig out their rhizomes entirely.