Help me i.d. this aggressive 'shrub.' -solved: Nandina domestica

[PunkinPeep]

Thanks!

 

[injunjoe]

BDR nice find!

I must have the 'Gulf Stream' variety.

Joe

 

[vfem]

Chinese Privet is invasive hear! Thanks to Beefy we chopped ours down and killed it.

I think his exact words were to tie it to a brick, take it out on our pond and drown the __(bad word here)___.

Needless to say, it is one of the invasive trees that is now gone, while we try to plant some native species from the Arbor Day foundation.

 

[PunkinPeep]

Yes, i'm currently contemplating my winter campaign to rid my world of the chinese privet. It grows right along side my yaupons....as if yaupons weren't abundant enough!

But since the chinese privets are definitely NOT native, they're outta here!

 

[vfem]

Let me see if I can find the link online... but Mother Earth News had a WONDERFUL article a few months ago about a lady clearing her land of invasive species and replanting all native species... and she had some GREAT advice. My husband and I have been trying to learn as much as we can as we work. Before he starts mowing, or bush hogging anything we look it up and make sure it is invasive or not. If it is, we plan a replacement so anything we take out something gets put back. :watering

We're part of the Arborday foundation and really believe if you remove a tree you should replace it Though I promise we've planted MORE then we've removed already. :rainbow-sun

 

[vfem]

Here's a good article:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-Community/Austin-Texas-Community-Wildlife-Habitat.aspx

Now here is the one I read that I loved!

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Homesteading/Wildlife-Garden-Landscaping-Native-Plants.aspx

Sorry it took so long, I just went and ordered another subscription for my In-laws! I bet they would love this... I send them seeds for Christmas usually... they just started their first garden last year and they LOVE it!

 

[AmyRey]

All the nandina bushes I've ever seen were scraggly looking, totally unruly and had very sparsely spaced red berries. Nothing like the pretty pictures that searches for "nandina bushes" and "nandina berries" will turn up.

It might be worth it if they looked like the pictures on the internet. lol

 

[Greensage45]

There are two Nandinas. The taller more aggressive variety such as you have, and the nice and tidy variety that are normally showcased in the landscape.

I would recommend the dwarf variety for your beds that are next to the house. They display nicely and the birds are not eating the fruit, so any dispersal is most likely via compost. The colors are vivid and dramatic.

The taller variety is much too aggressive unless you live in the Desert where they only thrive where you are actually watering. I would chance them only if you can contain them, otherwise it is best to dispatch them!

Who couldn't love this short shrubby wonder?

Ron

 

[PunkinPeep]

Thanks for the articles, vfem. I feel similarly to the person who wrote that in that i see that the natural set up is doing a good job here, and i want to cooperate with it wherever i can.

I'm not exactly sure how to decide what is native here. I mean i have some ideas because of research i've done, but .... we live right in the big middle of the East Texas PINEY Woods, but our little forest is almost entirely deciduous, not at all like friends and family just a few miles away.

I can know some things just because a large part of our property has been barely disturbed over time, and we can glean information from that.

I think the Nandinas are going to have to go. We've never liked them, and their only possible salvation would have lain in the possibility of some medicinal value. But since they're entirely poisonous, they can go.

Right now, we probably won't be planting anything new in front of the porch since we have plans to expand the house, and we would end up having to transplant - and that just sounds silly. I have plenty of other things to do around here. One of them is to kill the Nandina.

Thanks for the pictures of the pretty Nandina, but i'm afraid the ugly one has tainted them both for me.

 

[vfem]

Thanks for the articles, vfem. I feel similarly to the person who wrote that in that i see that the natural set up is doing a good job here, and i want to cooperate with it wherever i can.

I'm not exactly sure how to decide what is native here. I mean i have some ideas because of research i've done, but .... we live right in the big middle of the East Texas PINEY Woods, but our little forest is almost entirely deciduous, not at all like friends and family just a few miles away.

I can know some things just because a large part of our property has been barely disturbed over time, and we can glean information from that.

I think the Nandinas are going to have to go. We've never liked them, and their only possible salvation would have lain in the possibility of some medicinal value. But since they're entirely poisonous, they can go.

Right now, we probably won't be planting anything new in front of the porch since we have plans to expand the house, and we would end up having to transplant - and that just sounds silly. I have plenty of other things to do around here. One of them is to kill the Nandina.

Thanks for the pictures of the pretty Nandina, but i'm afraid the ugly one has tainted them both for me.

Find your local district here and you will be able to find out what is native to your area and get help planting for it:
http://www.nacdnet.org/about/districts/locate/