Why is it allowed for garden centres/nurseries to sell highly invasive plants?

[marigoldflower]

I've been to reputable garden centres (mainly in London) and I've seen that they sell plants like Kalanchoe Mother of Millions or Tillansia Zerographica (air plant)

Why is this allowed?

I try to be meticulous when buying plants as I unknowingly purchased an invasive plant in the past, though thankfully I managed to get rid of it before it took hold

I've also seen the damage air plants can do to pine trees (in a whole neighbourhood) for instance, and they are virtually impossible to eradicate. They can grow on phone lines, lamp posts, etc

So I was quite shocked when I saw this

Crikey, this isn't an AIBU!

It was interesting to see that The Royal Parks recently removed a load of Rhododendrons from some of the gardens in Bushy Park as they were not natural and taking over too much.

The one good thing about balsam is that if you can volunteer somewhere as a 'basher', it allows you to brandish a weapon something like a cutlass and stomp firmly on its fallen remains whilst gleefully calling 'die alien scum'. It's quite therapeutic.

Bamboo! The bloody stuff drove me mad in a rental house some years ago. I was just growing my green fingers and it kept cropping up and ruining my plans.

In the end it was me that moved into my own ouse and - presumably - that bamboo is still running the show. In the meantime I watch next door's bamboo with great suspicion (but think it's actually the clumping kind).

Some states in USA ban buddleia!

I have a nice white sterile variety in my garden.

Confused my neighbours who tried to kill it even though it is on my side of my fence. (They ended up killing other plants instead so I told them not to touch the fence I put up. )

In some parts of the US blackcurrants are also banned

I’ve got a branch of buddleia that has come under the fence from next door. I don’t mind that as much as the bindweed that keeps getting through too

I'm pretty sure my buddleia is sterile, it's been in place for a couple of decades without propagating itself.
I can't imagine a garden without one, it's wonderful covered in butterflies and smells lovely too. Wtf wouldn't garden centres sell them?

TastyTicklemore
Yep, the bamboo ruins the garden. Hate the way it gets up and under all my established shrubs, right through the roots! I know deep down I've got no chance but I keep on trying!

Oh god, bindweed
Comes through from one of my neighbours constantly.
I have to be on ninja-watch with it or it takes over.
He's a nice chap but doesn't do the garden at all & grows it as a climber against our fence, all along the full length, front to back. I keep thinking I might offer to 'help' him with the garden & go round and dig it out like an overexcited mole. It throttles everything.

@Physnicall

Houttuynia cortada Horrendously awful stuff. It has rhizomes so very difficult to kill and it absolutely stinks.

Yes, I’ve made the mistake of planting this. I recently pulled a lot out and will attack the roots in winter. However, I did think it smelt of oranges.

@PattyPan

I agree, I bought a non-invasive variety of cotoneaster and was surprised to see they were selling invasive ones too with a disclaimer!

Also PSA please don’t plant horseradish directly in the ground, it is a nightmare.

I found this out the hard way. I have some in a pot as my previous house only had a back yard, no garden at all. One year I went to move the pot only to discover the root had gone through the bottom, & dig into the bricks as I’d neglected to replace the pot saucer last time I’d moved it. Roots like fat white worms under the pot. I chopped them off & thought nothing more of it. A couple of months later I moved the pot again to weed & discovered that some of the “weeds” were in fact horseradish, growing back. I tried several herbicides, completely blocking out all daylight, & then I just started repeatedly pouring boiling water over the bricks, I did everything I could think of. It took over 2 years to eradicate the bastard & I was worried I’d lose part of my deposit as it was starting to push up the bricks, but it eventually died. I assume the ants took what was left as the bricks sank back down!

They say mint is a nightmare to contain but in my experience, oregano & rocket are demons if you let them go to seed. Fertile little bastards. My mother was cursing me for years after I left home, she hates rocket! Although in my defence, it is a traditional/native English salad…

They often do put warnings on plants, but do it subtly.

Good ground cover

Vigorous

Spreading habit

Self seeding

If you see those on plant label double check in a gardening book!

Ivy flowers late summer/ winter providing nectar when there are few other flowers.

They often do put warnings on plants, but do it subtly

Even a simple Red/Amber/Green system with a few categories could work and is better than nothing

If you see those on plant label double check in a gardening book

Yes, I've learnt my lesson and never buy plants on an impulse now. I go home and do some research first

One year I went to move the pot only to discover the root had gone through the bottom, & dig into the bricks

Oh dear!

Self seeding

Poppies and love-in-the-mist do eventually stop sprouting up....

Until you disturb the soil.

@PickAChew

Ivy is an arsehole. Completely impossible to remove without an inferno.

Absolute arsehole. I know I'll be battling it my whole life in this bloody garden!!

@RedMarauder

Self seeding

Poppies and love-in-the-mist do eventually stop sprouting up....

Until you disturb the soil.

I love the occasional poppy, and they're easy enough to get rid of if they're really in the wrong place. Just a shame they don't like being transplanted.

Well this thread has probably saved me from a horseradish nightmare. (Was thinking about sticking it in a pot and sticking it on paved driveway as a 'safe option'. Clearly not!)

@RedToothBrush

Well this thread has probably saved me from a horseradish nightmare. (Was thinking about sticking it in a pot and sticking it on paved driveway as a 'safe option'. Clearly not!)

my parents have their horseradish in a builder's bucket 'planted' in the veg patch. if they want some they pull it out and cut off a chunk and put it back.

Maybe if you have it in a pot and then stand that on a slab on the driveway, you can see if it makes a bid to escape?

@ErrolTheDragon

Maybe if you have it in a pot and then stand that on a slab on the driveway, you can see if it makes a bid to escape?

It scares me now, and that starts to become far more complicated than shove it in a pot.

I think I might just stick to trying (and failing) to grow wasabi. It sounds least stressful!

Funny what you all say about horseradish.

I planted some a couple of years ago and it's gone never to be seen.

@HasaDigaEebowai

This thread is bonkers. Rhododendron are beautiful shrubs which enhance most gardens. They’re only “invasive” to the extent that they were left decades ago to run free in ancient woodland, and even then I’d argue (as someone who lives in ancient woodland that was rhododendron cleared in the 80s) that the woodland is the sadder for having them removed. I spend time adding them back in!

They block light to the forest floor, so no bluebells, no new trees can grow, nothing. They suck up a lot water.