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| This perennial was in our garden when we moved. It grows over 6 feet tall, red stalks, sprays of white flowers which give dark purple berries. It self seeds a little (so far!)I've been unable to find it anywhere! Does anyone know what it is?
a href="http://s1138.photobucket.com/albums/n524/annbrodie/?action=view ¤t=unknownperennial2.jpg" target="_blank"> 
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Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by coolplantsguy z6 Ontario (My Page) on Tue, Sep 6, 11 at 14:06
| Phytolacca americana, aka Pokeweed. Can spread. |
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| THANK YOU!!! It's been driving me crazy. As I wrote, it's seeded just a little around the garden, I've pulled them out. Would you keep the parent plant if it was your garden? We inherited it when we moved in last year. It's an interesting structural plant, but I don't need any more pests ... I have my hands full with BILLIONS of mulberry seedlings and rabbits who eat everything (with the exception of mulberry seedlings). Brodie |
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- Posted by gardenweed_z6a 5b/6a N CT (My Page) on Tue, Sep 6, 11 at 15:43
| While it's native, it's also prolific. Birds eat the berries, p**p the seeds and spread it everywhere. If you don't want it, yank it out. Chances are another will come up in its place. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Control of Common Pokeweed
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- Posted by finchelover 5b-6 (My Page) on Tue, Sep 6, 11 at 18:46
| My husband made me pull ours out he said they are poisonous to horses etc. |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Tue, Sep 6, 11 at 20:15
| its the most invasive plant in my yard.. poisonous in all phases.. leaf.. root.. berry ... EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE SEEDS WILL SPROUT ... and will be carried all over your neighborhood... the root is slightly less aggressive than horseraddish.. unless you are willing to dig two feet down.. and get every piece.. it will keep coming back .. check out the link i suggest you cut it to the ground and apply 100% roundup to the cut ... get rid of it.. before the seeds fall or are taken by the birds and other vermin ken ps: and dont give me this.. if you cook it right.. you can eat the roots .. |
Here is a link that might be useful: link
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| Brodie, do yourself and your neighborhood a big favor and destroy your Poke weed. Birds will carry the seeds far and wide. |
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| You all present a pretty compelling case. I guess I'll dig it out, even though it's dramatic to look at and attracts birds especially cardinals! I think they'll make do pretty well with the mulberries. Thanks! Brodie |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Wed, Sep 7, 11 at 16:50
| Easily killed by a pot of boiling water if you want it gone. If you like this native plant, you can keep it. It's your plant, your yard. But if you have kids or pets in your yard, it's probably not a good idea. Not just poisonous to horses, but to people and pets also. The sprouts are extremely easy to pull and make great fodder for the compost pile. |
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| I have tried to grow it twice here in Denmark, but it died both times. It obviously can't tolerate snowfree winters and puddles from thawing snow. |
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| So - nobody's tempted to grow variegated pokeweed? I recall Allen Lacy having something nice to say about the ordinary green-leafed form of Phytolacca americana in his book on the fall garden, though he also noted that turning over the soil in his garden resulted in pokeweed sprouting from seed that probably had been lying dormant there since the American Revolution. A couple years ago a single volunteer sprouted in a front garden bed here and I let it grow on to enjoy the berries (which do not actually leap off the plant and poison the entire neighborhood). It did not self-sow. |
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- Posted by linda_schreiber z5/6 MI (My Page) on Wed, Sep 7, 11 at 20:14
| I agree. It's a really bad neighbor.... Spent much of a summer doing nothing but trying to dig these up. Didn't work. Similar to ken, I now cut them back to about 2 inches above ground, and then hack them with a knife, through the middle, at least with a cross-cut, if not three, depending on size. And then drizzle roundup. For the really large ones, a piece of rerod stuck down through the pith, and then circled around some, leaves a good cavity for pouring in the round-up. There will still be sprouts that come up in the vicinity of the plant, from the side roots. Zap them, too. And, Ken, the 'food' references on this one come from the fact that the earliest sprouts of this plant in the spring can be eaten, when cooked. And in areas and times when *any* fresh edible in spring is gold, they were worth it. When the plant is more than a sprout, it becomes less and less edible. And the roots aren't. Doesn't mean we want it growing, and spreading by seed and by root, in our gardens. |
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| The poop of the birds eating the berries is the same colour as the berries, and can make a real mess if it hits your laundry. |
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