ligustrum
The biggest lawn pest we have at our place is ligustrum. All under the big cedar elms in the front yard are little clumps of the stuff, mowed even with the grass. In the wintertime it’s especially noticeable because it’s evergreen. Sometimes I go round with a pair of pliers and pull the stuff up by the roots.
It’s not hard to find where it comes from. There are hedges all down the street including some big 15 foot tall ones just across the street. Truth be told we have tall hedges of the stuff between us and the houses on either side of us. It makes a nice fence. If you don’t keep it trimmed though it produces berries and that’s how it spreads.
It escapes out into the wild too and that can be a real problem. You can read more about it at The Human Flower Project, including hints about how to control it.
April 26th, 2006 @ 10:26 pm
We have ligustrum by choice, it does well in West Texsas. But it is flowering now and being so cool I opened all the windows last night. I could smell the fragrance of the flowers…….and immediately my eyes started to water and sneezing ensued. Everyone in West Texas has allergies…
May 1st, 2006 @ 8:58 pm
Bill, Robert Parker did write about SPencer, but he also wrote a series of books (11) with Jesse Stone, who is an alcoholic Cheif of Police from LA who finally got a job close to Boston in a little town. He is rugged, and sarcastic and deeply in love with his wife who divorced him because he drank too much.,
Tom Selleck plays the role of Jesse and it is really good!!! (SIGH)
May 24th, 2006 @ 5:34 pm
I’m glad I found your blog–I’m just getting interested in Texas native plants for our yard. I like ligustrum and would love to have them all over the yard with as little effort as it sounds like you have to have them in your yard! I’ve managed to have one grow–I took a cutting from my Mom’s ligustrum in Athens, Texas and it’s now four feet tall. It doesn’t seem to do too well here in deep east Texas. I’m looking for a tall, hardy, drought resistant shrub that’s green all year and will grow to at least six feet in height and have yellow flowers in the spring or fall or both.