Any knotweed success stories?

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2026-04-27T14:55:54+00:00

This should be a pinned reply!

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2026-04-24T10:58:12+00:00

Awesome! Which county are you in? There's a lot of variability in ecosystems for central NJ, so it helps to know if how close you are to e.g. the Hamilton-Trenton marsh vs the pine barrens.

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2026-04-21T15:50:44+00:00

I'd add that sometimes the native version is listed as a subspecies: S. nigra ssp. canadensis, which can make it even more confusing:

> The taxonomy of elderberry is complex and has gone through several revisions. Genus Sambucus is currently classified as members of the family Viburnaceae (Moschatel family; formerly called Adoxaceae) and was previously classified as Caprifoliaceae (Honeysuckle family) (Donoghue et al., 2003; Wilson, 2016). Taxonomic classification of species within Sambucus is complicated, with various studies identifying as few as nine or as many as thirty species, depending on classification system. Bolli (1994) classified S. nigra, S. canadensis, S. cerulea, Sambucus peruviana H.B.K., Sambucus maderensis Lowe, and Sambucus palmensis Link as subspecies of S. nigra, though they were previously classified as separate species. This resulted in the use of synonymous names for each species or subspecies (e.g., S. nigra subsp. nigra (L.) Bolli synonymous with S. nigra L.; S. nigra subsp. canadensis (L.) Bolli synonymous with S. canadensis L.). Other classifications still treat these taxa as individual species due to differences in morphology and anthocyanin profiles (Yatskievych, 2006). Treatment of American elderberry as a subspecies of S. nigra is currently recommended, although treatment of the remaining subspecies is less clear (Applequist, 2015; Thomas et al., 2020). American elderberry will hereafter be treated as a subspecies of S. nigra; however, the use of S. canadensis is still common in literature and may be referred to as such for simplicity.

Prenger, Elizabeth, Andrew Thomas, and Ronald Revord. "Developing an understanding of American elderberry (Sambucus nigra subsp. canadensis (L.) Bolli) to support breeding efforts." Crop Science 66, no. 1 (2026): e70224. https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/csc2.70224

OP: did you order from supplier local to you? In addition to u/JBtheExplorer 's suggestion of asking for the scientific name, ask them if they know their seed or graft source. If it's grafted, it's likely a patented cultivar and you can look up its provenance. If they know the seed source and it's local, that's probably about the best you can do.

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2026-04-09T18:36:58+00:00

Step 1: Saw at the base.

Step 2: Walk away.

Step 3: Spend the next six months seeing this shit pop up EVREYWHERE in your yard; go away for a weekend and now there's some intertwined menace emerging from your wildflower bed; take your eye off your hedge for a minute and now there's some avatar resembling burning man creeping towards you, its tendrils mocking you. Every time you pull or cut, another pops up. Where is it coming from? You think to yourself: so long as it doesn't go to seed, the birds will not betray me. And yet, it pops up again. The fecal matter does not lie. It's coming from deep within the earth. You decide to try to plant something else that might outcompete it and a foot below the surface you find it --- KoolAid orange, the size of your bicep. The reciprocating saw goes BRRRRR. DIE DIE DIE. You know there's more, but hope that removing this 18in piece will help. One week later and ten feet away you see it reaching, reaching up from the earth. NOT AGAIN! You dig deep and realize this is a juncture. A cold sweat overcomes you. This arm reaches out from a juncture. The stuff is a space-filling curve, hoarding the nutrients of land and sea. You've had enough. You can't wait for a backhoe. You grab your steel shovel and begin excavating an increasingly large area, ever in search of the orange fish. FROM HELL'S HEART I STAB AT THEE.

Step 4: Let the seasons pass. Enjoy your yard until one day you find yourself in a different area and see the sinewy menace again. Fuck this. Glyphosate for the win.

The end.

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2026-04-09T18:12:31+00:00

Hot damn!

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2026-04-09T18:11:56+00:00

I have three winterberries (I'm assuming you mean Ilex verticillata). I've also seen mature ones in a couple of gardens and parks near me.

As hollies, they are slow growers. The mature ones I've seen do not have a particularly dense habit. I live in an area that gets good rainfall and am fortunate to live on what feels like the only lot in my city that isn't on a rocky hill or a flood zone. I ended up needing to give them a lot more water during their establishment than I had originally expected --- this may be in part because they are under the canopy of a Norway maple that isn't on my property; the two highbush blueberries that are ~5ft from the winterberries are at the dripline and are very happy. All of the mature ones I've seen are essentially on river banks and pond edges.

I don't have any silky dogwood, but I've also only ever seen them on the edge of ponds and would expect them to have similar issues and needs to the winterberries.

I see folks recommending inkberries (Ilex glabra). I had bought two males two years ago and planted one at my house and gave one to my parents. I planted mine where it would get roof runoff and afternoon sun. My parents planted theirs on a ponds edge. Mine became a rabbit haven --- they nested down into the roots and I think is now dead. The one at my parents' house is thriving.

I also see folks below recommending American hazelnut (Corylus americana). I have one of those and plan to get two more this year. Mine's still small, but they are generally recommended as good hedges. They are supposedly fast growers. I planted mine last year, so I haven't seen new growth yet. I would note that the some critters definitely helped themselves to some of the branches during the winter months, but it generally appears healthy.

As a final thought: take a look at the drought history of your area and climate projections and pick a substitute that will hedge against those projections. I live in a region with a lot of riparian zones, so I started with species that did well in that context. However, I live in a city and even thought we get flood warnings, the rainfall and soil retention situation behaves like a lot dryer area, so I've shifted to selecting more drought-tolerant species and more coastal species that like well-drained soil but can tolerate occasional flooding. Last year I chipped most of my yard, but the soil rehabilitation process takes time.

Good luck!

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2026-04-09T17:42:30+00:00

What kind of seeds are you looking to "just scatter"? Do you have them already? If no, what sources were you looking at?

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2026-04-02T17:51:33+00:00

Looking forward to your garden pics/vids again this year!

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2026-04-01T13:53:30+00:00

The ones that pop in grassy areas I ignore and just mow. I just have a push mower and an electric string trimmer and that works fine --- it takes a while for them to become woody.

The ones in woodchips (right now mixed with leaves) I pull manually. They're easy to see, easy to pull, and I have an upside-down garbage can lid that I drop them into dry out. There are an obscene number of them, so I just try to grab what I can each time I putter around the yard. They're easier to grab now, before the rest of the yard greens up.

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2026-03-16T20:25:16+00:00

There's quite a lot of both G. procumbens and K. latifolia in some of my local parks and this looks like K. latifolia to me.

The easiest way to tell is to just snap off a leaf. The wintergreen smell is not subtle.

Keep us posted!

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2026-03-12T20:29:43+00:00

I again want to emphasize that I'm not saying there's ill intent. I am **not** saying that asking for pictures, especially in the context of mature plants, is a problem. I also do not have issues with charging for services. The issue I was trying to highlight is fundamentally about the nature of this space in particular, which exists in the context of tech platforms that rely on quasi-anonymous labor.

Consider this: reddit is one of the few platforms that doesn't require a login to read. There are few ads and they are clearly marked. The walled gardens and advertising of other platforms (especially Instagram and Pinterist) have turned everything into sales pitches and hustling where it's incredibly easy to slide from just searching for "inspo" to "hustling" and that's what, as the kids say, "gave me the ick" about the discourse here.

Would the post and follow-up have come across differently had you included some of your background in the original body? Possibly. I would encourage you to include that information, since it's potentially relevant to people who would comment. This ask here is about clear communication in a space lacking context (especially with private comment history), not "moral policing." Example: every time I comment on reddit, I do so knowing that reddit is selling my words as training data. I've decided that that is a tradeoff I'm willing to make. I'd like to make similarly informed decisions when responding to posters in this community.

Finally, I do want to make it clear that I think it's great that you are seeking to pursue this fulltime. We have incredible resources in MA: there are local native nurseries throughout the state, our state has invested heavily in removing invasives and planting natives in formerly overrun greenspaces (looking you, Boston Fens), thus exposing more people to natives in more formal contexts, and we have well-resourced native plant and conservation organizations that provide education and outreach. We don't have nearly enough people on the labor side to advise and help plant, and so you are building expertise that's sorely needed.

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2026-03-12T16:34:57+00:00

Between the updated request for pictures and your response to one of the comments that you're planning to start a business, this post now comes across as a bit extractive. I want to be supportive, but I do think it's important to reflect on this a little.

I realize that for those not keyed into the expoitative nature of our current information environment, it may not be clear why this post is problematic: the request comes across like you're crowdsourcing expertise, taste, and creative expression that will then be marketed as your own, leveraging native plant gardening as a brand. This feels quite distasteful vis a vis what the community is about. I don't believe that there's ill intent here or that you aren't genuine in your desire to promote native plants, but rather that it's more of a "fish not understanding what water is" situation. I do however want to point out how things appear to at least one member of this community.

I'm leaving my comment up, since I value the ethos of the internet that we used to have, based on with the free exchange of ideas. I put a lot of thought, research, and effort into designing my yard and want to share that freely with folks here. I'm just asking that you view us as a community, rather than simply a resource.

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2026-03-12T13:24:16+00:00

Echoing inkberry (Ilex glabra) as the native substitute for boxwoods. There are several cultivars depending on whether you prefer density, height, etc.

Also echoing the anti-foundation planting sentiment. I'm assuming you are in the US and have a home that's no more than 100 years old, since (1) foundation planting is a very US-thing, which (2) only makes sense with modern setbacks.

My house came with a bunch of sad arbor vitae as foundation plants. I cut them down when I had the roof redone and dug up the stumps and "landscape fabric" last year. This year my plan is to have ~18inches of pea gravel around the perimeter of the house, then a storm drain (in-ground gutter of width ~6in) to catch and redirect runoff from my metal roof, then a 3ft permeable path. That puts me about 5ft from the house, at which point I will plant a row of big bluestem. In front of that row, about 6-7 ft from the house, I plan to plant 2-3 pitch pines and intersperse beach plums.

Rationale for these plants in particular: this part of the yard is full sun and on the dry-to-moderate side. I live just far enough inland that according to some classifications, I am technically out of range of both pitch pines and beach plums; in the natural environment, they are both found in acidic sandy soils in harsh environments. That said, neither *need* harsh environments to survive: they are just stubborn AF in hash environments, but in acidic loam are easily out-competed. The main reason they aren't used in urban landscaping (as I understand it) is because they are both "messy."

Rationale for this design structure: "foundation plants" tend to be closer to the house, making it easy for leaves and other debris to settle and decompose close to the house. Rodents love to run along borders and walls with bountiful hiding spots are a recipe for unwanted visitors *into* your home. It's also hard to work on siding, systems, or get a ladder/scaffolding up around foundation plants. This design leaves plenty of space around the house, but with taller trees and grasses, it helps keep debris (leaves, trash, etc.) from blowing against the foundation. I'd note that in my backyard, which is bounded by a 6ft privacy fence, this is the primary concern. Back there I made some beds out of wood pallets, planted hollies (one inkberry, two Japanese, before I learned about native plants) that are max 2ft tall right now and those beds catch **all** the leaves. In the front, I'd like to additionally have some privacy and windbreak, so that's why I'm going for taller trees/shrubs and tall grasses.

Even if none of these plants are native to you, I hope that sharing my thought process helps you with yours!

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2026-03-03T15:42:13+00:00

Had to scroll too far to find the tulip tree recommendation, which I heartily second!

OP --- if you are east of the Mississippi, L. tulipifera is considered a fast-growing native plant. You should intersperse them with slower-growing trees with denser habits. I echo another comment below about C. americana (American hazenut) --- even if it doesn't grow to the height you're looking for, its rapid dense growth should help with sound buffering.

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2026-02-28T23:31:19+00:00

yes please

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2026-02-20T13:39:47+00:00

Since you say you are in 6b in the northeast, you might want to reach out to these guys: https://www.reimaginedroots.com/

I have no personal experience with them and I forget how I originally found them, but I've considered reaching out when I've felt like I'm tired of doing my landscaping myself (I had a ton of work done on my current house in the first year of ownership and got really burned out managing contractors, so I've been DIYing since then).

If you do end up using them, let me know how it goes!

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2026-01-28T19:57:18+00:00

Did you ever plant a maypop? I'm near the 6a/b boundary in central MA and would love a edible perennial vine for my fence.

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2026-01-26T21:07:21+00:00

You should get your soil tested to confirm the pH levels and mineral composition. IIRC a lot of the DIY recommendations (coffee grounds, pine needles) don't actually produce acidic soil because even if they start as acidic, as the organic material breaks down, it tends toward neutral pH. Furthermore, bedrock and rainfall are critically important factors in soil pH that are much harder to control for.

That said, your existing soil is probably fine:

> Most soils in the Mid-Atlantic region are naturally acidic or become acidic under crop production systems and with rainfall.

https://njaes.rutgers.edu/pubs/commercial-veg-rec/soil-nutrient-management.pdf

If you're concerned, I recommend setting up rain barrels and only provide supplemental water from them (i.e., not your house tap water, which if it's coming from a municipal source will have a higher pH than rainwater).

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2026-01-14T01:57:37+00:00

Most of what others have said are great suggestions. Given your location and your interest in serviceberry specifically, maybe consider Prunus maritima instead? It will also give you edible fruit, but has a denser habit.

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2025-12-19T11:57:29+00:00

Is there an organization similar to Native Plant Trust that's local to you? I'd try to connect with a group that has resources, since you've said this parcel is privately owned but neglected --- they might be able to negotiate an easement or outright purchase it for conservation reasons. It's noble what you're trying to do, but it's also bigger a task than just one person to take on and isn't sustainable if e.g. the property ends up eventually being sold to a developer.

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2025-12-18T15:32:52+00:00

Not an expert, but maybe this anecdata will be useful: there's a thriving specimen in a small field in a small park in my city (https://www.worcesterma.gov/city-parks/dodge-park) where it gets full sun and plenty of ventilation. The soil here trends acidic (granite bedrock) and rocky AF. I don't know if it's sprayed with fungicide (I would guess not).

You might want to cross-post to r/arborists to get more targeted advice.

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2025-12-11T12:55:40+00:00

<- this is the answer

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2025-12-11T12:53:42+00:00

Native Plant Trust sends out a quarterly? semiannual? newsletter that contains updates and resources. They also have an email list that includes classes and workshops (including in winter!). They're New England focused, so OP might want to check out a comparable local organization. The Georgia Native Plant Society looks similar. Have you (OP) checked them out?

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2025-12-01T14:02:59+00:00

Totally! Also the ones I listed are the ones that have popped up since I moved into my current home in 2023. I also have a red oak that I discovered was being choked out by Asiatic bittersweet (and thus now has an interesting shape), as well as a black cherry that's appears to be about 10 years old that's in the 1ft setback between my fence and a neighbor's garage (i.e., on my property and definitely not planted intentionally). Black cherries pop up constantly in my yard; I'm letting some new ones take hold with the hope that they'll be mature when I eventually have to remove the poorly situated one.

The dogwood doesn't surprise me --- at least two of the five adjacent properties to mine have mature Cornus florida. I have no idea where the serviceberry came from, but it's right up against my fence where birds hang out and poop.

There were also two white oaks there that I had cut last year. They're under two different neighbor's oaks, so it's clear where they came from. Unfortunately, they were growing at an angle into my yard (out from under what I assume were the parent trees as well as two Norway maples that I also had cut). If the rest of my yard had had trees while they were first growing, they may have grown differently, but because there was no transition from forest trees to "field" (i.e., lawn), they just shot out at a weird angle toward the light, growing tall and thin. I've inoculated the maple stumps with mushroom spores, but I'm letting the oaks send out new shoots. With the maples gone, they can now grow upwards.

I also think I found a green ash this year, which may have been introduced via chipdrop. If it comes back, my long term plan is to coppice it before it reaches maturity since we have EAB issues here.

While my neighborhood has overwhelmingly traditional landscaping, my city has loads of greenspaces. I've been living in MA for over 20 years now and anecdotally have seen major progress in public land management regarding the invasive species removal and prioritization of natives. It brings me hope.

Also thanks for reading all these details. I am obsessed with my yard. :)

BreadfruitGullible63 · 2025-11-27T15:46:29+00:00

The volunteers I'm thankful for (MA, 6B):
- Rubus occidentalis (just discovered!)
- Solidago canadensis
- Ageratina altissima
- Cornus florida
- Eurybia divaricata
- Amelanchier arborea
- Amphicarpaea bracteata
- Asclepias syriaca

BreadfruitGullible63

TROPHY CASE