This is one of those plants that I personally love but people are often warned against planting because it’s aggressive.
Before we knew it to be invasive, did we warn gardeners against Japanese pachysandra? Why is it that exotic groundcovers are considered “hard to kill, easy to establish, spread quickly,” as positive qualities? Meanwhile, native groundcovers are “aggressive?” No, we’ve got it all wrong. Yes, this is a thick, dense groundcover that will cover a space during a growing season. However, it’s native, and if it spreads, that’s good.
Unlike Canada anemone, traditionally popular groundcovers do not die back in winter. There are a lot of deer ticks where we live. Rodents, which are responsible for transmitting disease to ticks, love evergreen groundcovers. Ticks also do very well in the protected, humid conditions. Not only are those plants invasive (Japanese pachysandra, English ivy, periwinkle), they increase our risk for tick-borne diseases. I could count on one hand how many ticks (both deer and dog ticks) I’ve picked up while working in my woods. At the same time, I could count on one hand the number of deer ticks I would get in a single day while weeding the Japanese pachysandra in front of my house before ripping it out.
I did end up getting Lyme disease while working in the pachysandra. I’ve never felt so sick in my life, even when I had Covid. I didn’t get the bullseye to warn me – 30% of infected individuals don’t get one. While waiting for the antibiotics to take effect, I swore on my life I would rip every last bit of pachysandra out as soon as I felt better. I know people who keep getting ticks and love their pachysandra and cannot seem to connect the dots. The association was clear as day to me. I’m a woman of my word, all the pachysandra was gone by the end of that summer – I spent every day digging it out.
Canada anemone only looks this dense during the growing season, and it will die back come winter. Ticks and rodents don’t do well exposed to freezing temps like that. If you have a large area that had Japanese pachysandra or some other groundcover, and the only reason you haven’t gotten rid of it is because you can’t think of anything else to fill it in, try this. This is great for those gardens that have large open flowerbeds surrounded by turf.
If you want something that’s easy to establish, hard to kill and will spread quickly, try Canada anemone. Need an aggressive native that will push back on invasive species? Try Canada anemone. Large space to fill after removing invasive groundcovers? Try Canada anemone. It’s a far more attractive plant either way, and certainly not worse than the invasive ones.
For those who would suggest Allegheny spurge as an alternative, I used to as well… The only issue with that one is the growth rate is slow as molasses in winter. I planted a plug that had one stem last year. This year I have…. two stems. It’s doing well, and I still love it. People who like Japanese pachysandra don’t have that kind of patience.
If you have a small garden and still want this plant, it does well in containers. You can even use it for cut flowers! Get some big, wide planters to line a walkway and fill it with this, planting other things around, it would look gorgeous.
If you don’t want to deal with seed, get one plant. It will spread, then you can divide it and pop it into new spots. It isn’t self-compatible and requires cross-pollination to set seed.
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