Plants we love (most of the time), Part 2

By Daniel Barringer, Preserve Manager

I have enjoyed seeing the Jerusalem artichoke, Helianthus tuberosus, growing in light shade of a woods edge. So I planted one in a perennial bed at our house on the preserve, which I’ll note is a mostly sunny location. It’s a native (though not necessarily right here) sunflower.

Wow, that plant is going to take over! I ended up staking it up last year with a fence post and braided rope, and the perennial grew much taller than me. This year, it threatened to take over the entire flower bed, in only its second year.

I still like it but it probably can’t stay there. I’ve already dug up half of it.

I’ll side with the opinion that you should never plant this in a place where you want to grow other things. Plant it in a place where it can be contained by a buffer maintained with a lawnmower. Lesson learned.